Listened to the Lambcast where the nominations for the Lammys were announced and My Filmviews has been nominated for the Best Blog-A-Thon/Meme category for both relay races!. I would like to thank everyone who has put in their votes for me, really appreciate it and it means a lot to me.

Looking at the blog-a-thons that have been nominated it is a very tough category with some great ones competing for the award. Looking forward to seeing the final result. Thanks again!

When it comes to romantic movies most of them seem to be filled with stereotypes. The characters are card box cutouts and it’s mostly about them ending up in crazy situations. So it’s always refreshing to see a movie where the characters feel like real people. There are a couple of movies where I have that feeling like Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Once. This is another movie that managed to portray people the way they are. Is it as good as those other movies though?

Darius Lovehall (Larenz Tate) is a poet who regularly performs his spoken word in a Chicago nightclub. One night he meets Nina Moseley (Nia Long), a talented photographer who just broke up with her boyfriend and vows not to fall in love again. As things go in the movies though you know what will happen next, but the way it handles it doesn’t feel stale. It’s a fresh approach to the boys meets girl romance movies without any moments where it becomes too unrealistic. Everything is grounded in reality and the movie takes the time to portray these characters as real people struggling with their personal issues. Of course there are many roadblocks to overcome, but they are interesting. The movie doesn’t have the typical stereotypes you see in other movies and because of that it feels fresh, even if it’s a relatively old film.

If you are looking for a nice romantic movie than this is one to check out. It has a soundtrack that reminded me of a Woody Allen movie with lots of jazz. Both Tate and Long give excellent performances and the rest of the cast is very good as well. If I haven’t made it clear yet, this was a movie I very much enjoyed and would recommend if you are looking for something unique in the romance genre.

Score: 8

First of all, thank you for taking the time out for this interview. You were picked to film the road trip of Ray Romano and Tom Caltabiano. What was it like to join these two men? I understood you were still in film school.
I was about to finish up film school as the opportunity came along to join Ray and Tom on the road. I’d like to be able to tell you some inspiring story about Ray coming to the USC Film School and plucking me out to join him on the road, but that’s not really what happened. In fact I had already known both Ray and Tom for a year prior to the tour — if that hadn’t been the case Ray wouldn’t have felt comfortable with the idea of having me tag along and follow him around with a camera during his time on the road.

I’d actually met Tom at the USC film school a year earlier — he was there taking a summer class in TV directing since he wanted to make the jump from writing to directing on Everybody Loves Raymond and so he felt it would be good to take a multi-camera directing class before attempting that. We weren’t in the same class together but we wound up meeting up through one of our professors and we hit it off right away. We have a similar sense of humor and we both loved jazz so we started to hang out and soon after he introduced me to Ray when the show went back into production. A year later when I was looking to do an internship he helped me out by introducing me to the production people on the show and at the same type he got the idea to try and document his road tour with Ray so everything sort of fell into place. It was a case of being at the right place at the right time and having the skills they needed to pull this thing off.

You were also part of the production crew on Everybody Loves Raymond. Can you tell me something about it? What was it like working on a show like that?
I went to film school as an undergrad student but ended up getting my masters in production at Warner Brothers on the set of RAYMOND. It was such a well-oiled machine. The production of that show ran so smoothly on every department and at every level so it ended up being a great education. It was a real blessing to be there immediately after film school. It was really eye opening. I was exposed to so many elements and aspects of the industry that they just can’t teach you about in film school and I think that was a key part of my professional development.

95 Miles to Go originally came out in 2004. It’s now eight years later and I was wondering if you would have done the shoot differently with the experience you’ve now gained?
I’ve thought about that a lot over the years. Every time I’d see the film at a festival or when it ended up playing on HBO I’d look at all these tech issues and little imperfections I wanted to correct and I kept thinking how if I’d had a certain type of equipment I now know about or some other camera accessory or an actual crew then it would look so much better, but if that had been the case it wouldn’t have ended up being the intimate piece it turned out to be and Ray wouldn’t have been as unguarded as he was by the simple fact that it was just him and two other guys he knew and trusted. Maybe nowadays I could make it look flashier and more stylish but that wouldn’t make it any better. It wouldn’t have had the unvarnished honesty and intimate feel it has and in the end that is the best thing about the film.

