Entries Tagged 'Film' ↓

A tour through one of the most influential years in America, with Steven Spielberg, E.T. the beginnings of rap, hip-hop, and break dancing, arcade video games, home video games, $99 personal “computers,” 44 channels of cable TV, a major recession, the unveiling of the Vietnam Memorial, the first word processor used by Steven King which costs $12,000, fads that are returning today – such as the Smurfs and 3D glasses for TV, and finally one of the worst cars ever made by General Motors which directly led to their bankruptcy in 2009.

The new Jean-Michel Basquiat documentary The Radiant Child hits the Film Forum Wednesday. I’m going Thurdsay July 22nd to the 8PM screening. See this movie!

You can use these with your DSLR camera, which is what I use to shoot movies. It’s all about the glass, folks, and these Zeiss CP.2 Compact Prime lenses have quite a nice glass!

As you may or may not know, I work at B&H Photo and 99% of my co-workers are  Ultra Orthodox Hasidic Jews. It’s been quite the education – hello, ist meshuggah?! Miene yiddish is nisht geferlech!

These guys are really great. We often have a lot of fun and laughs, even if I struggle – daily – with the culture and understanding how things work. I try to be respectful and observe as much as I can without crossing lines. It appears I’m not the only one interested in how these guys work.

I got word today that none other than Al Pacino was seen at a shul in Boro Park studying prayer techniques of the Hasidim. I’m sure he wants to get shoklen just right. Pacino is headlining the summer 2010 Shakespeare in the Park production of The Merchant of Venice. Should be fantastic. I’m not really into Shakespeare, but only out of pure ignorance. I’ve only seen Hamlet – and luckily at a Shakespeare in the Park – and I liked it a lot.

At least Pacino knew where to go to find the real stuff. The real Ultra-Orthodox Jewish guys, not this fake hollywood stuff.

Filming in my Alphabet City neighborhood on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, The Smurfs Movie casting is superb, including Neil Patrick Harris, Hank Azaria, Jonathan Winters, Jeff Foxworthy, Paul Reubens, Alan Cumming and George Lopez.

Wow.

Raja Gosnell, the director, wasn’t my first choice as his filmography is rather poor, but I’ll hold out hope for it. He’s also an editor which is good. Shooting should be efficient with low shooting ratios.

Kudos to Columbia Pictures for green-lighting a major movie in NYC. Not easy or cheap, and thanks for filming here and not Toronto.

This made-for-TV movie from the BBC will probably never been seen in the USA, but it should. It’s really good.