On This Day in 2010: Remembering TRUE GRIT...

Just thought I'd point out that I watched the Oscar-nominated film True Grit at the theater a decade ago today. This was the last movie I saw on the big screen in 2010. Apart from the fact that this remake of the 1969 classic Western, starring John Wayne, received ten Academy Award nominations—including Best Picture, Best Director (Ethan and Joel Coen), Best Actor (Jeff Bridges), Best Supporting Actress (Hailee Steinfeld) and Best Cinematography (Roger Deakins)—there are other reasons for why I would commemorate this movie ten years later. The King's Speech would go on to win Best Picture for 2010, FYI...but honoring that amazing film would take place in February of 2021 (assuming that I'm in the mood to blog about this movie around that time), seeing as how I watched The King's Speech at the theater in February of 2011. Happy Monday!

WONDER WOMAN 1984...

So earlier today, I signed up with HBO Max so I could view Wonder Woman 1984 online. This is actually the first new major motion picture that I watched since the Oscar-nominated World War I epic 1917 and Bad Boys for Life back in January...obviously due to movie theaters being closed because of the coronavirus pandemic. (I'm tempted to buy Christopher Nolan's Tenet on DVD even though I haven't viewed that film yet.) So what did I think of WW84, you asked? It was okay. It definitely had a much lighter tone than the original 2017 film—which isn't really a good thing. (If The Empire Strikes Back had the same tone as the Patty Jenkins sequel, the original Star Wars trilogy wouldn't have been the classic that it is today.) The main cast (Gal Gadot, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal and Chris Pine) did a fine job; if you're a fan of Disney+'s The Mandalorian, then you'll be impressed by how Pedro Pascal's portrayal of Maxwell Lord is absolutely different from his portrayal as the bounter hunter Din Djarin in the hit Star Wars streaming series.

Even though Wonder Woman 1984 left much to be desired, I'm still excited for Wonder Woman 3—which is now in development by Warner Bros. But I am totally excited for Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, which will be helmed by Patty Jenkins and is slated for a Christmas 2023 theatrical release! Can't wait... Happy Holidays!

Watch THE CARD on ThinkShorts.com!

Merry Christmas, everyone! As mentioned two days ago, here is the link to watch my Super 8mm film The Card on Think Shorts:

https://thinkshorts.com/7702/the-card

Despite the fact that it was shot in college over 18 years ago, I wasn't gonna pass up the opportunity to have it included on a great online film directory like Think Shorts! Anyways, I hope y'all have a very Merry Christmas...and stay safe! 2021 will be the year that things start getting back to normal in our lives. Happy Holidays.

ENVIOUS Is Now Live on ThinkShorts.com!

Happy Hump Day, everyone! Just thought I'd announce that my short film Envious is now available for viewing on the cool streaming site Think Shorts! Envious joins my suspense thriller The Broken Table on this growing online directory. To view Envious, click on this link:

https://thinkshorts.com/7536/envious

I'll share the Think Shorts link for my Super 8mm film The Card pretty soon! Carry on.

On This Day in 2010: Remembering TRON: LEGACY...

Just thought I'd point out that I watched the Disney sci-fi action film Tron: Legacy at the theater a decade ago today. Don't ask me why I'm reminiscing about this particular movie... I just am! Despite the gaping plot holes at the end of this flick and all, heh. To know what they are, click on this link to read my original review of this film from 10 years ago. Happy Saturday!

Rest In Peace, Jeremy Bulloch (1945-2020)...

Less than a month after David Prowse—who suited up as Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy—passed away at the age of 85, fellow Star Wars icon Jeremy Bulloch died today at the age of 75...due to health complications including a years-long battle with Parkinson's disease. While Bulloch appeared in many films and TV shows since 1958 (having had an uncredited role in A Night to Remember...a 1958 historical drama about the sinking of the Titanic), he is best known for portraying the bounter hunter Boba Fett in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Fittingly, this character that was memorably brought to life by Bulloch lives on in the Disney+ series The Mandalorian—with Temuera Morrison reprising the role after playing Boba's father Jango Fett in Attack of the Clones. Bulloch also made an appearance as Alderaan pilot Captain Colton in Revenge of the Sith.

My condolences to your family and friends, Mr. Bulloch. May you rest in peace.

THE DARK KNIGHT Has Been Immortalized by the Library of Congress...

Congratulations to director Christopher Nolan and his cast and crew on The Dark Knight for cementing a place in the National Film Registry today! The Dark Knight joins 24 others films—including The Hurt Locker, Shrek, The Joy Luck Club, Grease and A Clockwork Orange—as the newest cinematic inductees in the Library of Congress this year. There are now 800 movies whose legacies have been preserved by the largest library in the world...which is also America's oldest federal cultural institution. Well-done.

THE BROKEN TABLE Is Now Live on ThinkShorts.com!

I am pleased to announce that The Broken Table is now available for viewing on the cool streaming site Think Shorts! I submitted my film for inclusion last Tuesday, and you can watch it on this link:

https://thinkshorts.com/7063/the-broken-table

If you have a short film and would obviously like to give people the opportunity to see it on the Web, then Think Shorts is the way to go! There are tons of great indie projects that are posted on this online directory everyday. Check 'em out now!

