Category Archives: Movies

Happy Birthday, Lew

Posted on by under About writing, Movies

Lew Hunter was one-of-a-kind.

I don’t have many acquaintances who are listed in Wikipedia. Lew was one of them, and deservedly so. After a successful stint as a TV network executive, he became one of the premier screenwriting instructors in the industry. Lew taught at UCLA for many years before becoming chairman of the school’s screenwriting department, an honor he held in Emeritus after his retirement. The aforementioned Wikipedia article quotes none other than Steven Spielberg as calling him, “the best screenwriting teacher going.”

Lew was recognized not only as one of the best teachers of the art but as one of the most positive and approachable people in the industry. One of the professors on his staff told me, “Lew is my friend, my father, my brother, my colleague—the greatest!” It was after his “retirement” that I had the opportunity to learn under his tutelage. (He could never truly retire because he loved his work and students so much.) For a while, he and his wife traveled the country in their van holding screenwriting seminars wherever he was wanted. That’s when I met him and he became, whether he knew it or not, my mentor in screenwriting and writing in general. He ended every communication with his admonition to “Write on!” He made anyone who worked with him want to do so.

He also held what he called “screenwriting colonies” at his Nebraska home. I had the privilege and honor of attending one of those and spending significant time with the man and his family. In a business where “cutthroat” and “sleazy” are commonly used adjectives to describe people in that community, he was an anomaly. A truly loving, inspirational figure that people flocked to, not just for his expertise but for his optimism and spirit. He was a one man cheering section.

We last spoke in 2020. As usual, he was gracious, helpful, and inspiring. He died of Covid in 2023. I miss him, his assistance, his sense of humor, and his encouragement more than I can say. Today is his birthday. What can I do to honor him except to…

Write on!

Goodbye, Teri…

Posted on by under Generic Rant, Movies

Yesterday, entertainment lost a massive and not-nearly-appreciated-enough talent. Teri Garr was a brilliant actor. Although mostly known for her comedic roles–“Mr. Mom”, “Tootsie”, and “Young Frankenstein” among them–I first discovered her in a small but decidedly dramatic part in the 1974 masterpiece, “The Conversation”. That aspect of her gift was equally on display in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “The Black Stallion”. To understand the respect she must have garnered in the industry, you need look no further than the impressive roster of directors who cast her: Coppola, Spielberg, Hughes, Pollack, Brooks. The list goes on.

Her loss hit me at home not only because I’m a huge fan of her body of work but because the cause of her death was a supposedly non-fatal “scum-sucking pig of a disease” (her words), multiple sclerosis, which I also have. It makes me cherish each day more and trust God more for the future.

Thank your for you support!

Posted on by under About writing, Generic Rant, Movies

Typos are everywhere. I can’t think of a single book that didn’t have at least one. And I read a lot of books. In fact, a recent novel by one of my favorite authors had at least two. Heck, my books (You know, the ones listed here. 🙂 Ironically, a typo in one of those titles caused Amazon to list it twice! Can you find it?) barely have that many. One of my favorite examples is in the written word in the middle of a movie. You can read about that one in this post.

Sometimes, it’s not clear whether an error is a typo or whether it’s just ignorance of the English language. Here’s a prime example from an article about a local community, which bragged that it…

…is infamous for its support of our local artists, writers, and musicians.

In a world where literally and metaphorically have become synonyms, why not famous and infamous? (I know those two aren’t antonyms or even mutually exclusive, e.g. Trump, but hopefully you get the point. They’re way different.)

The most common typo, however, the grandaddy of them all (and as a grandaddy, I assure you I know what I’m talking about) is the substitution of “you” for “your”. This mistake is virtually (not literally) omnipresent in cyberspace. I swear I don’t read an email, blogpost or even legitimate article that doesn’t have this failure. The most recent I can remember is this comment I saw on an article I read not too long ago:

Thanks for writing you article.

I don’t recall if the article itself had the error. I hope so.

Amaaaaaazing!

Posted on by under Generic Rant, Movies

In this previous post, I pointed out the absurdity of the overuse of the virtually meaningless word “amazing”. It’s everywhere and serves as a putdown as easily as it does a buildup. Case in point:

In a very bad movie I recently watched (yeah, I watch a lot of bad movies), the following line was delivered by a person who had just learned of a loved one’s acceptance into a prestigious college:

“That’s amazing! I’m not surprised, though.”

She was amazed but not surprised. How does that work? To add to the inanity, another character, upon hearing the same news, says, “That’s incredible!”

The same news is incredible and amazing but not surprising. Furthermore, it’s also a nasty, though thinly disguised insult. If someone is amazed and/or surprised at your success, it means they weren’t expecting it, i.e. you’re a loser.

Who writes, and worse, who approves these scripts???

[As a follower of Jesus, I’m even more disheartened by the devaluation of the word “amazing”. The classic and wonderful hymn “Amazing Grace” loses much of its impact when the adjective is rendered impotent.]

