Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
What a grab bag of geekery:
Hey Harry,
Just wanted to send an update from good old Boston about some cool stuff that has been going on up here. The Boston Film Festival was here this week and I only got to see two films, but they did not disapoint. The first film, "Overnight" (by filmmakers Mark Brian Smith and Tony Montana) has been reviewed a few times on this very site, and the other reviewers did a pretty good job summing it up. In a nutshell, this documentary chronicles the sudden rise to fame and spiraling, gruesome, firery fall of Troy Duffy, the writer and director of The Boondock Saints, "cult" hit to frat boys the nation over. This man is so perplexing in his madness that this doc should be shown to psychology classes (and indeed it's been offered) so they can attempt to sort out his various issues.
Duffy's pompousness is so extraordinary that by the end of the film he is a mere charicature of himself. The people in the film that are forced to deal with him, like the audience in the theater watching all this unfold, are left staring blankly at him while he pontificates, stunned and outraged by his display of ego, but most of all wishing this dude would just shut his mouth. This could be subtitled: what NOT to do when you get a break in Hollywood.
The luck and blessings bestowed upon Troy Duffy by getting a break that most aspiring (and more deserving) filmmakers do not get are shat upon thoroughly. The filmmakers did an excellent job of cutting this movie and it moves along sequentially, covering some 4 (?) odd years but still running at a brisk 83 minutes. The shorter format works well for the medium, as the film pulls you along, where other docs might leave you, quite frankly, bored. The filmmakers in attendence were informative and nice, with Director Mark Brian Smith (in addition to being a pretty, pretty man) and Tony Montana serving up info and anectdotes about their long suffering under the Duffy Reich and their labor of love, which should hit theaters in November... go out and support this film.
Next up on my list was a movie I've heard rumors about... Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior. For those who don't know, this is a Thai martial arts movie about a young man, Ting (Phanom Yeerum), from a small, impovrished village. When a goon steals the head off of Ong-Bak (the village's sacred Buddha statue), Ting must go to the big city to try and get it back. Okay, now that that's out of the way, what is this movie really about? This movie is really about Muay Thai, which is a style of martial arts that makes you go OW. I recently saw Hero for the first time, and though I loved it, the martial arts styles of these two films couldn't be more different. In Ong-Bak you *feel* every bone crunching hit, and you marvel at how the stunt guys that Phanom kicks the living crap out of aren't all dead. Yeerum delivers flying elbows to the top of your head, bone-splintering knees to your sternum, and roundhosue kicks to the back of your neck all with speed and precision. Best of all, this is all done full contact, with no tricky angles, jumpy editing, wires or cgi to mask this guy's pure skill. As over-the-top and sometimes ridiculous the fights are, you almost get the feeling that if an excellent martial artist were placed in situations like this in real life, Ong-Bak is what it might look like, that is how no-nonsense Phanom Yeerum's moves are. The stunts are all done by Yeerum, and bring to mind Jackie Chan in his hayday, with a stunts-for-stunts-sake chase scene in the middle being a particularly amazing display of athleticism. YOU try jumping clean over a car. Even a little one. A must for martial arts and kung fu fans. Catch it if it comes your way.
To complete my geek odyssey, I visited the Boston Museum of Science's presentation of the Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy Exhibit. I came fully prepared to be constantly soiling myself from sheer excitement. When you walk in you are greeted by a life-size cave troll and moria orc ready to kill you in all sorts of nasty ways. Then you turn the first corner and it is geek overload...being a huge fan of the films, books, and lore, I literally wanted to run in every direction at once because there was so much there. But I forced myself to stay calm and take my time with things. The Exhibit has original concept art, costumes, weapons and accessories from all the leads, armor from all manner of species, and the one ring itself. Also displayed are video displays of interviews from the cast and crew about making the film, and a few demonstrations of effects. Two of my favorites, though, were the towers of Barad-Dur and Orthanc that were filmed for the movies...these miniatures are huge (Orthanc is like 25 feet tall or something) and the level of detail is staggering. Actually, the level of detail and craftsmanship put into everything in the exhibit was amazing... You can put your nose right up to Anduril and swear that thing's been around for an Age. If you are a fan of the films or just filmmaking in general, you have no excuse not to see this...take a trip and make a weekend out of it if you aren't in the area. It's there till Oct. 24th.
That's it from me... keep up the good work with the site. Thanks!
-The Schroeder
Cool stuff, man. Nicely done.
"Moriarty" out.
