KGB Productions

Here's a link that may inspire you or if anything it may make you think.  I try and find inspiration where ever I can, so check it out and see what you think. I've always been a dyi guy, and if it doesn't start with you who else is it going to start with? Check it out.  Though he filmed his film "The Cube" with a Canon Rebel T3i I myself think there may be other cameras that are better and are far less expensive.  In the end use what you have and make it work.  Better then doing nothing.  Stay creative people. http://filmtrooper.com/

It was once again time for a family outing, and since our boys have been keen on seeing "The Lego Movie" since it was announced last year, so it was off to the movies.  After breaking several piggy banks for the admission fare, and the goodies that go with movie watching we caught an early show.  I had heard things about this film being pretty smart, and funny, and I can say I wasn't disappointed.  The filmmakers do a great job pandering to their audience, which face it is anyone under 12.  But that's the charm of the movie.  There are so many in-jokes, and jokes that kids won't get that makes the film pretty funny at whatever age you are. Sitting here writing this review I still can't remember all the jokes in the film, and maybe that's what the filmmakers wanted.  After all maybe after seeing it with the kids maybe the grown-ups will see it again, and you know they'll have to take the kids again, so double score for the studio in the money depa...

  Dearest Francesca, I’m writing this letter to you about the future. I’m looking at it through the lens of my world. Through the lens of cinema, which has been at the center of that world. For the last few years, I’ve realized that the idea of cinema that I grew up with, that’s there in the movies I’ve been showing you since you were a child, and that was thriving when I started making pictures, is coming to a close. I’m not referring to the films that have already been made. I’m referring to the ones that are to come. I don’t mean to be despairing. I’m not writing these words in a spirit of defeat. On the contrary, I think the future is bright. We always knew that the movies were a business, and that the art of cinema was made possible because it aligned with business conditions. None of us who started in the 60s and 70s had any illusions on that front. We knew that we would have to work hard to protect what we loved. We also knew that we might have to g...

  Can I get excited now?    Just heard about this, and it is still in the development stages, but it's exciting to hear about this innovation.  Before I ventured into 16mm there was my handy dandy Super 8 camera.  The epics that were shot with that camera were fun and filled with enthusiasm.   Even my dad filmed with his own 8mm camera the family events while I was growing up.  It seems like ages ago, and some how when I view the footage taken back then a feeling of nostalgia comes over me.  The color, and even the sound comes popping off the screen and I'm transported back to that time. The magic of home movies everywhere, but with Super 8 it was different then what we have today.   There were no shaky camera movement, because it was film, and we only had about three minutes worth to capture the people and places we loved.  There was a lot involved in getting that image, and you wanted it right, and perfect, and somehow that transl...

My younger son wanted to see this, and he was counting the days to see this film, so we went and saw the film.  I wasn't expecting anything great, but I did want to see my youngest happy so off we went.  The thing is that I had read all the reviews saying that the film was weak and predictable.  I have two boys one older and one younger who also attended, and both enjoyed the film , but not as much as my youngest.  I like to see things through my boys eyes.  It gives me a different perspective, and I enjoyed the movie a bit more seeing it as my boys see it. Now that being said is this a good film?  It depends on who is the audience.  I feel the film is better suited to younger audience's then older ones, and that's not it's problem.  Some of the visuals in this film are really stunning.  The story is predictable, but the film has a moral, and for its younger audience its okay.  The moral is that we win by sticking together.  It...

I am always interested in movies about making movies.  Maybe it's because I want to see how others suffer for their art, or maybe it's just plain curiosity. But after watching ten minutes of " Journey to Planet X "  I got hooked. The film is about Eric Swain and Troy Bernier who are scientists by day and amateur filmmakers by night. In the film we see their work from the past and it is very amateur like, but the work has heart. It's Swain's and Bernier's can do attitude which is refreshing and inspiring.  In the film they are making a more ambitious short entitled "Planet X"and the documentary is all about how they do it.  All the good and the bad of filmmaking is seen in this making of film, and middle way through the film you find yourself rooting for these guys. The documentary goes through the whole process of our two hero's making their film from preproduction to post, and we get to see how the actual film develops.  Both Eric and ...

Rick Springfield is a unique musician.  In this documentary we are shown Rick Springfield and his fans.  The problem with the documentary is that I enjoyed seeing Rick Springfield perform, and even listening to his devoted fans, but the film doesn't know what it wants to be.  A fandom film explaining why his fans love him, and go out of there way and see him, or that of the artist himself. I really took away the hard work Springfield puts into his concerts and his performances.  He really is a working mans musician.  He seems like a really ordinary person who had fame thrust upon him, and then disappeared for awhile.  Springfield still produces new material, and tours heavily, but it's the fans that the filmmakers seem to be interested in and yet they do a poor job at getting into the heart of that.  The filmmakers focus on only a handful of fans, and don't really get to the heart of why Springfield is so popular with them.  We do see how ha...