Video of the Day: THE BROKEN TABLE - RED CUT Edition...

Good evening, everyone! Just thought I'd share this updated version of my short film The Broken Table, which I dub the Red Cut. To know why I call it this, click on this entry that I posted on my Main Blog yesterday to find out more! And in case you're wondering why I didn't just explain that on this site (what was this being a film blog and all), I believe in synergy! Heh. Anyways, I hope all of you are having a great weekend... Only 27 more days till 2021!

Short Film of the Day: THE ELEVATOR...

Just thought I'd share this hilarious video that I stumbled upon on YouTube yesterday! Directed by Greg Glienna, who wrote the screenplays for such feature-length comedies as the Ben Stiller/Robert De Niro hit film Meet the Parents, A Guy Thing (starring Julia Stiles, Jason Lee, Selma Blair and James Brolin) and Relative Strangers (starring Neve Campbell, Kathy Bates, Ron Livingston and Danny DeVito), The Elevator epitomizes why comedic shorts are my favorite type of short films! This dates back to college...when I attended the student film festivals at Cal State Long Beach (my alma mater) and applauded at all the intentionally funny shorts and quietly cringed at the 10-minute shorts that really took themselves seriously. Not to make this entry too long, but I personally think films need to be feature-length in order for the drama to be convincingly conveyed...and not feel forced and over-the-top.

Anyways, enjoy The Elevator!

Video of the Day: My Short Film THE CARD...

Good evening, everyone! Just thought I'd share a short film that I shot 18 years ago and which I recently updated using a new MacBook computer that I received as a birthday gift last month. Titled The Card, this project was shot using a Super 8mm camera—with the entire audio track (plus the dialogue by my three actors, who were close friends from high school that were nice enough to help me on this film) recorded in postproduction.

To read more details about The Card, go to my main Blog for additional info. Not only can you view it on YouTube below, but you can watch the film on Vimeo as well. Lookin' forward to creating another video project using my MacBook in the future! That is all.

Photo of the Day: Commemorating the Final Day of Filming for THE BROKEN TABLE...

On this day in 2019, Brandon Cabral (director of photography), Stephanie Vigil (camera operator), Ranen Lawe (1st assistant camera), Dima Shorin (2nd assistant camera) and Yoni Coen (key grip) prep a shot with Nicholas Mariano ("Adam") on the last day of filming for The Broken Table.

Photo of the Day: Remembering the Second Day of Filming for THE BROKEN TABLE...

On this day in 2019, Nicholas Mariano ("Adam"), Majdolene Abualfaraj ("Jennifer") and Martin Chang ("Todd") hang out in the green room while the next shot is being set up during Day 2 of filming for The Broken Table at The L.A. Film School.

REMEMBERING SEAN CONNERY (1930-2020)...

Rest In Peace, Sir Sean Connery... While the rest of the world honors him as one of the best iterations of Agent 007 in the James Bond franchise, I remember him for his role as Professor Henry Jones, Sr. in 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Soviet submarine commmander Marko Ramius in 1990's The Hunt for Red October. I saw these films when I was still in elementary school, and it was Red October that got me interested in filmmaking when I drew my own storyboards for a submarine thriller after I watched the Tom Clancy-inspired movie at the theater on opening weekend. While Connery had officially been in retirement from acting since 2006, he will be missed by the world of cinema.

The Scottish legend passed way in Nassau, Bahamas at the age of 90 yesterday. My condolences to Connery's family.

Video of the Day: ENVIOUS - The Short Film!

Happy Halloween, everyone! Just thought I'd finally share my short film Envious...which has been in the works for over 16 years! To read more about the backstory that lead to me completing this project after so long, go to my Main Blog. I had fun putting the finishing touches on this film—and I can't wait to start on another project early next month! Enjoy Envious on Vimeo below, and I hope all of you guys have a great and spooky weekend!

ENVIOUS - Short Film from Par Man Productions on Vimeo.

Photo of the Day: When Principal Photography Began on THE BROKEN TABLE...

At this moment in 2019, I was on set discussing a flashback scene for The Broken Table with Nicholas Mariano ("Adam"), while production assistant Louis Huynh and Majdolene Abualfaraj ("Jennifer") look on.

Shoot Day 1 took place in Paramount, California.

Photo of the Day: Preparin' for Todd's Big Moment in THE BROKEN TABLE...

On this day in 2019, make-up artist Susanna Luong practices applying prosthetics to Martin Chang ("Todd") during an hour-long special FX make-up test in Long Beach, California...six days before principal photography began on The Broken Table.

Photo of the Day: Finishin' Up Casting on THE BROKEN TABLE...

On this day in 2019, Majdolene 'MJ' Abualfaraj and Nicholas Mariano enact the first scene of The Broken Table during a callback audition held at The Los Angeles Film School in Hollywood, California.

MJ was cast as 'Jennifer' after her great audition three months earlier, while Nicholas accepted the role of 'Adam' the day after this callback! Happy Monday.