Thot Dump*

Posted on by under Generic Rant, Movies, Original writing

From time to time, it becomes necessary to do a Roto-Rooter® job on my brain. Ideas, thoughts, whims, and other random ephemera (to borrow a phrase from the subtitle of my 9th book) clog up my scarred brain and need to be snaked out before they leak all over the place and/or my brain backs up. Either one would not be pretty.

Let me now foist some of these notions on your innocent and unsuspecting mind:

Not long ago I watched (for about the 14th time) the original “Terminator” movie. You know, the one where Ahnold is a bad guy and he says “I’ll be bahk!” As often happens after multiple viewings of the same movie, something new and absurd caught my eye. Sarah Connor and her protector, Kyle, escape from the police station that the Terminator had just gone bahk to and, well, terminated. For the first time, I noticed the vehicle they escaped in. It’s an AMC Gremlin! I love it! Could there be a more incongruous mode of transportation in such a movie? I’ve since learned that there are at least three Gremlins in different scenes in the movie. Can you spot them? (Now we know what happened to the rest of the car, toots.**)

You might see me as just another blogger whose writings captivate you with flights of literary genius, thus bringing you back time and again to reach new heights of reading ecstasy, but I’m a lot more than that. In all humility, I must tell you I’m a worker of miracles. In fact, I perform such miracles almost every day when I make a huge deal out of nothing at all. Ask my wife, she’ll tell you.***

My favorite activity (or at least one of my top three favorites) is something I do every chance I get. Whenever I see babies, the younger the better, I try to catch their eyes. Babies have an incredible ability to lock onto your eyes and never let go until it’s impossible to maintain visual contact because of distance or angle. They stare at me (or you!) as if I’m the most fascinating thing on earth. It’s great for the ego but I always wonder what’s going on in their impressionable, developing minds. I hope it’s not, “Wow, there’s a strange looking dude.” But I don’t care what it is. I just love looking into those beautiful, innocent, inquisitive eyes.

One last question: How is it that saying “something is up” means the same as “something is going down”? Just asking.

* See what I did? I shortened “thoughts” to “thots”, thus saving valuable time and electrons. Of course I’ve blown both by adding this asinine comment but, hey, you can’t have everything.

** Obscure reference to old Gremlin commercial from the 70’s. Yeah, I’m that old. And more. Sadly, I can’t find the commercial anywhere except in the dark recesses of my dark (and getting darker every day) mind.

*** She’ll also tell you that I’m adept at the equally miraculous feat of turning molehills into mountains.

Breaking the Rules Pays Off

Posted on by under About writing, Movies

If you’ve read my latest book, “Scrolled”, you might remember a note in the “The True Parts” back matter that indicated there was an extremely slim autobiographical aspect to the protagonist, one Jack Gregory. Like him, I was once an aspiring screenwriter. While I still like to work on screenplays, I harbor little hope of having one purchased and/or produced, two supremely distinct and totally independent steps in the process.

Part of my obsession, er, um, pursuit was attending film festivals. The best fest for us wannabes is the Austin Film Festival, the definitive writers’ festival. (I had some success in their screenplay competition but evidently not enough.) One of the primary attractions to AFF was the opportunity to present (“pitch”) ideas to established industry professionals. One year, I pitched my idea for “Scrolled” to such a panel.

It tanked. Big time.

Why? I was told it broke two of the cardinal rules of screenwriting:

  1. No stories about writers. Of any kind.
  2. No doing-something-that-I-won’t-mention-here-because-it’s-too-much-of-a-spoiler-for-my-book-as-well-as-the-film-to-be-named-later.

Imagine my surprise then, when one of this year’s nominees for the Academy Award for Best Picture broke the same two rules. Not only that, but it actually won the award for best adapted screenplay!

“American Fiction” is a great movie with a terrific screenplay.(*) But it broke rules that I was told beyond a doubt disqualified my script from consideration! It only goes to show what I pontificated on nearly ten years ago in this blog post, to wit: Rules are meant to be broken. Within reason.

There, I feel better now. Sort of.

(*) Please note that I am in no way comparing my humble sample of silliness called “Scrolled” to that truly great script. But you can buy it and judge for yourself. 🙂

It Had To Be… that song again

Posted on by under blog snax, Generic Rant, Movies

A BlogSnax© post

I saw a new (2024) movie last week. It was otherwise forgettable but one thing sticks with me. A character in the movie sang the song, “It Had To Be You”. It’s a good, venerable old song—first published in 1924, Happy Birthday!—but the time has come to declare a moratorium on it. According to Wikipedia, between its first use in a short film in 1936 and today, no less than 27 movies, shorts, TV shows, and even cartoons, have used it.

After hearing it in great movies such as When Harry Met Sally and Annie Hall, most any other use will pale by comparison. So give it up. Find another song or, better yet, write a new good song.

(Continuing the BlogSnax to maximize writing time on the new book, which is coming along great.)

Spoiler Alert! (Not!)