Okay it's the holidays and you want a feel good flick, or you just want to laugh out loud with others.  Then sit back and watch " What to Expect when Expecting ".  Going into this film I totally thought "chick flick", but hold on there buddy there is some stuff in here that isn't all that bad.  First off I have to say Chris Rock steals the movie for me.  What part is scripted and what parts are all Rock is to be debated, but honestly he made me laugh, and he was quite good in it.  Could it be Rock is softening with age?  He still retains his humor in this film, but he lets some zingers out that make you laugh out loud. The ensemble cast is pretty good, and Jenifer Lopez who gives a beautiful performance in the film.  I swear she had me welling up tears at the end, but I won't swear to it.  I also have to say that Ms Lopez looks so beautiful, and she seems to really put her heart and soul into her performance.  The cast does a good job ...

  Okay I have to get this off my chest.  I finally saw the movie " Cabin in the Woods ", and I have to say I was very interested in seeing it, but it totally let me down in the end.  The movie has great production value, and even some interesting casting.   Especially Richard Jenkins , who I think should have gotten the academy award for his performance in "The Visitor ", but I digress.  Even putting in Bradley Whitford in this film doesn't help it.  I do like the scenes between Whitley and Jenkins, but again putting A list actors in a B type movie does not help it.   It does make it memorable, but only because the actors are really good, and you can see that their having fun with their performances. It's a typical teenagers or in this case college roommate's and friends weekend away from civilization when things go horrible wrong.  The twist to this is this, and this is a SPOILER ALERT.  The victims are part of a test and th...

   It seems that this week a few well known entertainment celebrities have passed on.  For this one I wanted to celebrate Mr. O'Toole's work, and try to persuade some readers to see some of his work that the critics have failed to talk about.  Most of the news agencies have all done tributes to this great actor, but they always forget other works that need to be talked about and I'm here to remind others that there is a a number of Mr. O'Toole's films that need to be seen.  So let's start with the first. Of course there is " Lawrence of Arabia" , a film directed by none other then the famous director David Lean.   Not only is O'Toole's performance brilliant, but the film is epic in scope.  Alone for the photography the film is an interesting piece of cinema.   His performance is outstanding, and watching it one feels for his character.  But let's go on to other movies that O'Toole was in that aren't mentioned, but should be. ...

 While at the CCW expo I saw a lot of cameras with a lot of lenses on them.  We always talk about a pristine image, and one that is detailed, but a GOOD lens is what can make the difference.  Are lenses expensive?  They can be and the good ones usually are, but for us cinema obsessed people renting a good lens is something cinematographers do constantly.  But there are a whole host of lenses to choice from, and which one will be right for your project is not always an easy answer. But your in luck.  A classmate of mine has just written a pretty good tutorial about lenses.  I suggest you pop on over and get schooled.  Remember an image is as good as the lens it is being seen through, so when talking about 4K you'll want a GOOD lens in front of your camera to catch all the detail of the scene.  The best lens to give you a variety of different shots would be a zoom lens.  I'm a lover of good prime lenses, but zooms have saved my bac...

   So this week I was at the content & communications conference here in New York .  The conference is always interesting and somewhat informative.  Usually each year there are themes, and this year it seemed all about 4K.  Last year there were a lot of panels for 3D, and this year not a peep about 3D.  I always knew 3D was a fad, and would not catch on.  It's all about consumers voting with their pocket book, and 3D never had a chance. 4K on the other hand is another story.  It's all about product, and what will drive 4K will be content, and will that content be worth seeing in 4K.  Right now consumers are pretty happy with their flat panel screens of various sizes.  At one time the bigger the screen the higher the price, but not so today.  LED panel screens are the rage, and they reproduce HD content really well.  But the thing is no broadcaster is broadcasting in 1080, and so we're not truly seeing HD.   ...

 I know didn't I already write an entry on Bukowski ?  Yes, but there is so much about him that I think a review of the DVD " Born into this " is something worth noting.  Released in 2003 and directed by John Dullaghan the documentary is worth seeing if you know nothing of the man and his work.  The film is also pretty much a warts and all about Bukowski.  The good and the bad, and as the filmmaker says in the film it was just as well that Bukowski never saw it because some of the footage would have made Bukowski uncomfortable.   Seeing this footage shows us how Bukowski is such an interesting and worth while artist and a one of a kind.  His wife Linda Lee Bukowski gave the film it's blessing and the filmmaker worked real close with his wife and had access to a lot of footage that Charles Bukowski left behind. The most interesting documentaries show us the human condition good and bad.  After all we all have things in our closet that...

So it's been a pretty quiet here.  I get that way sometimes.  I think we all do.  One evaluates oneself and thinks and wonders where am I or who am I?   I've been receding into Charles Bukowski. work.  I've always been an admirer of the man and his work.  But I began reading his novels and have even started reading some of his many poems, and have become invigorated by his words.  I started with the novel " Post Office " and have so far finished three of his novels, and am waiting to read more of his works.  This all comes courtesy of my local library, but I was impressed on the many works they did have of Bukowski's work.  I even picked up a documentary called " Bukowski: Born into This ", and it was a very revelatory film about the man. I've also read " Hollywood " which was his novel about the making of the film "Barfly" , which I also viewed.  I have to say I have a new respect for the film, and after seeing it aga...

