by publius
But it's for a very good cause. Filmmaker Sasie Sealy -- scratch that, award-winning filmmaker Sasie Sealy is a finalist in Netflix's "Find Your Voice" competition. If she wins, it would give her a full budget to begin shooting this fall (which I would eventually leverage into an LA premiere party invite, which is the first step in my elaborate plan to become BFFs with Anne Hathaway).
So it's easy -- go watch the trailer for SarahN_12, and give it 5 stars. And you can say you voted for her when...
which is the first step in my elaborate plan to become BFFs with Anne Hathaway
So what, exactly, does Mrs. Publius think of this plan?
Posted by: tgirsch | June 12, 2009 at 05:25 PM
Hey guys. Follow this link for the latest interview with Paul Krugman. The Geithner plan is looking worse than ever.
Posted by: [NOT]John Thullen | June 12, 2009 at 05:29 PM
Looks interesting. I invested in a short film a couple years ago which is now a full length film that was shown at Sundance and every other major festival this year. It should be a major release in the fall or spring 2010.
Which is to say that it is possible for someone to make a short, get funded, make a film, and be a success. I doubt I will get my money back, but at least I can claim to be a producer (uncredited, of course).
Posted by: jrudkis | June 12, 2009 at 05:30 PM
"So it's easy -- go watch the trailer for SarahN_12"
It's not quite that easy; your link doesn't go to the trailer for her film, but to a generic link for the contest.
You then have to click on "Semifinalists" and then find her entry, and click on that, and needless to say, those are the semifinalists, not the finalists.
Posted by: Gary Farber | June 12, 2009 at 05:38 PM
"elaborate plan to become BFFs with Anne Hathaway"
Dress like a priest. I hear she digs that.
Posted by: Jon H | June 12, 2009 at 05:45 PM
Oh, and if you clicked to get the larger picture, you then can't actually vote until you click to go back to the set of ten film options.
Netflix also sure provided a crap interface: you can't rewind, or fast forward, or full screen. Sheesh.
Your friend's trailer was definitely creepy. I'm glad it wasn't the first one I arrived at, which was such a string of film cliches it almost qualified as parody.
Posted by: Gary Farber | June 12, 2009 at 05:45 PM
Oh, and then you have to give your email address for your vote to be valid.
Posted by: Gary Farber | June 12, 2009 at 05:46 PM
So what, exactly, does Mrs. Publius think of this plan?
well, she would probably dump me for Anne Hathaway herself. so it's a race of sorts. :)
Gary - i think you added one too many clicks. the link takes you to trailers. and from there, you click on the trailer itself. there's no "semifinalist" link on mine.
Posted by: publius | June 12, 2009 at 05:56 PM
"there's no 'semifinalist' link on mine."
The menu strip consists of links to "semifinalists," "prize," "judges," "rules," "filmmakers."
I had to click on "semifinalists" to find the trailer for Sasie Sealy because I followed your directions literally, clicked on the "play" button on the presented film, watched a trailer I thought was the one you intended me to watch, and then noticed that the credits didn't, in fact, match. I came a hair's breadth away from entering a vote for someone else by following your directions. Possibly most other people have a more careful eye than I do, and wouldn't come close to making that mistake, to be sure.
So I thought I might clarify that people shouldn't, if they want to vote for Sasie Sealy, do that. They need to pick out Sasie Sealy's specific trailer.
Best of luck to your friend.
Posted by: Gary Farber | June 12, 2009 at 06:33 PM
ok - thanks for voting gary
Posted by: publius | June 12, 2009 at 06:52 PM
Netflix also sure provided a crap interface: you can't rewind, or fast forward, or full screen
2 out of 3 -- there is a full-screen option, but it's a tiny box in the lower right corner.
Nothing against your friend, but personally, I liked Jon Goldman's "PSEStSA" and Philip Flores' "Touchback" better, and would vote for either Maryam Keshavarz' "Circumstance" or Dee Rees' "Pariah", probaly "Pariah". Not only do the trailers for these other films give a better sense of what they're about, but the films look like movies I'd want to see.
Best of luck to Ms. Sealy -- Let us know when the feature is available, and I might Netflix it.
Posted by: Jeff | June 12, 2009 at 07:24 PM
"2 out of 3 -- there is a full-screen option, but it's a tiny box in the lower right corner."
Which doesn't go to a full screen in either Firefox 3.0.10 or IE 8.0.6001.18783 on my copy of Windows 6, Build 6002, Service Pack 2. If it did, I would have mentioned it.
"Philip Flores' 'Touchback'"
I was being politely non-specific, but that's the one that I found so stuffed with film cliche as to be laughable. Foreground shot of vehicle moving on highway with background out-of-focus? Check. Dreamy music playing over cuts? Check. Cliche slogans fading in and out? Check. Meaningful looks between moody characters fading in and out of foreground and background focus? Check. Adolescent characters staring at each other, and then looking down in embarrassment? Check. Characters talking around a campfire as the camera pans around the campfire for views of them? Check. Shots of characters as the camera moves down a corridor and the characters turn to look into the camera? Check. More corridor shots as one character turns to watch another character pass them? Check. Cut to fast-motion of characters moving around the in-focus character? Check. Shot of the sun rising over the horizon in fast motion? Check.
"Sometimes a journey... tears us apart." Fadeout to title.
Can you name one shot in that trailer that isn't hackneyed cliche?
This trailer was done tremendously better when it was called "The Virgin Suicides."
Posted by: Gary Farber | June 12, 2009 at 07:57 PM
You keep your filthy mind off of Anne Hathaway, my wife.
Or I should say, my NEXT wife.
Posted by: Patrick | June 12, 2009 at 11:47 PM
I've been dating Kate Winslet (in my mind) for years. But I respect publius' infatuation with Ms. Hathaway, whose comic side really showed during Saturday Night Live this past season.
Also, having just seen it on cable after reading nothing but bad reviews when it first came out (they were correct), I thought Hathaway was the best thing about the "Get Smart" remake. (Steve Carell is usually great but he was no Don Adams, whose Maxwell Smart was iconic. Bottom line: Another TV classic that did not need the remake treatment.)
Btw, I finally saw Winslet in The Reader and fully understood why she won her first Oscar. A difficult role in a challenging movie.
Posted by: bedtimeforbonzo | June 13, 2009 at 11:40 AM
Gary... can we assume by your scene by scene critique above (rife with complaints centering only on content) that you actually, now, have **GULP** high-speed internet service?
If so, enjoy it in good health and in better spirits. Absent that foundation of civilization I can't imagine what a crank I'd be right now.
Not suggesting you are.... just... aw fergit it...
Posted by: xanax | June 13, 2009 at 03:29 PM
PS. Patrick and Publius, two words:
Emmanuelle Béart.
Posted by: xanax | June 13, 2009 at 03:32 PM
"Gary... can we assume by your scene by scene critique above (rife with complaints centering only on content) that you actually, now, have **GULP** high-speed internet service?"
I've been living in a house with cable internet (the low side of it, but cable nonetheless) for a year now; when I'll have to move out remains an open question.
Posted by: Gary Farber | June 14, 2009 at 04:35 PM