YEAH!!!!...

It's snowing!!



O.K. so it's a day late for Christmas, but that's just fine! Now the Holidays are perfect...

Merry Christmas!

To all who spend time here...From New England and New York, to The Midwest, Los Angeles, and Hollywood...May all your Christmas wishes and good dreams come true!



BTW, here's a little Christmas treat to make you laugh...Enjoy!

3 High Profile Trailers Premiere

3 very anticipated films premiered their first full length trailers and teasers this week.



The new "Batman Begins" trailer is, to say the least, amazing (LOVE the 1-sheet above). Great ramp-up opening that once again hints at who Christian Bale will ultimately become. A few pointers...check out the fighting arm guards he wears during a fight scene with Liam Niason. Watch for the Batmobile on the street below as a huge girder explodes and crashes down. The first clip we see of Batman is high above the city with his giant cape billowing in the wind (a shot I think they should have played up more). Matched a few moments later by a descending Dark Knight zooming through a stairwell, that cape seeming as though it's about to consume everything. THIS is Batman. That last shot is actually scary. "Where are you?!!" So far I'm very impressed and really excited. The only thing I'm a little concerned with is the number of star actors in this film; aside from Liam Niason there's Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Tom Wilkenson, not to mention Katie Holmes, Ken Watanabe, and Rutger Hauer. That's a big slate. Hopefully they will all do nothing but accent Bale. This could be the real deal.



I also enjoyed the "Charlie & The Chocolate Factory" trailer. This of course will be the forth Tim Burton/Johnny Depp pairing, and despite the fact that there's only ONE original "Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory" (no one will ever replace Gene Wilder), this still seems wildly fascinating and Depp looks like he's having a blast. I remember saying some years ago that if they ever did a remake, Tim Burton should make it. Wish granted, I'm in. Plus this means they'll be putting out a new, even better DVD special edition of the original film. Since I've never owned it on any format I'm looking forward to finally bringing it into my collection.



And finally the first teaser for Steven Spielberg's "War Of the Worlds" which embraces the opening monologue from the original book. Good start. Spielberg and Tom Cruise put up their own money to produce this (everything was shot just for the teaser). My one big sticking point about this whole endeavor is that it's set in the present day. Not really comfortable that this was the best choice. Has anyone ever tackled transposing the book directly into a film, set in turn of the century London? Would that make a compelling movie? Hard to say. I'm also a little skiterish about the tag line, 'they're already here'. This evokes the sequel series from the early 90's with it's "Invaders"ish premise. Again, whether this new version is good or bad, the original will definitely be getting the extra special edition DVD treatment. In lieu of this I'm glad I didn't buy the current DVD issue. Next year I can pick it up in style.



In other movie news, the Golden Globe nominations were announced Monday.



Top of the list, I'm very glad to see David Carradine nominated for Best Supporting Actor in "Kill Bill, Vol. 2". Some of the best scenes in the movie were just watching him have a conversation with Uma Thurman, whom I'm also happy was nominated for Best Actress in thr same film.



God Almighty, are there enough nominations for "Desperate Housewives"?! Jeeeez! We're talking almost every actor in the show as well as the show itself! STOP!



Matt LaBlanc in "Joey"...This gets an even bigger STOP!!!!!



Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd in "De-Lovely" with no Best Picture nom. This is just as it should be because the performances made the movie. Ah, that music video I did for The Bowl worked it's magic! ;)



My picks for Best Picture Drama are "The Aviator" and for Comedy or Musical, "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind". "The Aviator" isn't due in wide release until Christmas Day (which I'm really looking forward to seeing), but from the advance clips and reviews this really seems to be the kind of film the HFP goes for. Not to mention The Academy. Scorsese is nominated for Best Director as well. It's time to give the man his due, damnit!



I was also glad to see HBO's "The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers" get nominated for Best Mini Series Or Motion Picture Made For Television as well as nods to Geoffrey Rush, Charlize Theron, and Emily Watson.

Booking Work For The New Year

Gina sent an e-mail Thursday stating that Laura, the producer I worked with on the Hollywood Bowl project, is bringing in something new which will start in late March or early April.



Right now it's loosely called a "Woody Allen Night" at The Hollywood Bowl which will feature jazz and classic music used in his films. I'll be cutting clip montages to accompany these pieces, some of which I'm told will be 12 to 16 minutes in length. This of course is vey similar to the MGM/UA presentation although the montages won't have to be so precisely synced to the music. Delivery date is June 1st.



The nice thing is, when this wraps, it will probably only be a week or so before the next "Big Picture" Bowl project (like the first I worked on) will begin. 2005's program is the films of Twentieth Century Fox, which I am very excited about! All tolled I'll probably be working with Laura from late March until early September.



Gina's e-mail asked if she could book me for that time. As this whole staff postion situation unfolds I've learned that in the industry, nothing is in the can until you are actually made an 'offer'. So until this officially happens she's still pitching work to me from a freelance point of view...even though by then we ALL know I'll be staffing there. This is like when it's reported that Bush will replace Colin Powell with Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state........Oh, but the official announcement will be made next week. O.K. we already know. "Have fun stormin' the castle!".



I did finally speak with Rick, the president of Autonomy, on Thursday. In lieu of the emergency on his end that caused our meeting to be posponed past my departure date, I was told by Gina we would probably have this meeting over the phone. Being an important step in my career, I did hope to do this in person. But the flip side of the coin says I need to find out when the position will start so I know when to return after the holidays. As I spoke with Rick he acknowledged my trip to the east coast, plus a holiday trip he would be making shortly to Tihiti. So he asked that I call the first week in January to set up a date for our meeting, preferring to do this sort of thing in person as opposed to over the phone.



Ah...so much for knowing exactly when to head back.



He added not to worry about the position going to anyone else because our meeting is getting pushed back 'til the new year. I'm their first choice, he echoed. This I'm not worried about at all...I know the position is mine.



A few days ago I finally said to myself I can't sweat the future right now. I'm here, it's the holidays, and that's all that matters at the moment. Look what happened to me physically last year because I worried everything into oblivion. This is the stop sign, hit the brakes! Everything will happen as God and The Powers That Be intend it to...I have faith it will all work itself out in the end.



I did e-mail Working Pictures here in Albany that I was back in town and to let me know if they had any work. The next day they called with a small project for me over this weekend. Apparently it'll only take around 5 hours to complete and I'm heading in today to work in it.



Well the Christmas tree is up, the decorations are hung, the candy is out, the "Rudolph, Frosty, Santa Claus, Little Drummer Boy" DVD boxed set is ready to watch. Not to mention Charlie Brown, The Grinch, and Ralphie's hunt for that Red Ryder BB gun. All I need now is snow. This is where Mother Nature says "O.K.!!!!!!!!".......WHOOOOOMM!!!!!! Aaahhh, not that much!!