Monday, October 31, 2011

Wonder Mill Films: Feature 3 Announcement

Here's an excerpt from the latest Wonder Mill newsletter, in which I announce our third feature film.

"Lee and I have begun very early work on our next project, which will be Wonder Mill's third feature film. This new effort will be a complete departure for both of us, as the current working arrangement calls for Lee to function as sole scriptwriter and for me to function as director. We're attempting this new approach to increase our respective specializations (although neither of us are leaving behind screenwriting or directing in general), and to try collaborating on an entirely creative level.

Now, this project will not take any concrete form for quite some time, so I can't give any idea of scheduling or timeline, but we are in the outlining stage now. This film should turn out to be quite a fun, eerie, and suspenseful sci-fi thriller if everything comes together, but we are approaching it as a true experiment at this point, with no hard commitments.

We've also discussed producing the movie in a more communal, 'open source' fashion than A Genesis Found and The Nocturnal Third. We'll have details on that as the project develops, but we hope to have as many of you local filmmakers and performers involved as possible!

Of course, the development of Feature 3 will be taking a back seat to the further distribution of our newest film, The Nocturnal Third. We're putting the finishing touches on a plan that will allow N3rd, along with A Genesis Found, to reach even more audiences in our region."


Exciting!
-Ben

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

N3rd Review Round-Up - 10/25/11

Battleship Pretension
http://battleshippretension.com/?p=4481

Nashville Examiner
http://www.examiner.com/movie-in-nashville/the-nocturnal-third-review

Craig Hamilton (Cross-Posted from Examiner)
http://citizencraig.blogspot.com/index.html#2840862475833874558

The Independent Critic
http://www.theindependentcritic.com/nocturnal_third

Fabisch Factor
http://kurtsmoviereviews.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/the-nocturnal-third-review/

Life Between Frames
http://lifebetweenframes.blogspot.com/2011/09/every-machine-breaks-down.html

Flowers Flix
http://flowersflix.com/?p=3686

Saturday, October 8, 2011

DOODLES - 10/08/11

I'm in a hotel room in Louisville, KY right now, killing some time before a wedding. My wife and everyone but me is in the ceremony, so I get to hang back and stay out of the way.

I've got the harrowing Texas/Oklahoma game on in the background, wherein the Sooners (Sooners, right?) are crushing by 38 points. I'm also writing a pitch for the screening strategy of THE NOCTURNAL THIRD.

I'll probably stop in a sec to keep reading Dave Ramsey's new book EntreLeadership. It might seem strange reading for a humble part-time filmmaker that isn't in love with business, and the writing is not entirely proficient, but the values are amazing. Some new lessons, many valuable reminders.

Some movies done got seen:

MONEYBALL - Caught this with an old high school buddy a week or so ago. Quite good, which should mean a lot from the guy that knows nothing about baseball and didn't make it through Michael Lewis' book in college. Pitt is very watchable, and Jonah Hill really impresses. The film is simply effective for the most part, but there is an absolutely transcendent scene late in the film where Pitt's character quietly sees a connection between himself and a player afraid of second base. I'll say no more.

THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS - My wife wanted me to watch this movie, a goofy favorite from her childhood. I'm not one for remakes in general, but an evocative title like this deserves a much better movie. This works as a goody comedy at times, and does feature some impressive chase sequences, but overall, director Wes Craven goes completely nuts with moralizing and kitsch. A straight-forward, lean, gothic thriller borrowing the basic concept might be amazing.


-Ben