Films That Inspire Me

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to tell stories.  Most people who know me know I want to make films.  I haven't always wanted to be a filmmaker, however.  When I graduated from high school, I received a letter from my first grade teacher telling me who I was when I first started my life as a student.  I was shocked when she said that I would write stories just for fun.  I had forgotten all about that.  See, back when I was 5, I wanted to be an author.  Mainly because that was the only way I knew how to get my stories out there.  I didn't know what a screenwriter/director/filmmaker was.  All I knew were authors.  I didn't realize until I was about 14 years old that I wanted to be a filmmaker.  Authors can only do so much.  It's up to the reader to come up with the world of the book inside their head.  Movies present everything for you.  It's a combination of colors, visuals, music, emotions, etc.  When you get all that just right, it leaves a lasting impression.

What follows is a list of films that inspire me.  They make me want to be a filmmaker.  Films that make me say out loud, "My god!  I want to do that!"  Keep in mind, these are not my favorite films of all time.  That's not what this list is.  Some of these movies might make that list, most of these movies don't.  These are movies that inspire me to pick up a camera and shoot.  Some might be surprising.  Some might be obvious.  Here we go (in no particular order).

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
One of the most original films I've ever seen.  And Jim Carey's best work (right next to The Truman Show).  I'm not a big fan of his comedic roles, but I LOVE him in dramatic roles.  Save for the stinker that is The Number 23.  ESotSM takes place mostly in Jim's mind.  And it's told mostly in flashbacks, showing the ups and downs of his relationship with a girl named Clementine, played by the ALWAYS fantastic Kate Winslet.  At the beginning, we learn that Jim and Kate break up and that she has removed any and all memories of him and their relationship.  After learning this, HE wants to same procedure done.  The procedure requires that you remember, or "relive", each and every memory so it can be deleted.  This starts out fine since he first remembers the lousy memories, but when he starts getting to the good memories, he changes his mind about getting the procedure done, but can't do a thing about it.  There is nothing about this flick I dislike.  From the great cast, amazing screenplay by Charlie Kaufman, and fantastic direction by Michel Gondry, this is one that EVERYONE should check out.

Stranger Than Fiction.
Another film that feature a famous comedic actor in a dramatic role.  Will Ferrell.  Will Ferrell is so outside of his usual shtick, he's almost unrecognizable.  That's not to say he's not funny in this, just not what a Will Ferrell fan would expect.  In this, he plays an IRS auditor who lives a mundane life where nothing, and I mean NOTHING, exciting or interesting happens to him.  That is until he hears a voice.  A voice that is narrating his life.  One day, the voice says that he is going to die.  Soon.  This causes several changes in his life as he searches for answers.  Whose voice is that?  Is he going crazy?  Is he a character in some one's novel and if so, can he track down the author before he is killed?  It's hard not to smile while watching this movie.  Will's performance is just so good!  This could have easily been one of those over-the-top comedies but it's played straight right down the line.

The Apartment.
Ok, this is one that makes my "Favorites of All Time" list.  Made in 1960, it holds up amazingly well today.  Even with it being in black and white, there is virtually nothing that dates this flick, aside from the "Elevator Girls".  People couldn't push their own buttons back then?  This is the story of C.C. Baxter, an insurance clerk climbing the corporate ladder by "loaning" his apartment out to his cheating bosses.  He has a schedule written out in advance.  This superior gets the key Monday night, this one on Wednesday, this boss gets the place Thursday, and so on.  Because of this, he is in line for a promotion, which he really doesn't deserve.  Everything is going great, until he learns that the girl he fancies has been visiting his apartment with the big boss.  She is similarly distressed when she learns the big boss is also seeing other girls.  This causes her to try to kill herself.  Baxter finds her, aids her back to health, and tries to turn things around.  How does he keep his job, his apartment, and the girl?  Billy Wilder (the director) is a well established filmmaker, having made many fantastic films.  But this is the one I call my favorite.  That's a tall order considering he also made Some Like It Hot, Sunset Boulevard, The Fortune Cookie, and so on.  I could go on, but won't, mainly because many of you don't know what these are, which makes me sad.  The Apartment starts out as a comedy with Jack Lemmon doing some great physical bits, as well as some hilarious dialogue.  But as we get further into the flick, layers are shed as it becomes darker and darker.  Not to say it's a hard movie to watch.  It keeps an optimism about it, thanks to the wonderful Shirley MacLaine.  She remains cheerful even after trying to off herself and even while she and Jack exchange heartbreak stories and shared thoughts of suicide.  Wow, that sounds depressing.  It's not.  It's a wonderful romantic comedy.  I swear.