The documentary very much feels like something you would now see on reality shows. Do you think it was ahead of its time?
I think it was ahead of its time, absolutely. When we first thought about doing it the reality TV genre didn’t even exist. Nowadays nearly anybody can get a reality show and people will actually watch it. Cable networks are now being built around this type of programming. Back then we had the biggest star on television headlining our movie and when we initially pitched the project to HBO an executive in their documentary division said that no one would care about this film, no one would watch it unless something amazing happened on the road such as Ray helping deliver a baby. So it’s pretty surprising to see how that attitude has changed and how much reality content there is now.

Why should people see 95 Miles to Go?
It’s a fun movie. You’ll laugh from beginning to end and you really get a sense of what it’s like to travel around and hang out with one of the most talented comedians in the history of the craft. One of the best reviews we got came from Daily Variety — the reviewer went on to say how Ray is funnier in real life than in Everybody Loves Raymond — that’s saying a lot.

Which project(s) can we expect from you in the future?
I have another documentary coming out later this year called TOY MASTERS which deals with the rivalry between a bunch of toy designers over the creation of Mattel’s billion dollar-grossing He-Man and the Masters if the Universe action figure line. We premiered the trailer at last year’s San Diego Comic Con and it’s been getting amazing buzz. It’s being hailed as the Social Network of the toy industry and also being compared to KING OF KONG which is a great documentary I’ve loved since it first came out.

I’m also working on the Star Trek The Next Generation High Definition restoration project. I’m part of the production team for those blu-ray sets and I’m directing a series of documentaries on the making and the legacy of the show. The first blu-ray set is out on sale in July and I’m really excited to be a part of this project which we all feel will make a little history since no other television series has gotten a restoration as complex as this one.

I also just finished up production on a documentary called THE TABLE (Nostra: My Filmviews review can be found here)which is out now, it was acquired by the folks at New Video Group and it’s been getting amazing reviews. It tells the story of a support group for filmmakers in Hollywood which has been meeting once a week for the last 16 years and it features some incredibly talented people including Guillermo Del Toro, George Takei, Armin Shimerman, and Marc Zicree.

And I’m also developing a new science fiction series with Gary Goddard who produced Terminator 2/3D and a ton of other groundbreaking projects over the years. We hope to be shooting a pilot next year, so it’s a really busy and exciting time for me right now. You can find out more about all these projects at my production company’s site: www.urbanarchipelagofilms.com

95 Miles to Go follows Romano on a tour he did in between seasons of his sitcom together with his friend and comedian Tom Caltabiano. As a viewer you get an intimate look into what life on the road is like, including the weird things Romano does. He comes across as someone who can easily become obsessed with the littlest of things. He’s constantly making mind bets with himself and when he loses them he tries finding loopholes to still do something he denied himself.

In one part of the documentary he keeps going on about the smell in the car when they have put foil on the windows to block the sun. He even rents a room for a few minutes. You might wonder why, but you have to watch to find out why he does that.
Caltabiano is the voice of reason in all of this, making sure everything goes smoothly. When it is time to do the shows and meeting fans Romano is excellent, always taking time out for his fans and doing the shows with ease. He is a very funny guy.

Because of an exclusive deal with HBO this documentary wasn’t available earlier (IMDB shows it was out in 2004), but is now out on DVD. It’s clear that this is older footage as it was shot on low budget handycams in a 4:3 format. The reason to use those was a conscious one as Romano didn’t want a big crew following him, which makes what you see feel a lot more intimate.

This documentary reminded me a bit of Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop, where you also see what happens when a comedian hits the road. Although that film got very good reviews I didn’t like it as much, which probably had to do something with the fact I didn’t know much about O’Brien, so I only liked the bits when he was on stage. I had the same feeling with 95 Miles To Go. If you are a fan of Romano you will probably love seeing him off stage, getting to know him better (and you can easily add some points to the score I have given it). The things I enjoyed most on this DVD though were the extras and there are a lot of them. There are 2 Q&A sessions, a 30 minute set of Romano doing standup and great commentary tracks.

Score: 5 (for just the documentary)
Score: 7 (for the DVD because of the great extras)

Trailer:

Hope you all had a great weekend. Mine was very busy, only managing to see one movie (the Dutch film Black Out, which I’ll review later). Luckily it’s a long weekend for me (today I have the day off), so that gave me some time to deliver something you might be waiting for: This week’s Monday Question.
I was wondering this weekend about movies you want to see with someone else (or someone else wants to see with you):

Do you ever not watch a movie yet because your partner/someone else also wants to see it?

