bigSMALL

i know ive said it before, but i think ive finally bitten off more than i can chew.

do i care?

no. not really.

im a mess, but hopefully, this will help me to focus in some way.

my biggest problem at the moment is that i have quite a few writing projects going on at the same time:

the self portrait of a pretentious bastard (feature) - its more or less done. probably less. i just need to find the final line of focus and go in for the kill. cut. cut. cut. its probably 20-30 pages too long at the moment and thats making it a bit confusing and pointless (as in without a point). i havent even looked at it since the last draft... ill get around to that soon.

marathon (feature) - i still havent come up with a better title, but in the next couple of days, i think itll be the closest to being "done" than anything else im working on. the biggest difference in this draft so far? ive already cut 16 pages... and its pretty much ALL from the beginning. im experimenting with starting at the second plot point. its a fricken heist film, weve all seen hundreds of heist films... we know the formula, we know the archetypes... so, im skipping as much of the set up as i can and cutting as many character introductions as i can... if it works (big if), itll be tight, frenzied, and fresh. yeah... we'll see.

sister wong (tv pilot) - still non-plussed by the title... but thats true of almost all of these... be that as it may, im really excited about the possibility and promise of this one. its a cable series margaret offered to bring me in on and shake up. im trying my best... i just dont want to drift to far from what she established since i think its so solid already. i keep tossing around "it could be the chinese sopranos". ive gone through the last draft and just received the first couple of research books in the post. got a LOT of reading to do before i even think about touching this one again... but i cant wait.

untitled end of the world project (feature) - jose and i are wondering what the hell someone would be trying to do at the end of the world. where would she go, what would she do? this shits more difficult than it sounds. good times ahead, and hopefully plenty of wine.

identity diptych: the amnesiac/the documentarian (play) - im stepping a little outside of my comfort zone here. ive been reading a lot of stoppard lately, and after seeing the showcase that caroline was in (and totally rocked)... a little inspiration has been brewing. all i know is that its two complementary pieces somehow linked... either as two separate plays... or as two parts of the same play... or something. all i know... is that the amnesiac is about a woman who is convinced by a friend (or lover, or family member... or all three) that she is an amnesiac... and the documentarian is about a man who is so obsessive in documenting every aspect of his life, that he totally loses who he is.

yeah, good luck with that one old man...

gaia (feature) - is percolating... again. but thats super secret ;)

and thats only the writing side of things.

lot of steps to change the world, whew.


* * *
ps. beware, wine party 1.o is coming very soon.

INRAINBOWS

im in love all over again.

CRY BABY CRY

so... this last thursday, caroline and i went over to the vista to check out julie taymor's stab at...well... essentially converting the psychedelic beatles' songs into a 2 hour plus movie.

(im sure you can tell by how i structured that sentence how i felt about the music video... errr... i mean movie)

so yeah, if you didnt know i LOVE the beatles... then you really dont know me. sorry... thats just how i roll.

anyway, after stuffing our selves in a level of gluttony hardly rivaled (even in vomitorium roman times) caroline and i sauntered on over to the vista. dont get me wrong, we knew this might be a HUGE mistake. long story short--it wasnt as bad as i feared... but not NEARLY as amazing as it should have been.*

*NOTE: the ideas and opinions expressed in this blog are the ideas and opinions of jaime ryan heintz and are of no reflection or bearing on the thoughts, ideas, and/or opinions of caroline do... or any person living and/or dead and/or real/imagined who may (or may not) have seen a movie, talked with, or been looked at by jaime ryan heintz. (cc) jaime ryan heintz 2007 some rights reserved.

i dont know if i can coherently take this film apart, but ill get to the heart of what i thought was the problem.

there was no story.

well, there was... but it was so completely trite, tired, and banal... (and a bunch of other words to make me look smart in putting it down) that i wondered why they even attempted to tell a story. i found my eyes rolling several times. its almost as if they said... its a "musical" it doesnt need to have a "complicated" story. they obviously relied too heavily on the beatles songs to really care about... well, anything. they story moments were OBVIOUS ploys to set up the next song... and dont even get me started about the character names!!! and yeah, i just imdb-ed the writers... and the last project they both did was that lame ass animated film flushed away... yeah, the one about the rats. jesus, save us all.

but my REAL beef?

well, all of the problems with the movie could have been forgiven (well, almost all of the problems) if the movie had one thing... just one...

passion.

there did not seem to be one ounce of passion or heart in almost any aspect of the film. it was FAR too over produced and lacked any true emotion or balls (balls probably being more important... sorry ladies).

the one thing that always stays with me from the beatles is their passion. every song they ever recorded drips with raw emotion. theyre strained almost to breaking. their songs are raw, produced just enough, and are never pretentious... yeah, pretty much the exact opposite of this movie.

its funny, that with most "musicals" these days, the actors that are cast are usually either "actors" or "singers." the films usually seem to suffer becasue the talent sits in one of those two camps... with either actors who cant sing, or singers who cant act. well here, it seems like the filmmakers decided to sit somewhere in the middle. the cast is comprised of neither talented actors nor talented singers.

HOW do you sing oh! darling or happines is a warm gun without screaming your fucking head off in frustrated longing?!?!?!

the songs were so thoughtlessly over produced and dripping with sacchrine voacl honey that i just wanted to tear the seats out of the theater (side note: the seats in the vista are spread way too far apart... you have to be a freakin giant to put your feet up on the row in front of you...).

maybe its just me... but if youre going to do something based around the beatles, you better know and understand your beatles... instead of just having some passing notion of them. (and i dont even want to try and think about the "revolution" or "vietnam" sequences in this film...)

wait... let me modify that. if youre going to do ANYTHING you better know and love it more than anyone else out there... you better die without it... because if you dont, youre wasting all of our time. especially with my fucking beatles.

sorry, had to get that off of my chest.

wait, no.

im not sorry.

BUT, it wasnt all bad. the dance sequences that werent awkward and/or mildly homosexually suggestive in their choreography were pretty ok (the bit for a little help from my friends = ok... the bit for i want you (she's so heavy) = not so much...). but the stand out BY FAR was eddie izzard's rendition of being for the benefit of mr. kite! just go to see the movie for that (or just download it). but its only good because of him. a nice shining diamond in a sky of tripe. mmm, tripe.

sigh... such high hopes. it really could have been worse. right? at least they didnt touch norwegian wood. thank GOD for that.

jesus, im bitter.

eh, ill go see it stoned.