KGB Productions

    I won't give out too much details about the movie for those who still want to see it.  With over 100 million copies of the trilogy sold and the books being translated into 52 languages I would think there is a built in audience for this movie.  So no matter what the critics say people are going to go see it and so this review really won't matter, but as a movie does it stack up to others of it's genre.  That genre being the erotic film. Erotica is a genre that dates back a long way.  From books, to films the genre has been a popular one and a very lucrative one too.  The film tries to be, but it isn't at all erotic.  There is a scene in the film where our heroine ( Dakota Johnson ) and Jamie Dornan (Mr Grey) sit at a piano and are whisked away in a passionate embrace, which is as close to erotic as the film gets. But to say that this film is devoid of any redeeming value is a lie.  Ms Johnson's performance is what makes the f...

 I reviewed this long ago, and now I see it's available on-line for free.  How cool is that. http://youtu.be/0Q2MI23zS2w ENJOY!

I've worked in the A/V field now for over 20 years and have installed, re-fitted, replaced, and fixed  many A/V related equipment.  The largest expense, and the most maintenance heavy piece of equipment is the LCD projector. No matter where I go I am confronted by these dinosaurs and as always I've written memos on what to do about them that usually lands on deaf ears.  replace those LCD with LED projectors and you're organization will be happy, and a even have a bit more cash.  LED projectors are quite good, and can last 10 to 20 years.  Now of course the having a piece of equipment that last almost 20 years may not be the greatest.  After all you want your organization to have the latest pieces of equipment, bu a projector is just that a display device.  Hook it up to a computer and or a DVD player and you have an instant presentation device.  Include a smart board and have a multimedia 21st century blackboard. Why am I talking about thi...

Gone to soon.  A brilliant thespian, comic, and performer.  He will be missed .  Thanks for the laughter. 

 I have a fascination of low budget films, and when I heard that Greydon Clark wrote a book about his career my interest peaked, and so I was happily given the book by my family for a father's day gift.  Who is Greydon Clark you ask?  He is the producer and director of such films as: Black Shampoo, Without Warning , Joysticks , Satan's Cheerleaders just to name a few.  Why should you care?  Well if you're a film enthusiast, a filmmaker, or even if you happen just to like low budget films this book may shed some light on how hard and difficult it is to produce these types of films. Mr. Clark goes about telling us how he financed, and how he produced and directed his films.  Many of these films were ultra low-budget, but you would be surprised to know where all the money goes, and that is talent.  Clark never skimped on his talent, and knew that he needed to draw audience's in by getting bankable stars.  Mr. Clarks budgets ranged from 50K ...

My oldest who is twelve wanted to see this and so over the July 4th opening we went with the family to see " Earth to Echo ".  A film about four kids on a search for extraterrestrials.  This is not ET , or a re-hash of it.  This is a bit different.  The movie focuses on the kids, and the film is seen through video that the kids record as they go about their adventure.  I thought the way the film was presented was kind of cool, and was a different take on movies with the same plot line.  The movie reminds me a bit of a Spielberg produced movie entitled "Batteries Not Included ", but their are differences such as the main characters are kids and the movie is marketed to younger teens and kids that are a bit younger.  The movie is not great for children younger then 8, or that's how I felt.  My youngest who is ten liked it, and thought the alien was cute, and there is the movies problem. For all the promotion of the movie there aren't enough s...

   Okay it's been a while and another summer is upon us.  That means it's summer blockbuster time, or that's what the movie studios want you to know.  The Transformer series has been a sort of tradition in our household.  Having two boys who love the series they got their parents to also enjoy them.  I even have a love for the animated series and see how complex the series was.  But I digress.  Is this a movie you could enjoy?  The answer to that is yes, but only if you like BIG blockbuster action, where things blow-up often, and you love robots battling each other.  If not then this may not be the movie for you. The magic of these movies are that you go with the family and enjoy it together.  The movie has a universal plot of good versus evil sure, but there are some things that Michael Bay puts in that actually mimic our times.  "Keeping Earth human", and "If you see alien activity report it" are slogans taken from toda...

Here's another example of micro-film making, and this from Director/Producer Joss Whedon.  In Your Eyes - Trailer from Bellwether Pictures on Vimeo . One more example of a micro-film getting  world wide exposure.  All through the Internet.  I can only hope and surmise that bold new films will enter our consciousness, and take film making into a new realm.  If companies can make this viable for EVERYONE, maybe content will increase, and new forms of entertainment will evolve. 

 Since NAB 2014 is this week there is a lot of info coming out from them, so here's one of them.  The price seems very nice, and it's 4K.   Check out the link for specs.   http://www.filmmakingstuff.com/blackmagic-ursa/

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...