When it comes to movie watching I watch way more than my girlfriend does. Which usually means that if I really loved a movie I’ll suggest we will watch it together. Sometimes though there might be a trailer for a movie she really wants to see and as I like sharing that feeling of watching something for the first time it can sometimes take a lot of time before we finally get around to watching it. So this sometimes leaves me with a dilemma, do I watch it on my way to work or on my day off, or do I wait till she has time for it as well.

In general I do try to wait, but if it takes too long I will just watch it and usually don’t mind seeing it again with her (even though that sometimes does not happen). I’ll have to say there are some movies that she has seen and wants me to see together with her and which we haven’t come around to either. The movie we saw on Friday (Black Out) was one we both really wanted to see when it was in cinemas, but it had such a short run that we were not able to catch it. As it came out on DVD this past week it’s one we actually made time to see as soon as we could. I guess we should do that for the other movies as well.

Do you ever not watch a movie yet because your partner/someone else also wants to see it?

The relay race for the actresses has also received two updates, from two bloggers whose work I read regularly (and have also appeared in my Moviesite Spotlight):

Sorry for the late updates, but was busy all weekend with organising a birthday party for one of the kids, but I’m back in (almost) full effect, starting with the updates on both relay races. This week’s updates are courtesy of:

With everyone looking forward to The Dark Knight Rises I thought it would be a good idea to look at the movies catwoman Anne Hathaway has been in. You can already look at the ones Christian Bale and Tom Hardy did.

Anne Hathaway was born in 1982 in New York. In school she played in several plays and she finally was admitted in The Barrow Group Theater Company’s acting program as the first teenager to do so. She started out in Disney movies and earned an Oscar nomination for her role in Rachel Getting Married. She currently has 27 movie and TV credits to her name.

Click to enlarge

My favorite roles are the ones in Alice in Wonderland (where it’s obvious she was having fun doing it) and Rachel Getting Married (where she really impressed me).

What’s your favorite Anne Hathaway role?

Just imagine 130 million people having to move from one place to another. In only a couple of weeks. That’s the entire population of France and Great Britain having to move somewhere. It seems that it would be something that is impossible, but it’s something that happens every year in China. All the people working for the big factories go back to their families to celebrate Chinese New Year. This documentary looks at one of the families that are part of this big migration.

The parents of this family work in a clothing factory while their children (a young boy and a girl who’s almost 16) have stayed in their village and are looked after my their grandmother. I really can’t imagine having to leave the rest of your family behind and only being able to see them once a year, but it’s a reality that people live in. As this documentary makes clear it has lots of impact on the family. First of all getting home is hard as the trains are packed, you sometimes have to wait for days and almost have to fight to get on one. Once the parents are back they give their son a nice present, but he almost immediately hears how he should try harder at school. The daughter doesn’t really care much for her parents because she basically doesn’t know them. It’s just impossible for her to feel much for them and being a teenager she rebels against them (which results in the father physically attacking his daughter). Her parents want her to study hard, but she ends up heading to the city doing the same thing as her parents.

It’s sad that in order for these families to survive they have to be torn apart. There is not much money to be made in the villages, so parent have to move to the big cities. It was very worrying and painful to see why these people live the lives they live and it’s a documentary that stays in the back of your mind especially when you see that label on a product that says “Made in China”.

Score: 8

As you probably know by now, I’m a big fan of French thrillers. Have seen a couple of them lately and they all were really amazing. I heard about this movie on the Slashfilm podcast and it was described as “Die Hard in a nightclub”, so I was immediately interested. So is this movie worth watching or were my hopes too high?

This is a movie that doesn’t waste any time in getting you into the action. Within the first five minutes you will have witnessed robbery, murder, a chase and a kidnapping. Vincent (Tomer Sisley) is the main character in this story. He’s a cop whose son has been kidnapped and in order to get his son back he has to deliver drugs to the boss of the nightclub who is holding his son. He heads to the nightclub and once he gets there it’s just non stop action. You will get to know the club well as he constantly moves around it trying to get his son back, deal with both criminals and police as he tries to escape.

