Planet B-Boy was one of the best documentaries I saw last year while hitting up the festival circuit. Not only is it an explosive taste of inspiring internal rhythm but it also touches upon global themes of poverty, humanity, and determination. You have no idea how excited I am for this film to come out.

Check out the trailer!

Persepolis had some funny, moving, and politically pointed moments, but quite frankly the movie was boring. I think it was just too long for what it was. There was more than one graphic novel compiled into this film and I think that was their mistake.

I’m not just saying this because I am guy watching a story about a girl growing up. Both girls and guys who have seen it agree: Interesting for a moment but dry on a whole.

This is an amazing movie. My initial reaction is to recommend it to every person I know… But I don’t want to give the wrong impression. You might not love the movie but I can guarantee Cloverfield will keep you riveted (and I’m talking beyond Bourne Ultimatum riveted), and afterward you certainly will respect it.

Genius storytelling.
Great camera work.
No score (well we could get technical if you want…there is “music”).
Killer, yet unknown, actors.
And JJ Abrams.
It all adds up… This movie rocks.

I won’t spoil any plot points, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but oddly enough I left the movie wanting someone I could truly love (haha yes true love what a cliché, but honestly). I mean lots of action  flicks try adding in the noble love story and usually fail (check out Pearl Harbor for what not to do). There might be a lot of stuff going on during this action packed rampage but no movie has made me want to find true love more.

OH PS I strongly disagree with MANOHLA DARGIS (NY Times film critic). Her review seemed to expect we all went to Cloverfield to see the greatest movie of all time. In fact many people probably went for one of these reasons:

1. Lost is amazing,
2. Monsters generally mean great action.
3. After seeing I Am Legend you had… still have… an obsession with seeing a New York destroyed.
4. You thought one of the girls in the trailer was hot.
5. You got dragged along.
6. (did I mention theres lots of action?)
7. You had free screening tickets.
8. You were just bored.

Cloverfield is what it is and nothing more. Certainly its a better version of War of the Worlds (though I thought Cruise did a great job).

Times Review: http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/01/18/movies/18clov.html

I was duped. In order for me to explain I have to go back a year. When I first saw the trailer for Blood Diamond I instantly laughed at what struck me as the most obscene accent ever (Dicaprio as a South African). Little did I know that Blood Diamond was an amazing story with a heart in all the right places. Fast forward a year. I saw Blood Diamond on DVD and realized that accents, even ones that make you cringe at first, can sometimes work. I loved Blood Diamond and felt stupid for judging it so quickly.

SO… back to Eastern Promises. I saw the trailer, I hated Viggo’s accent, yet I told myself, “Eric don’t judge this like Blood Diamond.” So I rented Eastern Promises and wow. The blatant throat slicing complete with spraying blood in the first thirty seconds should have been a hint. I really did not like this film. Yes it has stars like Viggo Mortensen, and Naomi Watts. Yes it has a compelling plot twist, but when the credits rolled I felt a little empty- and not in a good way “I just finished Children of Men” empty.

I guess I read the reviews saying how great a film Eastern Promises was and so I expected something great, not something a step below good and a step above OK.

Take my advice and only see Eastern Promises if you have a compelling reason because on a whole its almost boring and we have seen the story before (a lot). It’s not a bad movie but it feels slightly tired.

PS Mortensen does a good job with his part and eventually I was OK (still didn’t love it but OK) with his accent. Oh and he has a completely nude fight scene.

Charlie Wilson’s War, directed by Mike Nichols, is one of the best films this year. Aaron Sorkin, creator of West Wing and Studio 60, has written another hit. Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts are amazing, yet Philipp Seyore Hoffman cast a hilarious and stunning shadow over them both (well except when Roberts gets out of the pool, nobody could cast a shadow over that).

I know all the reviews are writing about Hoffman and his amazing-ness, but I have no problem doing it too. Every single thing Hoffman says is hilarious and daring, which also embodies the film as well.

I’m excited to see where Nichols, who also directed Closer, is up to next. Overall Charlie Wilson’s War is extremely funny and comical, yet simultaneously “bi-partisan” with an ominous point.

Though I wonder: Would liberal minded people, like myself, enjoy the movie as much if Charlie Wilson was a Republican?

A seizure may have been more interesting than National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

First Book of Secrets was EXACTLY the same as the first National Treasure. Second the only reason we liked the first National Treasure is because we were surprised that it was a decently good movie. The sequel held no surprises or really anything resembling interesting. Third, how in the world does Nicholas Cage keep getting work?

Enough said. Do not waste your time with Book of Secrets unless your renting, or better yet pirating, DVD’s and you are extremely bored.

Who is the real Online Pirate, YOU or THE STUDIOS? This is a documentary about piracy made solely from pirated media.