Video of the Day #2: The Full-Screen Version of THE CINEMATOGRAPHY PROJECT...

As mentioned in yesterday's Blog entry, here's the full-screen version of my experimental short The Cinematography Project (TCP)...which is the original version of the film that I shot back in 2002. The only difference is that I'm using a Hans Zimmer track from the 1996 action flick Broken Arrow for the music score (I'm a huge fan of Zimmer, in case you're wondering) in this iteration. I also did another version of TCP where I used John Williams' "Across the Stars" theme from Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, but I didn't upload that to YouTube as I'm sure it would've have elicited smirks by some viewers since this track is probably more recognizable!

That's it for now. I'll post another Blog entry focusing on the student film version of The Broken Table that's also posted on YouTube. Carry on!

Video of the Day: THE CINEMATOGRAPHY PROJECT...

Happy Saturday, everyone! Just thought I'd share this experimental short that I did during film school 18 years ago! Dubbed The Cinematography Project (even though I only called it Cinematograpy Project in the film itself), this short was shot using a Super 8mm camera provided by my school's film department [I went to California State University, Long Beach (CSULB)]. I originally had to splice the film together manually using a device provided to me by the film department...but I eventually digitized my project so I could enhance it using Final Cut Pro (FCP). I used FCP to make this version widescreen, while also adding in Hans Zimmer's track from the 2001 film Black Hawk Down as the music score (this was also the track that I played on a separate audio player when I screened The Cinematography Project in my film class back in 2002). I'll post the full-screen version of The Cinematography Project in the next Blog entry.

I'm so happy to watch this film again considering the fact that I've been unable to do so for the past 18 years! The Cinematography Project, plus three other films that I did at CSULB (including the original version of The Broken Table), were on an external hard drive that I couldn't access since it was formatted for the Mac G5 computer I used to edit the films at school. With the new Apple MacBook that I received as a birthday gift last week, I was finally able to download the files from the hard drive so I can view them once more. Click on the link above to see what my future plans are in regards to using my new MacBook to resume doing filmmaking stuff! Have a great weekend.

Remembering THE TOWN...

On this day 10 years ago, the bank heist film The Town was unleashed in theaters nationwide (though it wasn't till a few days later that I watched it at the multiplex for the first time...on September 21). It was my favorite flick of 2010! Click here to read my review of the Ben Affleck-directed movie.

Wakanda Forever...

In honor of Chadwick Boseman, who tragically passed away today due to cancer at the age of 43, here's a drawing I made of Black Panther around the time the Oscar-nominated film played in theaters back in 2018. Rest In Peace, Chadwick... Along with portraying T'Challa in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Mr. Boseman also played Jackie Robinson in 2013's 42 and James Brown in 2014's Get on Up. The last movie I saw him in (after Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, of course) was 2019's 21 Bridges. Boseman kicked arse in that flick...

My condolences to his friends and family.

Photo of the Day #2: Honoring Two Actors Whose Movies Revolutionized Comic Book Cinema...

Just thought I'd share this collage I saw on Twitter this past weekend comparing shots from 1994's The Crow with those in The Dark Knight. While I figured that director Christopher Nolan was apparently inspired by the late Brandon Lee's antihero when the look of Heath Ledger's Joker was being created in preproduction, I had no idea that he based one of the most memorable scenes in the 2008 comic book epic to one from the '94 cult classic. (It's been a while since I watched The Crow on DVD.) Well done.

It's sad to realize that comic book fans and movie aficionados need to honor the works of Lee and Ledger posthumously. But I'm just glad that The Crow is recognized as the film that would pave the way for a whole generation of gritty comic book films...with The Dark Knight being the pinnacle of all that is right with this popular genre. Happy Monday.

Photo and Video of the Day: Rise of THE BATMAN...

"I'm vengeance." And I'm shook! Just thought I'd share this screenshot from the newest trailer for Matt Reeve's The Batman...which should resume filming next month after a long coronavirus-related hiatus, and get released in theaters sometime in 2021.

From the looks of this preview, Robert Pattinson is gonna do a heckuva job following in the footsteps of Ben Affleck (who along with Michael Keaton will reprise their roles as the Dark Knight in 2022's The Flash) and Christian Bale, respectively. Happy Saturday!

THE BROKEN TABLE Is Now Available Online for Streaming!

Happy Cinco de Mayo, everyone! Just thought I'd mention that my short film The Broken Table is now available to view on YouTube and Vimeo (whose version is embedded below), as today is its official online release date. If there's one silver lining to the quarantine caused by the coronavirus pandemic, it's that I had lots of time to put the finishing touches on my film...courtesy of Lightworks and not the Final Cut Pro editing program that I used during film school at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) over 15 years ago.

So what's my next project, you ask? Finishing my short film Envious...which I shot at CSULB back in early 2004. To this day, the sound design is still incomplete—due to a myriad of reasons too numerous to explain here. To paraphrase Kylo Ren from The Force Awakens: "I will finish what I have started." Since we're talking about Star Wars now, Happy Revenge of the Fifth! Carry on.