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12Jan

13 Movies: Capricorn One

Posted by: mark Categories: 13 Movies Moviemakers Movies
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Written and directed by Peter Hyams I’m going to pick 13 movies. They may be an influence on my writing, on my filmmaking, or on my thinking. They may just be movies I like. There may be more than 13. The black helicopters swoop down on the biplane like angry locusts. They communicate by turning […]

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October Sky movie still
11Jan

13 Movies: October Sky

Posted by: mark Categories: 13 Movies Moviemakers Movies
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directed By Joe Johnston, written by Lewis Colick based on the book by Homer Hickam, Jr. I’m going to pick 13 movies. They may be an influence on my writing, on my filmmaking, or on my thinking. They may just be movies I like. There may be more than 13. Every man loves October Sky. […]

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21Dec

L.A. Confidential: Merry Christmas, Bloody Christmas

Posted by: mark Categories: Moviemakers Movies
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L.A. Confidential is a Christmas movie. It begins with a real event—1951’s “Bloody Christmas” beating of seven prisoners in the L.A. jail—and springboards from there into a sprawling epic weaving police corruption, show business, and scandal together into three, four, or five (I lose count every time I watch it) intertwining stories. L.A. Confidential is […]

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14Dec

Daughters of the Dust: Dreaming and waking

Posted by: mark Categories: Moviemakers Movies
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Cinema is dreaming. You enter a darkened space, get comfortable, then experience a series of images and sounds. They may connect one after another into a coherent narrative. They could be disjointed images and sounds, linked thematically or through colors and shapes. They may be somewhere in between, a Strindbergian sonata of surreal meaning. We […]

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16Feb

Election Day

Posted by: mark Categories: Movies Press
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In 2008, I made a little movie called Election Day. It’s about a political campaign in which a murder is revealed. I didn’t think it was very good. I watched it again, and it’s not bad. The acting and photography are professional caliber. My direction isn’t half-bad. The “mystery” is the weakest part—the little “blank […]

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10Jan

The last 18 months

Posted by: mark Categories: In The Soup Movies Press
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Well, I lied. I did indeed let a year go by without a post, but it wasn’t 2020. I published chapters of a serial novel that year, plus posted a short story I’d written back in 2001. I have since removed those posts because I am working on expanded, improved versions of both those stories. […]

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6Sep

Music from Beyond Expectations

Posted by: mark Categories: Movies
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Behold, squires! The mighty music of John Winn, finally digitized for the 21st century! For musings on Beyond Expectations, see my last post. Theme from Beyond Expectations Time for Cake Gina and Rennie Gina and Rennie (Wedding Mix) Just Walk Away Penny and P.J. Chapter 1: The Way Things Are Penny and P.J. Chapter 2: Penny […]

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21Mar

“East Side Sushi”: Little film, big ideas

Posted by: mark Categories: Movies
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The best characters are little people with outsized ideas of where they should be. East Side Sushi, a small, low-budget indie, is populated with them. But the scale and proportionality is important – these are not people who aim to be astronauts, CEOs or leaders of the free world. A job with health benefits will […]

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