I was watching the other day the movie Chaplin with Robert Downey Jr . as Chaplin.  The film was okay, but what really got me to thinking about Chaplin  was how much of an innovator he was.  I had to take a class about the silent era in college, and though I was no film studies connoisseur back then I did admire and even learn a few things from the masters.  In fact I've come to the conclusion that cinema has not changed much since the silent era.  Sure there is sound and with sound comes dialogue, but telling a story with pictures only was as basic as it got, and to consider that filmmaking was in its infancy back then and it was all being developed seemed exciting.  I became a fan of Buster Keaton, but I'd admired Chaplin very much.  His movie " The Kid " was the one that did it for me.  In it Chaplin as the Tramp finds a child on the streets, and he is forced to raise the boy.  The bond that the two develop is heartwarming, and will tu...

Frankenstein's Army is a cleaver horror film that uses the found footage concept to tell a story about a lost Russian unit that comes across a secret Nazi lab where the journal of Dr. Victor Frankenstein is being translated into gruesome experiments.  The film is directed by Richard Raaphorst and Mr Raaphorst does a good job with what little he has.  I was unfamiliar with Raaphorst work so I enlisted a friend who knew of his work.  Mr. Raaphorst was the individual who did a fake trailer of a film entitled " Worst Case Scenario ".  The clip went viral and was nominated for the best trailer, no movie , at the golden trailer award.  Frankenstein's Army is a movie with some of the ideas Raaphorst presented in his trailer " Worst Case Scenario" video . Shot in Prague, in the Czech Republic the film uses it's location to maximum effect.It was shot in an old abandoned mine.  I was fascinated on how the film came about, and since this is Raaphorst's ...

I had been waiting to see this film for some time.  After reading Linda Lovelace's books "Ordeal" and " Out of Bondage " I was mortified by what she experienced and what she went through.  It wasn't until I met the lady at a convention that I had a chance to talk with her for about 10 to 15 minutes.  Some critics point to Lovelace's appearances at these conventions as her being a hypocrite and that her experiences were all a lie.  I only spoke to her for a little while, and she was pleasant and I addressed her as Ms Marchiano since that was her name now.  She told me to call her Linda, and she really seemed genuine.  She talked about her children, and I saw how much she was committed to them.  I believe it was this that drove her to provide for her family, and why she would resurfaced as Linda Lovelace. So how was the movie?  Seeing this film is hard.  Especially if you've read the book "Ordeal".  It's well written and written wit...

To start with my wife and I are fans of the first movie, and so Reds 2 was an inevitable for us to see, and I have to say that Reds 2 is a good popcorn movie.   Bruce Willis , John Malkovich , Mary-Louis Parker , and Helen Mirren are all back as our favorite retired but extremely dangerous assassins.  Even though the movie has it's funny parts it doesn't work as well as the original movie did.  Malkovich and Willis are the anchors to this story.  Their banter between each other is hilarious, and it really works.  It is when the story goes into Frank's (Willis) relationship with Sarah (Parker) that the story seems to drag.  In the beginning of the movie we see that Frank and Sarah are trying to have a normal life, and it's killing Frank, but he loves Sarah so he does what most normal people do and not kill anyone.  The movie is funny, but it jumps around from one location to another as our hero's try to piece together why everyone connected to a pro...

Dennis Farina passed away Monday Morning in Scottsdale Arizona.  Mr. Farina was born in Chicago, and became a Chicago police officer for 18 years in the cities Burglary division.  It was while Mr Farina was a consultant for Michael Mann's film entitled "Thief" that Mann gave him a brief role in the movie. Farina continued to do parts while he was a police officer in the Chicago theater scene.  It wasn't until Mann cast Farina as a lead in his series "Crime Story" that Farina made the full transition to actor. He later played many different parts.  Some as police officers and other as mobsters.  Farina was a life long cubs fan, and he eventually took the part of Detective Joe Fontana on the series of Law & Order. I was always enamoured by Mr. Farina's style of acting.  He was a natural, and you could see he was having fun.  He did a stint on a show called "In-Laws" which showed his comic timing, and how well he did in comedy...

So it's July 4th week-end, and what's more American then going to the movies, and so we did.  I'm a big fan of the first movie, and I have to say I loved the whole story.  Having said that I was a bit disappointed by the 2nd film.  That's not to say that I hated it.  I enjoyed seeing the film with my family, and we all laughed at bits in the film, but it is no where near the movie the first one is. Why is that?  Why was I a bit disappointed at the film?  Simply put it was the story.  They were on the right track.  After all our main character Gru is now out of the super villain business because he has his new family that he loves.  Making him a superhero is the right thing to do, but the story seemed to be too simplistic.  The movie did have some cute elements in the story which is one thing that made the first film so endearing, but it all seemed forced which is sad since you would think that Universal Studios would give more thoug...