(S01E06) To the producer's credit, we finally have a format for this show, and it appears we're sticking with it. We also seem to have hit upon a trend with easy on the eyes but hard on the ears host Adriana Costa.
I could be wrong, but it appears her outfit gets a little skimpier every week.
If I'm right, somewhere around week 10 Fox's ratings are going to kill in this time slot since it's likely Adriana will have her outfit whittled down to a couple of squares of toilet paper held together by some fishing line.
Until that glorious moment, we're stuck in the present, and that's where we learned Trever and Hilary were the two contestants that America liked the least last week.
I have to agree with the country's opinion as the two of them definitely had the weakest films. In the event you didn't catch the show, instead of telling you right off who was sent home, I'm going to create some faux suspense and wait until the end to divulge this information. I'm only doing it because it works so well on the show.
Also, tonight's guest judge is The Devil Wears Prada director David Frankel. He won an Academy Award back in 1997, and he has a pretty impressive IMDB filmography page. This was a huge step up from Michael Bay, who has most notably been nominated for a couple of Razzies.
#1 - Andrew - Polished
Synopsis: A janitor who is taken advantage of by the company employees exacts some slippery revenge.
Carrie - I like films with an underdog. I thought it was sweet, and it was like a little silent film.
David - I don't think it was the best film you've ever done. It was slow at the beginning, and it seemed better fit for a 30 second commercial.
Garry - Revenge works. Loved your leading man, but wasn't sure who brought the hamburgers.
Like Garry I wasn't sure who brought the burgers and found it strange that no one entered the break room for the first half of the day. That never happens at my work. Andrew's first film Spaced Out showed us that he has a talent for comedy, but I think he was off his game this week. The film had some funny parts, but it wasn't really as interesting as the synopsis made it sound. And that final 15 second shot of the janitor eating the hamburger with a satisfied expression was nearly as creepy as my comments about the host wearing toilet paper. I wasn't a big fan of this film.
#2 - David - Love at First Shot
Synopsis: A guy who has trouble talking to girls enlists the help of a cracked out looking Cupid.
Carrie - I felt I've seen it before. If you're going to be derivative you should be original. (She thought the Cupid should have worn a diaper. That's not derivative?)
David - Ambiguity is the enemy of all film making, especially a comedy. You need to be clearer next time.
Garry - You have to have a pace. We could have written a pilot between breaks. Beautiful to look at though.
There were several awkward pauses throughout the film, and the comedy seemed a little forced at times. I didn't really understand what was going on for parts of it, and I didn't really buy the girl as a World of Warcraft dork. On a positive note, the restaurant they were dining looked like somewhere I'd like to eat.
#3 - Shira-Lee - Beeline
Synopsis: Single mom receives a pointed question from her son regarding sex after divorce, and she makes a beeline around town for some unknown reason confronting all her former partners.
Carrie - You also could have called this film Slut Mom. To be a woman in this industry you have to be good, and I thought this was great.
David - You made me laugh, and I liked the film. It's the best one tonight.
Garry - You have to watch the kid, you can't let him smile. Good one for the girls, nice job.
Did the judges watch the same short as me on this one? Shira-Lee's son played the role like a poised Dakota Fanning, only the exact opposite. He seemed to break character every scene he was in and he had a terrible reaction shot when he feigned excitement at getting a PlayStation 3. The film looked good and there were definitely some nice shots of the city, but I really couldn't figure out what the protagonist was trying to accomplish having her former lovers pretend like she didn't exist. By that logic , she's going to have to go through the rest of her life never talking to another human being while she's around her son.
#4 - Marty - Dance with the Devil
Synopsis: Marty makes another movie trailer.
Carrie - You know it's a victory of style over substance and content. I think you're a really good craftsmen, but the style of what you do is very distracting. You're a big fan of yourself so you may not need me.
David - I actually admire your arrogance. It takes a little cockiness to make it in Hollywood. I think it played more like a trailer though. A lot of style but no characters and the dialogue was a little laughable.
Garry - It worked for me, but I think you need to go deeper into the characters. All in all, you gave it a shot. Stay unique.
Marty's got a great flair for directing, I give him that. Both of his shorts have been pretty to look at, but the problem is they've been incredibly vacuous. When it comes down to it, Marty seems more like a professional trailer maker than a feature film director. He made the excuse of only having 2 1/2 minutes to tell a full story, but does he not realize that some of the other directors are making great films with the exact same limitation? And could Marty be any more full of himself? His entire rant before his film was about how great he is. That's a big turn off in my book.