Statement

Piracy effects every type of artist, creative professional, or anyone that does anything in our modern world. For artists though, piracy is the largest concern because we are in the profession of creating and piracy usually is a direct theft of our work. The studios like to claim that piracy simply hurts the “little guys” in Hollywood, but the truth is these studios are key pirates themselves of intellectual property. Not only are the studios stealing money from the creator’s, but also they are posting the material without the creator’s consent.

As a filmmaker it is extremely important for me to understand the effects and potentials of piracy, both good and bad, in this new growing online market. For that reason I decided to make a short documentary on the truths of internet piracy, made solely from pirated material, and intended for only for online viewing. All my life I have been a filmmaker but I have never completed a documentary of any sort, so it was the logical choice to explore making a documentary when I was also exploring an unknown world that would greatly effect my future.

At first the film was a pro-piracy creation though personally I had a few mixed feelings. Through creating and researching piracy, though, I found that the topic could not accurately be portrayed from one side of the argument. So I set out on a bipartisan creation. The film contradicted the MPAA’s ads against piracy, but it did so in a level way, illuminating the truths behind what we call piracy.

In the end I feel the film did create an interesting point without taking one particular side on whether piracy is good or bad. My film’s argument as well as creation process (from pirated material) showed how piracy can have its benefits, but it still is stealing. There are many other pirates besides the basement lurking video game playing teen guys.

Content Stolen From:

Downloading or distribution of unauthorized copies of intellectual property such as movies, [or] television…. It is no different from stealing another person’s shoes or stereo, except sometimes it can be a lot more damaging. (Anti)

In recent years the MPAA and other Hollywood studios have launched a massive anti-piracy ad campaign, blaming average Americans and mostly young guys for billions of dollars in media theft (Anti). Jack Valenti, of the MPAA, once said, “We are resolute that we’re going after people who use our material, without permission, in an illegal fashion. We’re going after them every-where they exist (Fox).” Yet internet piracy is not as simple a crime as Valenti discuses. The MPAA’s anti-piracy campaign is unfounded and illogical because the ads contradict known facts about piracy and almost solely blame basement lurking, video game playing, teen guys, when there are many other forms of piracy online.

In the beginning, internet piracy was limited to music downloads and quickly suffered from a barrage of lawsuits. We all know where Napster went (sued to oblivion). Now, with faster internet connections and more intelligent software, sites like YouTube and Bit Torrent are ruling the web’s attention with numerous copyright infringements. Still piracy is not just one evil person’s fault. Some, like Mark Pesce, lecturer and currently a professor at The Australian Film Television and Radio School , think piracy can be good.

In February 2005, YouTube launched with a flurry as its links buzzed around the internet alerting people to videos featuring prodigy electric guitarists and evolving dance forms. Yet YouTube did not hit mega-ultra popularity until Lazy Sunday, an smalltime digital short from Saturday Night Live, was posted (Sydell). The video instantly got millions of views through a viral campaign of college boys and soccer mom’s forwarding the short to everyone they knew. In turn “SNL saw higher ratings than they did in years,” while YouTube got a good deal of “traditional media attention” (Sydell). The illegally pirated clip seemed equally beneficial for YouTube, NBC, and the viewers, who were all excited from the funny yet illegal copyright infringement. Yet “NBC requested the video be taken down,” which seemed beyond silly (Sydell). The clip had already been viewed by most people who cared, which provoked questions like why did NBC wait until after SNL was popular again to shove their lawyers at YouTube? Nonetheless the clip was removed, but recently in an ironic twist, NBC announced a deal with YouTube to show their clips online (Sydell). Unfortunately Lazy Sunday is still not available on YouTube.

Another instance of beneficial piracy came from the joint Sky One-SciFi channel (UK and US) production of Battlestar Galactica. The show premiered in the UK three months before the US, and some American fans were upset (Pesce). Instantly, after the UK premiere, pirated copies of Battlestar Galactica popped up around the web (Pesce). In turn tech savvy Americans downloaded the show months before its US premiere.

Valenti wants people to think piracy is bad and evil, but often internet piracy has the opposite effect. Even though American audiences pirated Battlestar Galactica, they still watched the show when it premiered. Battlestar Galactica achieved the highest ratings ever for the SciFi network with about two to three million viewers, which is enormous for a cable channel (Pesce). As Pesce said, “It seems as though this act of piracy has only been fanning the flames of interest” (Pesce).

However the MPAA ad campaign demonized piracy as the equivalent to stealing a candy bar (Anti). They said piracy not only hurts the wealthy entertainment executives, but also it hurts thousands of working class Americans in the entertainment industry (Anti). This potentially valid point, though, is discredited by the industry leaders.

