Hanoi
I just spent two weeks in Hanoi, capital of Viet Nam. It’s an incredibly exciting Asian city for a tired and cynical expat like me. I don’t have much else to say about it except I will be back there very soon.
I just spent two weeks in Hanoi, capital of Viet Nam. It’s an incredibly exciting Asian city for a tired and cynical expat like me. I don’t have much else to say about it except I will be back there very soon.
This is my contribution to The Ambitious-Failure Blog-A-Thon that runs from June 20th-24th. History is nearly always kind to films. It’s something to be thankful for when a film that doesn’t open to strong sales can be out of theatres and on its way to rentals within the same week. Many films that audiences miss […]
Welcome to China, 2007! Here is a photo from “The City of Eternal Spring,” one of China’s top travel destinations. I have lived in China for a number of years, and have witnessed many a neighborhood being demolished to make way for something new. This one takes the cake. Imagine an urban area larger than […]
There is an interesting interview with screenwriter John August about creativity at the cecil vortex website. Here’s a great excerpt: CV: How do you think being a screenwriter shapes the way you take in the world today? JA: I certainly find myself looking for motivation, in the dramatic sense. Motivation is the answer to questions […]
It’s been a while since I directed. My last film was Not Much, and that was a few years ago. But I remember in detail some of the problems we faced in pre-production. In particular, I remember sitting around with the cast during rehearsals and trying to discover the inner workings of their roles. One […]
The publication of Five Screenplays by Preston Sturges is a real treat for anyone with more than a passing interest in screenwriting. Preston was quite simply one of Hollywood’s greatest writer-directors, and the scripts included here give clear evidence as to why. Five Screenplays by Preston Sturges is much more than an anthology of classic […]
In April I had some great travel opportunities. After taking my first trip to Shangri-La, I travelled to Bali with the Mom and Dad for a 5 night stay. Check out this picture of the spectacular coast off southern Bali. Bali is a spectacular island with genuinely warm people. Never before have I seen so […]
From April 17-19 I made my first of hopefully many trips to Shangri La, China. It is a remarkable place with wonderful scenery and genuinely interesting people. I took quite a lot of pictures and have already uploaded some of them. Below is the Song Zang Lin Monastery, which overlooks the town of Shangri La. […]
Enough with the remakes, already! Not only has Hollywood run out of good ideas, they’ve run out of bad ones too. I just hope we’re nearing the end of the cycle where every movie and TV show anyone ever liked is remade. We could also do without the sequels to movies of old TV shows […]
Pauline Kael’s 5001 Nights At The Movies is not meant to be a complete guide to movies, but rather an overview of what cinema can do. Containing over 2800 reviews originally written for the Goings On About Town section of The New Yorker, it tackles all manner of movies including silent films, talkies, foreign and […]