Author: Scott Beggs

The Opening Night film of the festival, The TV Set, is a satirical look at the world of television production from the mewling and puking of the show concept, through the pilot taping, straight on to the network picking it up for the new Fall line up. It’s a tale of butting heads – creativity vs. marketability – offered from Jake Kasdan, the director of Orange County.

Available: September 26, 2006 Love is big business in Hollywood. A quick survey of every movie ever made (that’s right, a quick one) reveals that…

Release Date: February 21, 1996 Like a cheap bottle of beer exploding all over a frat guy’s “College” shirt on Sixth Street, there has been…

Release Date: February 21, 1996 Like a cheap bottle of beer exploding all over a frat guy’s “College” shirt on Sixth Street, there has been…

The characters aren’t exactly new and the storyline is definitely a slow burner which is probably why The Quiet isn’t going to succeed in the American market. However, its appearance on the scene means the transition between the explosive high concept Summer is giving way to the earthy, character-driven Fall in Hollywood. The story is compelling, the acting is brilliant and the directing is certainly capable. Unfortunately, there’s something about the movie that just doesn’t work.

Just as Japanese movie makers were about to claim the award for supreme dominance in the realm of martial arts filmmaking, Tony Jaa, representing Thailand, may have just knocked them back down the ladder. With audiences needing more awe-inspiring action sequences, current martial arts directors have reinvented the genre to include standard fight scenes mixed in with acrobatics that open the eyes and drop the jaw. Even more impressive, as Ong Bak‘s marketing points out, is that Tony doesn’t have a stunt double or wires. When he leaps over a moving vehicle, it’s real.