Up in the Air.
George Clooney.  How did he NOT win the Oscar with this?  Good ol' George plays a man who flies around the country and fires people for bosses who are too cowardly to do it themselves.  He thrives on this life.  He has no real connections, even with his own family.  He goes place to place, hotel to hotel, and he loves it.  Staying in one place, his actually apartment, is the worst.  He hates being grounded.  When the company he works for takes on a new girl, a girl with big ideas that will change the way people are fired, he is a little angry.  The idea is that people don't have to travel anymore.  No more face to face layoffs.  All this can be done over Skype, essentially.  So, as a last ditch effort to keep his life traveling, George takes the new girl on the road, showing her just what it is he does.  There's a "comfort" in being told you are fired when you are told face to face with someone.  Along the way, he begins a relationship with a fellow traveler that starts out as just sexual but becomes something more when he brings her to his sister's wedding.  This is writer/director Jason Reitman's 3rd film, and his best.  He hasn't made a bad movie, which is hard to believe.  First was Thank You for Smoking, a hilarious satire about big tobacco.  Next was Juno, which is essentially a love it or hate it movie.  I'm one who loves it.  Next is this, then followed by Young Adult, which is also fantastic!  But this is about Up in the Air.  It's about connections.  Why they are bad news, but also why they are essential to one's existence.  Without any real connection, you are just floating through life.  But connections also weigh you down, slowly killing you.  Ok, that's a little harsh.  But this film makes a case for both sides.  And George is absolutely perfect in this!  He showed us he can be a serious actor and not just a face with Michael Clayton, and with this he shows us the range, the emotions he can bring.  Dear Academy members, what the hell?!

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.
REALLY!?  Yes.  I admit, it isn't a great movie, but it got me, man.  Simple story.  Nick (Michael Cera) and Norah (Kat Dennings) drive around New York City, looking for a secret show this AMAZING band is playing at while also searching for their drunk friend who ran away from the group.  Like I said, simple.  This is a hipster movie, no doubt about it.  It feature indie bands, bands hipsters knew about BEFORE they were cool, little slices of heaven in restaurants and clubs only known about by locals, and soundtrack music only known by hip people.  The movie itself isn't why it's on this list, but the way the movie made me feel.  It feels like a journey, it makes you fall in love with movies in general.  It's an experience.  The performances are top notch as well.  With everyone.  The leads, secondary characters, and even cameo appearances are first rate.  Especially Ari Graynor as the drunk girl.  She steals every scene she is in.  "Why do you have no pants on, alter boy?"  And also, New York City serves as an important character in the story.  It wouldn't be the same if it took place in Chicago or LA or anywhere else.  Some movies have magical powers.  This reminds you of that.

