Another Top 5...

Top 5 movies as this years Waterfront Film Festival:

1) Chapter 27 - The darkest movie I saw this year. A fictional tale about Mark David Chapman's three day stay in New York City before he shot John Lennon. His adventures mirror that of Holden Caulfield's in Catcher In The Rye. And Jared Leto gained 67 lbs. to play the lead role. He won't get an Oscar nod but he sure does deserve one.

2) Eagle Vs. Shark - New Zealand's answer to Napoleon Dynamite and in many ways, surpasses it. A quirky romantic comedy for the rest of us.

3) When A Man Falls In The Forest - This movie contained the single most exciting moment of the film festival. When Timothy Hutton calls his wife Sharon Stone on the phone and gets her answering machine, he pours out his heart and soul in rapid fire. Afterwards, the audience clapped at his heartfelt honesty. Then the audience let out a loud gasp at what happened next. Go see this movie to find out.

4) The Go-Getter - They ought to name a genre after Holden Caulfield in which the premise is always the same. A teenage boy comes of age while going on a road trip to find a family member or discover an unknown truth. Throw in a little Oedipus Complex and you got yourself a good movie.

5) Tie - Blue State/ Divergence - Both these movies took on Bush and the war in Iraq. In Blue State, a defeated democrat attempts to move to Canada. in Divergence, a wounded soldier falls in love while contemplating the fact he may have to go back to war. I'm not anti-war or anti-Bush so the filmmakers' attempts to draw sympathy to their plight went over my head. But put together, these two movies did have enough of a storyline outside their political agenda to warrant a place on my top 5.

Screenwriting And The Art Of Being Lazy

I realize I haven't been posting that much on here. My excuse is that I'm busy working my day job trying to make money to eventually make the move out west. But really my intention was to only write quality stuff on here to represent my writing style. I suppose I could turn this into an online diary and tell you guys what I had for breakfast, but I think I should keep it somewhat professional.

Instead, I'll give a sort of state-of-the-union address on this summer so far. First, what's with all these two-and-a-half/three hour Blockbuster movies? Pirates, Spiderman, etc. I thought we were told to keep our scripts under 110 pages? I personally subscribe to the hour-and-a-half movie theory myself. If it clocks in at one-fifteen, bonus!

Next week, I'll be attending the Waterfront Film Festival and I'm excited. I was a bit disappointed at this year's selection at first. But after reading all the movies, I've found a couple I'm looking forward to seeing. Like Chapter 27, the Mark David Chapman movie starring Jared Leto. Lindsey Lohen is in it, and since she's Maxim's hottest babe right now, that can't be bad thing. Although, there's no horror movies this year. Where's all the genre films at? But I'll get my weekend pass and watch every movie I can. I plan on taking in over 19 movies/documentaries/seminars/short film programs in a three day span. I'm devoted like that. Or crazy.

I've got my next script down in treatment form. I let my screenwriter friend read it and he liked the storyline and loved the title. But he often likes my ideas then trashes my screenplays. But that lets me know what I need to work on then.

Top 5 movies of the first half of 2007:
1) Smokin' Aces
2) Grindhouse
3) 300
4) Alpha Dog
5) The Number 23