Tag: film
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AI Film Festival: Seattle shows the future is here and it’s ‘RoadKill’
Around 200 artists, writers, entrepreneurs, and business leaders watched more than 90 AI films from 20 countries during the inaugural Seattle AI Film Festival.
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Can AI Make a Blockbuster? Staircase Studios’ Plan for $500K Feature Films
A new Hollywood venture, Staircase Studios AI, aims to release up to 30 feature-length films, including its first effort, The Woman with Red Hair.
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AI video short Mnemonade hints at a new genre: Review
The AI short film Mnemonade (2024, Drama, MetaPuppet), winner of the inaugural Culver Cup for generative AI, is the the product of a talented filmmaker and storytelling, with good structure, believable dialog, and a twist that will make you hug your mom.
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From Fast-Paced Hooks to a Slow-Burn Pace: A Mystery/Thriller Script
Some of the best movies of recent years prefer to pull back the curtain slowly on character and action, teasing the audience to come along for the ride.
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Modern Crime Pulp: Raw Law in ‘The Gods Demand Blood’
Fans of crime fiction know many of the works of the great authors by heart: Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep, for example. But few remember another one of the great, and I think overlooked, pulp crime writers. Frederick Nebel (1903-1967) wrote stories for the leading pulp magazines, including Black Mask,…
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Corruption, Queer Fear, and ‘The Red Feather’: A Story of Vice and Family
My hometown of Seattle marked its modern debut in 1962, when a World’s Fair gave it the iconic Space Needle. It was also a city of corruption and secrets, when cops took bribes to tolerate vice, and people then called “queer” feared for their lives.
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How One Screenplay Evolved Via Revision: Crafting ‘Doomer’
A story idea can evolve into a finished product almost completely unrecognizable from the thing that first pops in your head.
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Turning Point on the Docks: ‘The Brothers O’Neill’
The Brothers O’Neill is the story of a young Seattle police officer, Sam O’Neill, whose beat covers the piers and wharves teeming with labor tension. Read the first portion of the synopsis.
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Five Screenplays Complete the First Phase of My Portfolio
Transitioning from novels to screenplays, I crafted five crime scripts, all positively received. I seek collaboration with industry professionals as I develop more projects in this genre.
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Three acts to eight sequences: Decoding screenplay structure
I explore the intricacies of narrative structure in screenwriting, from the classical three-act approach to the practical and dynamic eight-sequence structure, offering screenwriters what I’ve learned about organizing compelling narratives.
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Review: Thank God King Arthur will survive ‘King Arthur’
The Hollywood movie King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is a disappointing addition to the King Arthur books and movies, especially given my personal interest in the story. The legends of King Arthur and the Round Table are possibly the most abused of the West’s mythic texts, more than the Greek myths, and certainly more…
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Star Wars: Rogue One’s peculiar dance with death & resurrection
Star Wars: Rogue One entertains younger audiences but may confuse seasoned fans with its plot connections. It uniquely addresses death, featuring digital revivals of characters, which provoke nostalgia and unease.
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Aliens, linguistics, and disruptive storytelling make Arrival must-see sci-fi
Ted Chiang’s “Story of Your Life” and its film adaptation “Arrival” explore time perception through non-linear storytelling, showcasing how language alters consciousness and perception, ultimately revealing alternative views of time.
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Review: Doctor Strange: It’s All Benedict Cumberbatch
The review highlights the author’s indifference towards comic book movies, emphasizing their enjoyment of Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance in Doctor Strange, which showcases his talent in portraying complex characters.
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Mad Max: Fury Road sputters, despite its feminist cred
Mad Max: Fury Road gets a lot of feminist buzz, but this reviewer wonders if the chatter has overwhelmed a pedestrian film with political high-fives. My college-age daughter Emily and I saw Mad Max: Fury Road over the weekend and we left the theater wondering what all the fuss is about. Film review aggregator Rotten…
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The new emerging hierarchy of publishing legitimacy
A new legitimacy hierarchy is forming among independent writers, where traditional publishing is viewed as the pinnacle for artistic status, despite the difficulties of securing a contract compared to self-publishing options.
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Is fiction about climate change for real?
Interstellar, releasing November 7, portrays a future devastated by climate change. Discussing the emerging genre “climate fiction,” the piece reflects on artists addressing environmental anxieties through storytelling.
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Is Russell Crowe’s ‘Noah’ an allegory for climate change? (Review)
Darren Aronofsky’s film Noah reinterprets the biblical story, portraying Noah as a troubled leader reflecting on humanity’s destruction due to environmental negligence while incorporating modern moral themes aligned with climate awareness.