The Social Network.
This movie shouldn't have worked.  The creation of Facebook.  Terrible idea for a movie, right?  Wrong!  At the beginning, it was mocked as "The Facebook Movie", but when it came out, it blew every one's minds.  Including mine.  This is drama at it's finest.  Most, if not all, is due to Aaron Sorkin's script.  Virtually, nothing happens on screen.  Yes, some visuals take place, but this is a movie about dialogue.  The dialogue is what drives it.  People sitting around, talking.  The best scene is the very first one.  The one that takes place before the opening credits.  A guy and a girl, sitting at a crowded bar, talking.  Talking about everything and nothing.  Right off the bat, we know our main character, Mark Zukerberg (played perfectly by Jesse Eisenberg), is not a good guy.  He's not a bad guy either.  He's just an asshole.  Or, he's trying so hard to be.  Who doesn't know someone like that?  I can't just give him props though.  Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer, Rooney Mara (who has about 8 minutes of screentime) are all fantastic.  This is a film that can be watched many times, each showing what each person brings to their roles.  I mean it, watch the movie and only focus on one character.  Then, watch it again but look at a different character.  I think director David Fincher deserves the credit here.  He is notorious for doing upwards of 100 takes per scene.  Also, the music in the film is unbelievable.  Who knew the guy from Nine Inch Nails can compose the fuck out of a movie?  The Oscar was his, uncontested.  Same SHOULD HAVE BEEN for the movie.  Really, Academy voters?  The King's Speech over The Social Network?  Can recounts be done with the Oscars?

Midnight in Paris.
Nostalgia.  This is basically what the movie is about.  And that's breaking it down into the dumbest possible way.  A writer (Owen Wilson) and his wife (Rachael McAdams) are vacationing in Paris.  Owen writes screenplays for movies which he hates and is trying to free his mind so he can write his novel.  Upon strolling the streets at night, he is somehow transported back in time to the 1920's.  This is his favorite era.  He meets F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, and many other significant players from that time.  The next day, he wakes up in his own time, wondering if the whole thing was a dream.  But when he takes another midnight stroll and winds up back in the 20's, he realizes this isn't a dream.  He's wining and dining with the greats and also falls head over heels with a woman who shares his love for the past.  This is a lovely movie.  I'm quite a nostalgic person, some thing you'd gather after taking one look around my apartment, and found this movie pulling the strings of my heart.  It tells you how great the past was, but also how you can't live in the past.  The present is the greatest time in history.  No matter when it is, the time you live in right now is the most important.  I was surprised at how much I love this movie.  I really like Woody Allen (the writer/director) but I don't love him.  Yes, he's made some great flicks.  Annie Hall, Manhattan, Purple Rose of Cairo, Match Point.  All amazing.  But he's also made a lot of duds.  I won't go into naming them because he's made SO many.  The man makes a movie every year.  Seriously.  But every once in a while, he hits big.  This is the case with Midnight in Paris, which audiences agree.  This is his highest grossing movie to date and it's easy to see why.  I love that there is no explanation for time travel here.  Because there doesn't need to be an explanation.  It's a wonderful romantic comedy fantasy.  One that would warm even the coldest of hearts.

Back to the Future.
Another movie about time travel.  I probably quote this movie at least 11 times during the day.  Friends and acquaintances can tell you that.  Also another movie about nostalgia.  This time, the 50's.  I won't go too much into this since EVERYONE knows this movie.

Brick.
A modern film noir.  What is that?  A genre popular back in the day.  The black and white day.  Detective films.  Whodunit films.  Only this one has a twist.  It's about high school students.  A loner finds his ex, dead outside a tunnel to a storm drain.  What follows is a search to find out who killed her.  But more importantly, why.  This movie is unbelievably good.  I actually stumbled onto this while randomly looking through a video store.  You know, those things that had movies you could physically rent.  Before the days of streaming and Netfilx and Redbox.  The dialogue is a little hard to follow if you aren't used to it, but the story isn't even with it's many twists and turns.  My high school experiences weren't this intense.  Teenage drug dealers, kingpins, and prostitutes.  Boy, did I grow up in the wrong town.  It's even more impressive that this is the debut for first time filmmaker Rian Johnson.  Oh, you know.  The guy who did Looper.  He spent a long time on this script, and it shows.  There isn't a bad thing I can say about this movie.  This is what a debut film should be.  Clever, engaging, and original but also pays respect to films before it.