I think he deserves to stay in the competition this week since his film wasn't the weakest - but he truly needs an attitude adjustment if he has any intention of staying in any longer.
#5 - Kenny - Edge on the End
Synopsis: A boy loses his father to alcoholism. Consumed by despair he treads down a similar path.
Carrie - This made me long for the days of Wack Alley Cab. It reminded me of a music video.
David - I admire the ambition of making a film about death and loneliness. It was more of a music video or a visual poem but I admire it. It showed a lot of talent.
Garry - You have new eyes, and you're doing your own thing. Stay unique and stay crazy.
Kenny is kind of the Blake (American Idol) of this competition in that he does his own thing and doesn't seem to care much what the judges say. Kenny's location was phenomenal and I appreciated his visual style. I'm kind of a fan of twisted movies in the vein of Requiem for a Dream where the director uses the camera to convey the state of mind a character is in. The footage definitely conveyed that the lead character was wasted and it really illustrated his tormented state of mind.
However, I did find the movie to be a little Public Service Announcement-like in nature with the minuscule text that popped up here and there. I totally could have seen a message pop up at the end that said, "Don't Drink and Be Sad". Nonetheless, this was light years better than his film from a few weeks back, which is a pretty empty compliment because I can't think of a movie in recorded history that isn't.
Favorite movies of the night:
Carrie - Polished
David - Beeline
Garry - Beeline
JJ - Edge on the End
Trever ended up going home tonight. I think he should have stayed on the merits of his golf film, but I didn't even vote last week so I can't complain much.
I couldn't really tell if I was just in a bad mood tonight or if the film offerings this week just weren't all that impressive. What do you think?
Next week another director goes home and Adriana Costa pushes the limits of decency in prime time television. See you then.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-13-2007 @ 1:23AM
Russell Heimlich said...
You compare Kenny to Blake? I see him more like Sanjaya because he stands out at how bad and talentless he is. I agree, his film this week was light years ahead of his other one but compared to the other contestants he is way behind.
More at my blog -> http://www.russellheimlich.com/blog/on-the-lot-kenny-luby-a-talentless-hack/
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6-13-2007 @ 1:42AM
Scott said...
Marty is a joke and his film was just a total ripoff of Tony Scott's Ride With The Devil. I couldn't believe he thought nobody else had ever seen it. Kenny... where do I begin? Maybe the most amateurish, ridiculous thing I've ever seen on TV short of local advertisements.
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6-13-2007 @ 1:51AM
BigTed said...
It was actually kind of amazing how little of Adriana's cleavage we saw, considering that her dress was split practically down to her navel. And she's the, ah, friendliest host I've seen on any nighttime reality show. But as Marge Simpson once said, "You know, Fox turned into a hard-core sex channel so gradually, I didn't even notice."
As for tonight's film entries, the phrase "style over substance" was mentioned a couple of times, and I think that was true for all of them. These directors all had trouble telling a coherent story. (Of course, in real Hollywood, that's why they have screenwriters.)
"Polished" was okay, but at a time when "The Office" is skewering office life so perfectly, this story didn't seem real. I've never worked at the place where people weren't at least polite to the support staff. And the janitor's trick didn't just say "revenge" to me; it said "dangerously disgruntled employee."
"Love at First Shot" could have been really good, but again, the story was kind of jumbled. I think it was about a nerdy guy who was turning off his date until he discovered that her interests tended toward the nerdy, too. So what did he need Cupid for? If the dialogue had been funnier and the situation clearer, that would have been plenty.
"Beeline" wasn't bad.... It came closest to a mainstream indie short film. Unfortunately, the acting stunk -- including, as Garry Marshall pointed out, the director's kid. The scenes with the ex-lovers were kind of funny, even if the situation was confusing. But the punchline didn't really work, partially because they gave away a little of the last scene in the introduction to the film (which was bad direction on the show's part).
"Dance With the Devil".... It's clear that this Marty guy wants to be Spielberg, partly because he says it every chance he gets, and partly because he stole every stylistic element from Spielberg's last few movies. And, yeah, there was no story there, except insofar as we were supposed to know what was going on because we've seen the same situation in movies a thousand times before.
"Edge on the End".... Speaking of "The Simpsons," this short made me laugh, despite its seriousness, because it reminded me so much of the movie Barney made for the Springfield Film Festival. (It too was about an alcoholic and was full of overheated symbolism, including that single flower.) I agree that this guy has an interesting visual style, and he'll have a big future if he can learn to tell a story that makes at least some narrative sense.