Recently the Writers’ Guilds of America West and East went on strike, illuminating their underpaid and dire situation with the studios concerning new media distribution (WgaAmerica). “When you go into a store and pay $19.99 for a DVD, [the writers] get a whopping four cents, and then came the internet,” where corporations like Disney and Viacom refused to pay rightful residuals to the content creators (WgaAmerica). Still the media corporations claim that internet value cannot yet be determined, but a few clever writers point out in their Daily Show style rant that Viacom is suing YouTube for one billion dollars over media copyright infringement (Tdswriters).

Furthermore internet distribution profits are skyrocketing for many media corporations. Instead of buying a DVD which cost money to manufacture, ship, and store, viewers can now either download media for a set price from places like Amazon.com and Itunes or they can watch streaming media with ads for free. Either way the studios make an extraordinary profit off these new media distribution vehicles. In one interview, a reporter asked Bob Iger, President and CEO of Disney, “How much [revenue] is coming in from digital?” He replied, “Its about a billion five”(Strikingwriter2007). Summer Redstone, Chairman of Viacom, was caught saying, “Viacom will double its revenues this year from digital” (Strikingwriter2007). On top of that, Les Moonves’, CEO of CBS, remarked that:

Instead of twenty seven million people watching [CSI], twenty million will watch it [on TV] and five million will watch it on the internet, but we will get paid for it regardless…. We as the network, as the studio, as the producers, the production company. We are going to get paid no matter where you get it from. (Strikingwriter2007)

In, what some moviegoers would call, a roaring-rampaging and ironic climax, it seems the studios are just as guilty of piracy as the young teenage boys stealing Mp3’s and episodes of Lost, because neither directly pays the media’s creators.

The studios get free advertising for their shows on YouTube and since online piracy can benefit shows through viewer increases, it seems one of the anti-piracy campaign’s purposes was to diffuse the studio’s competition in the illegal online market. Additionally the ads pointed an iron finger at internet piracy and numerous Americans while diverting attention away from the studios, who committed the same malicious act. One can only wonder, who invented this genius plan? Clearly the studios have their own Carl Roves at work here. Still everyone is probably guilty of a little hypocrisy. So who is the real pirate, you or the studios?

Bibliography

“Anti Piracy.” MPAA. 2005. 25 Nov. 2007 <http://www.mpaa.org/piracy.asp>.
Biggs, John. “A Video Clip Goes Viral, and a TV Network Wants to Control It.” Ny TImes. 20 Feb. 2006. 25 Nov. 2007 <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/20/business/media/20youtube.html?_r=1&oref=slogin>.
Callahan, David. “Movie Piracy.” The Cheating Culture. 2006. 25 Nov. 2007 <http://www.cheatingculture.com/moviepiracy.htm>.
“FOX Report on Movie Piracy (2000).” Google Video. 12 Nov. 2006. Fox News. 25 Nov. 2007 <http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4591678461194502221&q=movie+piracy&total=1057&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1>.
Kravets, David. “Exclusive: I Was a Hacker for the MPAA.” Wired. 22 Oct. 2007. 25 Nov. 2007 <http://www.wired.com/politics/onlinerights/news/2007/10/p2p_hacker>.
Sydell, Laura. “NBC Plugs Into YouTube’s Viral Growth.” NPR. 28 June 2006. 25 Nov. 2007 <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5516885>.
“Lazy Sunday.” Wikipedia. 25 Nov. 2007. 25 Nov. 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazy_Sunday>.
Levin, Josh. “The Chronicles of Narnia Rap.” Slate. 23 Dec. 2005. 25 Nov. 2007 <http://www.slate.com/id/2133316/>.
Morrell, Dan. “Transformers … Now in Streaming Video!” Slate. 21 Nov. 2007. 25 Nov. 2007 <http://www.slate.com/id/2178343/pagenum/2>.
Neary, Lynn. “On YouTube, Popularity Can Be a Curse.” NPR. 14 Nov. 2006. 25 Nov. 2007 <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6486532>.
Pesce, Mark. “Piracy is Good?” Google Video. 6 May 2005. Australian Film Television and Radio School. 25 Nov. 2007 <http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1720068211869162779&q=piracy&total=2245&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=4>.
Strikingwriter2007. “Voices of Uncertainty.” YouTube. 12 Nov. 2007. 26 Nov. 2007 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a37uqd5vTw>.
Tdswriters. “Not the Daily Show, with Some Writer.” YouTube. 14 Nov. 2007. 26 Nov. 2007 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzRHlpEmr0w>.
WgaAmerica. “Why We Fight.” YouTube. 5 Nov. 2007. 26 Nov. 2007 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ55Ir2jCxk>.

PS the books rock.