Honorable mentions: Drive, Into the Wild, Ghostbusters, (500) Days of Summer, Moon, Reservoir Dogs, Taxi Driver, The Thing (1982), An American Werewolf in London, The Beach, Hugo, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

5 Things I've Learned in my Year of Stand Up

Hello, guys and gals.  Whoa, is that right?!  My last post was in October?  Jeez, I've been slackin'.  Hopefully this will make up for it, but I doubt it will.

So, I did it.  I hit a milestone.  I have been doing stand up for a year.  Wow.  Has it been a year already?  My first stab at stand up was February 2011, which I believe I blogged about, and my latest show was last Tuesday at The House of Comedy.  During that year, I have performed a total of 11 or 12 times.  3 shows at Acme, 6 or 7 at HoC, 1 at Comedy Corner Underground, and 1 at Duhb Linn's in Duluth.  Since that first performance, I've learned some things.

1. Getting Stage Time is Hard.
After my first killer set at Acme, I posted on Facebook and Twitter "Tonight was amazing!  Give me 6 months and I'll be a local celebrity."  Boy, was I wrong!  Professional comics have gone on record saying the hardest thing about starting out is just getting stage time.  Part of this is due to the fact that clubs tend to fill their set lists with people who have NEVER performed before and with the local big dogs who consistently kill it every week.  This leaves little room for comics like myself.  Another reason why getting stage time is so hard is #2.

2. There Are More Funny People Out There Than You Realize.
In a small town, there are probably a handful of truly funny people.  This is NOT true in a bigger city.  It seems like everyone and their brothers want to be comedians.  Especially during contests.  They come out of the freakin' woodwork during contest season.  And a thing to remember, everyone wants to make it as a comic just as much as you do, maybe even more.  The ages of comedians vary as well.  There are those as young as 18 and some as old as 50 or 60.  Seriously.  I've seen them.  And I'm not just talking about comedians who do this professionally.  I mean Open Mic-ers.  50 year olds trying it for the first time.  It's crazy.

3. Everybody Bombs at Some Point.  EVERYBODY.
If you can get over this fact, then you'll be fine.  Bombing (telling jokes that get little or no laughs) is a comic's worst nightmare.  Actually, mine is bombing and then getting stabbed as I walk off stage.  It's a horrible feeling.  Bombing, not the stabbing, although I'm sure that's pretty bad too.  You just want to curl up in a ball and die in a dark corner afterwards.  But even the best comics bomb.  It makes you want to do better for next time.

4. Comedians Often Retell Jokes.
This is something I didn't understand at first.  I had gone to a show one week, just as an audience member, then went back the following week and heard most of the same material from the previous week.  I thought "They're telling the same jokes!  Don't they write new stuff?"  Coming up with new material is hard.  Coming up with new material that is funny is even harder.  Key elements for a comedian: start the show strong and end the show strong.  You can only really do this with material that you know will work.  And a joke is never really finished anyway.  Each time you tell it, you polish it up a bit.  Making it better.

5. Every Audience is Different.
A joke that works with one audience may fall flat with another.  I can't tell you how many times I've seen this happen.  It has happened to the best of them as well as myself.  And also, if you lose an audience, it's really hard to get them back, especially in the 3 to 7 minute window Open Mic comics get.  For the most part, audiences react pretty strongly to dick jokes, sex jokes, and gay jokes.  But try to avoid sizing the audience up.  There is no telling what an audience will like.  It's mainly about how you feel that night and which jokes YOU want to tell.

So, there you have it.  5 things I've learned.  Now, there are more things that I've learned, but these are the 5 I wanted to commit to blog.  I may share the rest of my findings at a later date.  Maybe.  I think I'll leave you with something a fellow comic told me at one of my first shows.  "Welcome to the world of stand up.  It's a wonderful string of disappointments."