the film snob

A cyberspace journal about my experiences as an NYU film school grad student, reviews of current and classic films, film and TV news, and the rants and raves of an admitted (and unapologetic) film snob.

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Esse Quam Videri -- To be, rather than to appear

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

A Lot to Talk About I







I've been getting some e-mails wondering why I haven't yet commented on the new reality series, On the Lot. Truth is, I wanted to wait for the series to get some heft beneath it before I chimed in. In the first week, it was scattered and bloated, trying to do in two episodes what American Idol does over the course of several weeks. Now that the finalists have been whittled down to a select few, the true shape of the show can be seen. I am enjoying it, even if it’s plagued with the usual reality melodramatics and hang-ups. Still, it could be a lot of fun, especially as the contestants are given more time and depth to flex their wings—something that will only come as the dross is cleaned away.

Speaking of dross, Carolina Zorilla De San Martin and her cell phone delivery deserved to go. For that matter, so did my NYU classmate Jessica Brillhart (no, I don’t know her, but wasn’t that shot of her walking past our Tisch building on Broadway during her bio great!); her light bulb pic was silly and not a little bit pretentious. The voters decided to give her another chance. Don’t screw it up NYU. I was sorry to see Claudia La Bianca go, not because she made a great film but because she was from my former home of three years, Sicily. It was sad and remarkable how it seemed that the women were getting picked off one by one last night.

Phil Hawkins didn’t deserve to go home already; his 911 call may not have been all that funny, but it did show beautiful promise that we will now never see. The shock of the night, the—dare I say it—Sanjaya moment of the show was when Kenny Luby and his abominable cabbie film survived the cut. What in the world did the voters see in his utterly ridiculous waste of a minute of my life? His days are numbered.

Most of the films and filmmakers showed a lot of promise, even if there was too much reliance on potty humor. Unlike the judges, I really liked Trevor James’ A Golf Story. I also liked Will Bigham’s Lucky Penny, Adam Stein’s Dance Man, Sam Friedlander’s Replication Theory, and Shira-Lee Shalit’s Check Out. However, I don’t think that anyone can argue with the fact that it was Zach Lipovsky’s night with Danger Zone, a short consisting of a single, 360 degree take around a hellish laboratory. I can’t wait to see what Zach makes next, though I hope he has both style and substance as only the later dramas will reveal.

Stay tuned…

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

But... how can you take this remotely seriously when you've already seen Project Greenlight, which actually gives you some idea of what goes into making a movie?
On the Lot's promos were enough to convince me to stay away. Same shit, different vocation.

And one of the judges is Brett Ratner.

9:08 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm curious to your and other avid, opinionated and sometimes even articluate viewers and readers think of the new (past 5 years or whatever) trend of "reality" shows. Even the CSI and court TV ubiquitousness in how any of the above are available at anytime of the 24 hour day on the tube. We still have the sit com, which has devolved to fat funny fools and their hot wives--what's up with that--taking turns abusing each other but I'm curious as to what the percentages are of "reality" shows, sit coms, SCI/La Law, and whatever other genres I'm neglecting in this day and age of viewing. I guess "news" could be thrown in there too.

Just a passing thought from a prig who abstains for the most part from watching any TV, mostly due to being too busy. Thought this might be an appropriate topic for a future discussion.

Cheers,
Paul

9:39 AM  

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