So is it comparable to Die Hard? I wouldn’t say so, except that it is set on one location and the main character is a cop. It doesn’t matter though that the comparison doesn’t ring true as this movie does treat you to an excellent ballet of action and moments where Vincent has to be quick in thinking up new ways to outsmart his enemies. Although I did think the movie was slightly too long, it’s one you really shouldn’t miss if you love action films.

Score: 7

It’s been a while since the last spotlight, but this week it shines again on Victor’s Movie Reviews. For those who don’t know what the spotlight is:

Every week I read a lot of great movie related blogs and I thought it was time to give the ones I visit regularly a chance to shine in the spotlight, by interviewing its writers.

What’s the history of your site, why did you start it?
I’ve always liked movies and had opinion about them. When I got married a few years ago we setup a joint website for ourselves and wedding information. One of the tabs I added was movie reviews, and wrote my reviews there. But my husband correctly observed no one was really reading them there and I should start a blog. I thought about, he was right, and then I started VictorsMovieReviews.com.

What makes your movie blog different from the other ones out there?
The main differences are my film festival coverages, documentaries, small independent films, and LGBT films. You will find more films you haven’t heard of in my reviews as compared to others, and hopefully readers discover something new that they want to watch.

What do enjoy most about your site and what is the reason you keep doing it?
I like showcasing the smaller films you might not have heard of, and I enjoy the comments & replies.

In which ways has your blogging changed the way you watch movies?
I pay more attention to the technical aspects of the films. I also try and watch more films, even attempting to watch films that I may have had not interest in watching before.

What’s your favorite article you have written?
My favorite post was my review of “Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”

Could you name five of your all time favorite movies?

E.T.

The Godfather

Casablanca

Once Upon a Time in the West

Collateral

How many movies do you watch on average each week?
I’m very streaky. During film festivals I can do nine in a week. Last weekend I did three. Realistically I am for one a week.

Do you own any movie related items that you are very proud of?
From actual movie sets, no. But I do own an original 1983 “Revenge of the Jedi” Poster.

Anything else you want to tell us about yourself?
I’m in the process of co-writing a screenplay, and we have already gone through our 2nd Professional review. Our goal is to finish the script Memorial Day Weekend, and then start shopping it around. I’m also Co-Chair of the Program Committee for two related film festivals in South Florida: Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, and the Ft. Lauderdale Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.

I’m sometimes surprised that I’m able to watch movies that’s are more than 50 years old without knowing anything about it. Of course I try to do this as well with newer films, but that’s a lot more difficult. Les Diaboliques is a movie that I hadn’t heard of before and wanted to watch since it appears in the IMDB top 250. So going into this blind, does it earn its place in the list?

This really is a movie you have to watch with as little knowledge as possible, so if you want to see this skip to the last part of the review. The story of Les Diaboliques is about two teachers at a boys school who have cooked up an evil plan for the husband of one of them. When the school is closed for a holiday the two decide to try to kill the husband. Will they be able to do it and get away with it?

Les Diaboliques manages to slowly build the tension. As I was watching this I felt for these two women and was really rooting for them. Could they successfully do what they were planning. Would they be able to keep their mouths shut? When during the second half of the movie strange things start happening you start to wonder as much as these women what is going on. The ending of the movie was a bit weird and to me felt out of place, but overall this was really an amazing piece of filmmaking.

If you are looking for a classic French film then this is one I’d definitely recommend seeing. It’s got lots of tension, manages to really create a tense atmosphere where everything seems about control and power and once these women decide to play that game too the results are fun to watch. Simone Signoret and Véra Clouzot are exquisite in their roles and really carry the movie.

Score: 9

Last week I went to one of my favorite cinemas in Rotterdam, Cinerama, to see Martha Marcy May Marlene (great movie btw). It’s the only “older” cinema in town as all the other ones have closed down (which of course you can read more about in my weekly “The Lost Cinemas of Rotterdam” series. Which got me thinking why I like this cinema so much and thought it was a good Monday question:

What’s your favorite cinema in your town and why do you love it so much?

