Episode 28- Happy-Go-Lucky
16 Jun
Tag Archives: mtol
MTOL Guest: Robert "Bobo" Chang
6 Jun
ROBERT “BOBO” CHANG is an actor born in Portland. He graduated with a Bachelor’s in Cinema and Media Arts from Biola University in 2008 and now resides in LA, working as much as possible as an up-and-coming actor. Bobo was more or less raised in a Christian home, but it wasn’t until high school that he truly gave his life to Christ and he hasn’t been the same since. Recently, God has blessed him with success in his career as he can be seen in commercials or with small roles on TV. As a filmmaker, you can see some of his work on www.youtube.com/bobofilmmaker, as well as his “acclaimed” short, “Teen Raptor” at www.youtube.com/teenraptor. Become a fan of his page on facebook (“Bobo”) and follow him on twitter (@robertbobochang)!
MTOL reviewed!
21 May
The show was recently reviewed on Edgy Podcast Reviews. The basic summary (including the good and bad) is below, but feel free to listen to the more in-depth review on their podcast.
Host Tyler Smith uses movie reviews and themes to present a Christian lesson. Most movies he discusses are not Christian films and are generally mainstream, such as The Hurt Locker, Hellboy, and Iron Man. Tyler has a degree in Film/Video and was a Film Production intern so he certainly knows his stuff. In addition to discussing plot summary, actors, and writers, he also relates the main movie to another film that is somehow similar or has a related lesson to be learned. Tyler does not pretend to have religion figured out and is pretty relatable. While at times he takes the role of “teacher” with listeners being students, his conversational tone is easy to listen to. Organization could help Tyler make a better show. It would keep him from over-explaining himself and being repetitive. It might also reduce his use of “ums” and “you knows.”Daniel: ***1/2 out of *****
Jana: *** out of *****
Thanks to Daniel and Jana for their kind words.
On Set, by Jason Eaken
21 May
The simplest thing to say is there’s nothing like being on a movie set. There’s nothing simple about being on-set itself either. It’s chaos: all busy and technical and clustered and there’s a lot of waiting involved sometimes. But it’s the most exciting kind of chaos: creative. Nine people gathered in a Sherman Oaks townhouse: the DP and a grip talking about camera equipment and setting lights; the other grip setting up our food in the kitchen, just off camera. To the other side of the camera, down in the living room, a large pile of empty bookshelves that had cluttered the dining room with something akin to 500 DVDs and books, which now occupy a hoard of boxes upstairs in the bedroom of the producer. The 3 actors are bopping between upstairs getting into costume and make-up and downstairs eating Red Vines, Almond M&M’s and some new type of Pop-Tart that is kindof like S’mores, but different, too. I’m in the kitchen, too, playing with the concoction of foods and arranging them onto the plates for the actors. It’s about consistency, it needs to look gross and to achieve the effect we had to venture outside what is commonly referred to as “people food.” But I only do one of them, then stash it in the fridge and run over to check on lights, “We’ll be ready in fifteen,” he says, good to know, because upstairs, one of the actors is having hair problems. He can’t get it into a workable ponytail, so we’re scrounging for hair product and clips to hold it in place. I go ahead and explain the shot list to them to try to give a sense of the flow of the night, even though we went over it at our final rehearsal, but with so much going on it gives both them and me a bit of a foothold on everything to list out our agenda. Then back downstairs to make more nasty-fied food, and we haven’t set the table yet. “Which side of the plate does the fork go on, anybody know?” Left is our consensus, but then it’s switched and then a short discussion about napkin placement ensues, because film is in the detail and because this is a thing I don’t know and feel that I should at this point.
MTOL Guest: Jason Eaken
19 May
JASON EAKEN is a writer and director. He graduated with a BFA in Acting from the University of Central Missouri, where he learned that, if you’re not acting hard, you’re hardly acting. he’s performed in nearly 30 plays and musicals, co-hosted the podcast Experts and Intermediates. Next up, Jason is working on a helpful literature series about his craft, which includes the following titles: “There’s Only One ‘I’ in ‘Acting,’ and it’s Me,” “Stand Back… ACTING!” and “Hand Me My Props, I’m About to Go Off!”
Episode 27- A Serious Man
19 May
Episode 26- Iron Man
28 Apr
In this episode, Tyler discusses what we can learn from Jon Favreau’s Iron Man.
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
00:00:44- Intro/Iron Man
00:16:00- The Shadow
00:35:30- Will Gray/Broke*
00:39:15- “Film Queue,” by Will Gray
Episode 25- The Informant!
21 Apr
A Neurotic Misstep, by Josh Long
16 Apr
GREENBERG (2010)
Written and Directed by: Noah Baumbach
Starring: Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig, Chris Messina
I should start out by saying that I am a great admirer of the films of Noah Baumbach. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed much of his work, and I consider him to be an important figure on the artistic cinema front – I even enjoyed Mr. Jealousy, the film which caused blow-hard New York critic Armond White to wish abortion on the filmmaker 1. It’s no masterpiece, but it certainly doesn’t deserve such harsh criticism. But White isn’t alone in his disdain for Baumbach. His recent Margot at the Wedding received harsh reviews almost across the board, despite his 2005 success with The Squid and the Whale. In going to see his newest film, Greenberg, I expected to be defending him from the critics once again. But that isn’t what happened.
