Aussie Gangster Film Side-Steps Cliches

Few crime dramas are as compelling as last year"s "Animal Kingdom." David Michôd wrote and directed the film about a Melbourne family of bank robbers. We never see them rob a bank, and except for one or two brutal scenes never a crime is committed. How's that for avoiding heist film cliches?
Michôd is after something deeper--the relationship among thieves and the police pursuing them who may be just as corrupt as their prey.
Guy Pearce does a stellar job in his understated role as the policeman who sees the crime family's youngest, J, as the lone hope for justice. The rest of the cast performs with remarkable restraint as well, especially given the subject matter -- opportunities for histrionics are at every corner, but thankfully both Michôd and the cast knew better.

Today's quote

"Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals."
Jim Rohn

Roger Ebert Looks Back at Cinema Classic

BY ROGER EBERT
John Ford's "The Grapes of Wrath" is a left-wing parable, directed by a right-wing American director, about how a sharecropper's son, a barroom brawler, is converted into a union organizer. The message is boldly displayed, but told with characters of such sympathy and images of such beauty that audiences leave the theater feeling more pity than anger or resolve. It's a message movie, but not a recruiting poster.

Thought For Today

"If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain how he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be."
-- Goethe

How can a film's screenplay take shape in 10 seconds?

"If I decide to embark on a project, it is because the whole movie took place before my eyes in 10 seconds. Then I spent a year and a half trying to rediscover what was so special during those 10 seconds."
--Steven Spielberg

Leno Came Back To Late Night To Do This?

Here's NiKki Finke's post on Jay's late night performance these days. She truly tells it the way it is.

BY NIKKI FINKE | Saturday January 29, 2011 @ 12:03am PST
I haven't watched Leno in ages but tonight I was tipped that he did a segment on the Oscar nominations so I tuned in to see if it was worth posting on Deadline. Jeez, when did Jay stop giving a damn about generating laughs? (No wonder I keep hearing rumors he wants to quit the show after this season.) He looked bored, the show's writing was worse than ever, and not only was his monologue unfunny but the Academy Awards segment was a lamefest. Oh wait, Justin Bieber just walked out. Now this is truly a crapfest.

Hitchcock, Bombs and Anticipation

Matt Byrnes leads the Venice Beach Screenwriters group, and he's written some good stuff on the screenwriting craft. In one recent article he talks about anticipation, and how to build it in your audience.
He also co-wrote an article in the winter ScriptWritersNetwork newsletter (a downloadable PDF) about organizing a staged reading of your script. Check out the ScriptWritersNetwork website, as well as Matt's own screenwriting site, InScreenwriting for info on the Venice Beach Screenwriters.