So in the end, none of the films were that good.... Although a few could have been if they had stronger stories, better acting and/or better direction. And in their defense, they were all better than any two minutes of "Pirate Master."
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6-13-2007 @ 11:04AM
MrsEldubya said...
You are right, the outfits get skimpier and the films were weaker. I'm not sure I like this format because there is too much filler and too many opportunities for people to change channels. The best episode was when we got to see all 18 films, even if they were really short. I would rather hear more about the process and see more of the film than to hear "call in to vote."
I don't think this show needed to be like American Idol. To me that's what hurting the show.
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6-13-2007 @ 11:25AM
Craig said...
At least they got rid of the "raise your hand if you voted xyz's film the suckiest".
Weak films this week. Andrew could have done better. Can't wait for Zach and Will next week.
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6-13-2007 @ 12:00PM
Brody said...
Polished - This was my favorite of the night. Felt like the only short where I felt all of the time was used effectively. Good lead performance as well. B+
Love at First Shot - Like Frankel said, it switched genres and never was funny. D+
Beeline - I thought the lead was nice, but the kid needed a lot of work. C+
Dance With the Devil - I think Marty watches Tarantino movies while he's filming. What a laughable piece of crap. F
Edge on the End - And I thought Marty's was bad. This started as a PSA, and ended as a Creed video. i don't even want to imagine this guy directing a feature film. F
I was so sure that Hilary would get the boot, so disappointed. Sure, Trever's movie wasn't that inspired, but it was Bergman compared to Hilary's unfunny mess.
Probably the worst week for movies so far
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6-14-2007 @ 12:22AM
Bob said...
Was I the only one who noticed that Polished has been done before? Most likely it has been done more than the one time I can remember. If anyone has ever watched Scrubs, the disgruntled janitor (big shocker) waxes the floors of the hospital watching employees come crashing down.
Nobody noticed?
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6-13-2007 @ 2:05PM
Jenny said...
I really liked Edge at the End, despite it's lack of plot. If Kenny found a way to incorporate a cohesive plot into his films, he'd be my hands down favorite!
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6-13-2007 @ 4:39PM
Cody said...
I seriously don't think I could describe Adriana Costa's face to a police sketch artist. He'd end up drawing a huge pair of tits.
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6-13-2007 @ 7:18PM
JustMe said...
I'm sorry, but I thought Kenny's film was laughably horrible. It begins by examing, what appears to be a dead body, both in various angles and in close up.
Then we have someone expressing angst, and drinking.
That's the entire plot.
There's no words, because it's presented like a music video or montage.
And what's with the unnecessary video tricks?
The whole thing screamed amateur, and seriously made me question Kenny's frame of mind. It's one thing to have a style, or be drawn to certain subject matter, but his two movies were anything but well made, and I'm unclear on who would be interested in watching such material.
How he has managed to stay in the competition is beyond me.
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6-13-2007 @ 10:47PM
Bobby said...
While Adrianna is clearly the worst host in reality show history (and that's saying something), some part of me is actually happy that she's finally been "exposed". For those of us who've had to endure her entertainment "reports" on CNN Headline News, I'm glad the rest of America is finally seeing her for the fraud she is. Naturally, this will mean nothing and she'll continue to get work.
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6-14-2007 @ 1:50AM
David said...
They did a good job of making Marty the bad guy. Carrie rapiered him: "You're such a big fan of yourself maybe you don't need me."
Comparing yourself to Spielberg up front is counter-productive to say the least. It's like telling a joke with the preface "here's the funniest joke you'll ever hear." Totally stupid for a competition.
Much smarter would be "This movie is intensely personal to me and is dedicated to my deceased grandmother and I'm oh so hoping you don't hate it."
The only movie I'm interested coming from Kenny is the one he makes of his time spent alone with Adrianna. Let's hope he keeps a lid on the herky jerky special effects for that one.
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6-14-2007 @ 1:05PM
otto said...
Marty is ripping off Tony Scott's style with Dance with the Devil, especially Man on Fire.
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6-15-2007 @ 1:02PM
Matt said...
Seeing Adriana go in to give Kenny a kiss on the cheek, and seeing him turn away for a side hug was hilarious. Smooooooth.
Overall, a very weak week. I like Marty's trailers, but he is very Tony Scott-like. He should learn how to establish his own style, instead of borrowing from Mr. Scott.
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