The reason I really like this cinema is because it’s an older cinema and doesn’t look like something that was made to get as many people in as possible. The big multiplexes don’t have any charm, they feel cold and this cinema doesn’t. I love the fact that they always have a box standing near the concession stand with movie posters you can just go through and take posters with you if there is something you like. I also like the fact that they sell those small liquor bottles you normally find in hotels (not that I drink, but it makes that cinema unique). Another thing which I noticed when I watched Martha Marcy May Marlene was that the screen I saw it on had rounded edges, which I must admit looks a bit weird when watching a movie there, but I’ve come to appreciate it.

What’s your favorite cinema in your town and why do you love it so much?

The actresses relay race has also had an update over at Film Actually. See which actress got axed and which one was added.

A week further and there have been several updates to the best actors list. Are your favorites still in there?

Find out on these blogs:

For this week installment I’ve picked actress Julia Roberts. She was born in 1967. Her parents acted as well and many of her relatives have made a career in acting too (for example her brother Eric Roberts). When she was growing up she wanted to become a veterinarian, but after graduating from high school she did pursue a career in acting. She appeared in some smaller movies and televsion series (she did an episode of Miami Vice for example), but her breakthrough role was opposite of Richard Gere in Pretty Woman and has appeared in a lot of movies since. She won an Oscar for her role in Erin Brockovich.

My favorite role is probably the one in The Mexican. It’s a movie I really enjoyed and I can vividly remember her in that.

What’s your favorite Julia Roberts role?

In this series I take a look at cinemas in Rotterdam that have closed down. This week it’s the Oscar cinema. It opened in the centre of Rotterdam in 1975 at the Meent and closed it’s doors in 1989 and had 215 seats.

What surprised me though is that I didn’t know it existed even though I could have walked past it when I was younger. I asked my parents and other people about this, but no one could remember it. It was the one where the original location eluded me. I had an idea of its location, but no one could confirm it. I came into contact with someone who’s grandmother used to work there, but even he couldn’t pinpoint where it was after I sent him some pictures. It took me two weeks of research to finally track it down and once I thought I found the location I couldn’t wait to see if I was right.

If I was the right the cinema would have been located behind those steel doors. If you look at it now you would have never guessed that this is the spot where a lot of people enjoyed hours of cinematic bliss, but matching up my own picture with one from the archives confirmed I had found it:

Since my post last week on my blogging frustrations (which a lot of you share) I started to think about other (albeit smaller) frustrations. One of them is about subscribing to a blog via email. For me it is the perfect way to keep up with lots of movie blogs without having to visit all of them regularly (I will do so if I want to comment to something I have read). But it’s something that’s not always possible.

Looking at my current WordPress subscriptions alone there are 67 movieblogs I’m currently subscribed to. When it comes to Blogger blogs however there aren’t as much. One of the reasons for that is that a lot of them don’t offer any way to subscribe to them. By the way, there are also some WordPress blogs that haven’t enabled the feature. Here is how to change those settings.

So before I go into the specific settings for each of the platforms I first have to get off my chest that I really can’t stand it when I have subscribed to updates via email (or via a rss feed) when it is enabled and when I receive only part of the post and have to go to the blog to read the rest. Most blogs don’t have any advertisements, so why would I need to read your post on your blog itself? Please give people a choice and don’t force them to read in a specific way.

Do you think it is more important to see +1 on you site statistics or that your reader can determine him/herself how to read your posts? I must admit I do like looking at the statistics, but I actually like it more if I see how many subscribers I have through email. If they only read what I write in their inbox that’s fine with me. I really appreciate the fact they have subscribed.

So how do you make sure people can subscribe to your blog and receive automatic emails?

On blogger it’s easy to add the possibility to follow a blog by email. You can do this by selecting Layout

Then select Add a Gadget

A new window will open where you can select the Follow by Email gadget.

It’s as simple as that. If people subscribe to your blog you can actually look at statistics (number of subscribers and daily views) by logging into feedburner.com (which is used to send out the emails).

Within WordPress you can set an extra checkbox to appear below the comment box to subscribe to a blog. Select Settings > Discussion

Scroll down to Follow Blog and check Show a “follow blog” option in the comment form

So do you share these frustrations?

LAMB members can turn in their votes here

I have had a very busy weekend (I was best man at a friend’s wedding) and didn’t have any time to prepare my posts of this week, so I thought to turn the roles this week. It’s up to you to ask me questions!

So please ask me a question in the comments and will try to answer it (if I want to of course).