Posted on by under blog snax, Movies

A BlogSnax© post

People watch a lot of Hallmark Christmas romance movies this time of year. I’ve heard that they created 41 “new” ones this year alone. The word “new” is qualified here because none of them are really new. Even the people who watch them (people like me, I confess) will admit that they only have three plots—the undercover royalty, the big city business person who rekindles an old flame in her small hometown while trying to put a local institution out of business, and the person posing as a fiancé[e]/girlfriend/boyfriend to fool the family—with a rotating ensemble of about six actors who do nothing else. (I’m looking at you, Danica McKellar!)

So how come when you read people’s reviews of these dogs on IMDb, they sometimes say “spoiler alert”? News flash, folks: There’s nothing to spoil!! A spoiler alert for one of these holiday train wrecks is as useful as a spoiler alert for Scooby Doo—Hey, it’s not a real monster. It’s a guy dressed up as a monster! Or Gilligan’s island—No, they don’t get off the island. Gilligan screws up again and they remain stranded on their three-hour cruise for which they packed three years worth of clothing and supplies.

Just had to get that off my chest before the new year.

A Golden Age of Quirky British Films

Posted on by under Movies

I’m a major fan of what I think of as quirky British movies. And lately there has been a bumper crop to choose from. It’s been a wonderful era for people like me. Here are a handful that I’ve enjoyed most:

  • The Duke (2/25/22 UK) This movie stars two of my favorite living film performers: Helen Mirren and Jim Broadbent. That alone is worth the price of admission. (That’s a meaningless assessment given that I got the video from the library but you get my point.) This is based on the true story of a painting stolen from the National Gallery. It would be great regardless but the fact that the events are essentially true make it even more appealing, if that’s possible.
  • The Phantom of the Open (3/18/22) Another brilliant (in both the literal US meaning as well as the common British usage) performance by yet another brilliant actor, Mark Rylance. Again, a (“based on”) true story of a down-and-outer who decides to take up golf by entering the British Open before he’s played a single round. It has the added incentive of including the incomparable Sally Hawkins. We’ll see her again in this list.
  • Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (7/15/22 US) If this delightful more-than-just-a-romantic-comedy doesn’t put a smile on your face, you might want to check your pulse. This isn’t a true story, but I wish it were.
  • The Lost King (3/24/23 US) Another Sally Hawkins vehicle. I’ll watch anything she does, including commercials, if she ever makes one. (She’s so great, she almost saved the dreadful poser movie, “The Shape of Water”.) This is another inspired-by-true-events tale about an amateur historian who fights the powers-that-be to make a discovery everyone told her was impossible.

The next one is far and away the cream of said bumper crop, IMHO. It’s quirkier than all of the rest combined but (a) has absolutely zero (maybe less) basis in reality and (b) has not one single big name performer. Nonetheless, this is one of my favorite movies in years.

  • Brian and Charles (7/8/22 UK) No synopsis can do this justice. The short version is that it’s about an eccentric Welshman who invents a robot to keep him company. But it’s not in any sense science fiction.

A couple of honorable mentions to spectacular British films that aren’t quirky enough but are great regardless:

  • Living (11/4/22 UK) Bill Nighy, who makes every movie he’s in better, in a role he was born to play.
  • Banshees of Inisherin (11/4/22 US) It’s more twisted and dark than quirky and definitely not a comedy, despite what its marketeers claim, but it is terrific.

American cinema hasn’t produced quirky films as prolifically as have our British cousins but one recent entry I’d put in the same category as those above is:

  • Jerry and Marge Go Large (6/17/22 US) Like a few of the above, this film features great performances by great actors portraying real people in a stranger-than-fiction situation.

All those movies were released in the last 18 months. It’s a feast for the quirk-lovers among us.

What’s Poor?

Posted on by under blog snax, Books, Generic Rant, Movies

A BlogSnax© post

I had an interesting experience recently. I use the term “interesting” against my better judgment because, as Ben points out in “Captain Fantastic”, it’s a non-word. I’m simply at a loss regarding how else to describe it. I’ll tell you and you can come up with your own assessment.

I was reading a picture book I’d written to a class of kindergartners. The book, “The Little Red Boat Came Back”, is about a little girl living in Haiti. Her mother leaves to seek out a new home for them. Introducing the book and its topic, I gave a short spiel about Haiti, a topic about which I’m passionate. I told the kids that the inhabitants of Haiti, which is on an island not far from the US, are very poor.

At that point, one child hesitantly raised his hand. Delighted that this child was sufficiently engaged to ask a question, I stopped my presentation to hear his query. To my amazement, he asked,

“What’s poor?”

I was dumbfounded. Maybe my expectations were too high but I assumed, even at that tender age, the concept of poverty would be understood. I gave as good an answer to his sincere and reasonable question as I could muster at the time but, in retrospect, I think I could have done better.

I’m not sure what the child’s puzzlement says about him, his upbringing, his community (an affluent one), his school, or our society but I was troubled at the time and I remain so.

I can’t even tell you why.