Movies

EASIER SAID THAN DONE

A local filmmaker shows perservence, but is that enough?

Todd von Mende worked in distribution at Disney for five years. After seeing talented filmmakers' work brushed aside in favor of more commercially viable material, he quit and came back to his native Colorado to make his own movie. The result is Easier Said, in which Jack Buck works for a publishing firm. Growing tired of seeing talented authors' work brushed aside in favor of more commercially viable material, he quits and goes back to his native Colorado to write his own novel.

Both men, real and fictitious, end up at the Sundance Cafe & Lodge, just outside Nederland (about a 30-minute drive from Boulder). In the film, Jack's uncle owns the ranch. In reality, von Mende's father, Hans, is the owner.

Von Mende, who wrote, directed and produced Easier Said, freely admits adapting the film from his own situation.

"There's a lot of me in Jack, to be totally honest," he said in a recent interview. "There's the frustration of pushing schlock, and then there's the frustration of trying to produce something besides schlock."

The filmmaker did note that not all the similarities were intentional.

"There are some great parallels between what Jack went through in the movie and what I went through making the movie," von Mende said, recalling episodes of writer's block and filming difficulties.

Even the ending, where Jack returns to his former employers to get his novel published was self-fulfilling (the movie is being distributed by the Disney-owned Touchstone).

Dramatizing his own experiences aside, von Mende said his main goal was to make a film that captured the beauty of Colorado.

"The inspiration behind this movie was Colorado," von Mende said. "I wanted to make a film about Colorado that represented the Colorado I know."

Part of making a Colorado film was using local talent as much as possible. After sending out a casting call for the film's ten parts, von Mende received more than 1,100 headshots. After auditioning 200 people, he ended up with Coloradans in two lead roles, something he said he hadn't planned on. Bo Clancy, who plays Jack, is a graduate of Colorado College in Colorado Springs, and Tricia Gregory, who portrays Jack's love interest, is a Fort Collins native.

"I didn't give them the roles just because they were from Colorado," von Mende said. "They had to earn it."

Von Mende also used almost entirely Colorado locations. In addition to shooting the majority of the film at the Sundance and surrounding area, some of the New York footage was shoot in downtown Denver.

"So few films are made in Colorado, and I wanted to change that," he said.

Pending the success of Easier Said, he is working on three more scripts, all of which take place in Colorado.

"I wanted to make a film that was not your typical independent film," von Mende said.

He felt the best way to do that was to avoid the low-budget look of recent indie films. But, as is often the case with first-time filmmakers, Murphy's law was in full effect.

"Literally everything goes wrong," von Mende said of the process. "I was really desperate to get the film made while Colorado was still beautiful."

Filming was scheduled for early summer, when two weeks of daily afternoon rainstorms created a new set of problems. The crew had to have two sets ready at all times, so the production's single camera could be moved when the weather changed.

"It was by far the hardest thing I've ever done," von Mende said.

Despite all the work he put into it, von Mende said he isn't at all disappointed with Easier Said's straight-to-video status.

"I was totally ecstatic that it came out on video," he said. "It's the perfect movie for video."

Unfortunately, this is far from the case. While video gives Easier Said the benefit of being seen by a much smaller audience, it will still be there in the video store, tempting unsuspecting renters who are looking for a good romantic comedy.

Easier Said is better suited to be a tape in von Mende's apartment, so he can take it out and show unsuspecting friends and family members what he can do with a camera, a couple actors who are probably waiting tables for a reason, and daddy's lodge.

Wanting to make a "studio film on an indie budget," as he put it, apparently involved using every cliche he had seen during his time at Disney. There's the evil corporation that stifles artists' creativity in favor of profit, the fiancee who cheats on the hero with his best friend, the secretary who is better than her boss at his own job, the wise old rural relative, and the rekindling of love for Jack's old sweetheart. And that's just within the first half-hour.

All of this is poorly acted, written, and filmed, making for one of the most unpleasant 90 minutes in recent memory. Getting to know the business side of the film industry before making a movie was a good idea on von Mende's part. Now he just needs to share that wisdom with the talented filmmakers who remain undiscovered.

--Chris Ward

Movie Reviews

ANTITRUST

I wonder if a grip on the set of Antitrust had to help Tim Robbins tape his dick to his thigh to conceal the hard-on he must have been sporting while ripping Bill Gates a new one as Gary Winston, a similarly rich and geeky computer tycoon who also harbors a vicious and deadly competitive streak. Robbins is known for his many liberal political positions, although he doesn't consider himself to be political or politically motivated. Here he gets to jab his burning torch at the belly of the premier capitalistic beast. Yeah, he must have had a raging hard-on.

Despite the fact this movie reeks of formulated Hollywood suspense, the standard twists and turns are overshadowed by Robbins' boyish performance as Winston. He looks like a giddy nine-year-old while portraying this fussy bookworm who snacks on potato chips mercilessly and kills anyone with better technology than his super-company, NURV. The technology here seems as plush and harmless for the most part. I think the last time technology was this convincingly sinister was in the Sandra Bullock turd The Net .

Milo (Ryan Phillippe) is a young computer prodigy who is about to start a company with his friend Teddy, when he is offered a position in Winston's company. Milo is the best at what he does and Winston requires nothing but the best. He is working on a satellite system that will link all modes of personal communication (TV's, computers, cell phones, palm pilots, etc.).

Everything seems ducky. Milo's girlfriend (Claire Forlani) is happy in their new company-bought house, and he's made a new friend at work (Rachael Leigh Cook), but the walls come crashing in as Milo begins to suspect that Winston is a murderous e-fiend. Predictability ensues.

I couldn't fully buy Ryan Phillippe as a prodigal compu-dork. He's too clean cut and his skin looks hued by sunlight rather than monitor glare. At one point he cracks a program and turns to his much more realistic looking friend, saying something to the effect of, "We are such geeks." I agree with Phillippe. He is a geek. He couldn't pass as a badass in Way of the Gun, and here he looks like too much of a pretty boy to really be obsessing about computers and such.

Despite its surface flaws, this movie is a fun and stupid flash in the pan that digests quicker than fast food on an empty stomach. C+
--Josh Tyson

SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE

In Kenneth Anger's 1975 literary opus of Hollywood gossip, Hollywood Babylon, the author writes that director F.W. Murnau might have had an affinity for gay actors . According to Anger, he may have also liked young Filipino boys, as Hollywood gossip oozed that he was going down on his valet (a young Filipino boy) when their vehicle leapt from the road, ending the life of Murnau.

The film Shadow of the Vampire speculates he liked creepy dangerous actors as well. This film chooses to highlight Murnau's focus and drive as a director and his artistic obsession with making the most realistic vampire film ever, rather than investigating his other sly endeavors.

The film is the fictitious surmise of what might have happened on the set of Nosferatu, Murnau's (being played here with divine ease by John Malkovich) most influential and lasting work. While you may be wondering how Willem Defoe could ever top playing Jesus Christ, he does it here, playing Max Schreck, the pale, bald, rabbit-toothed "actor" that Murnau unearths to play the vampire, Count Orlock. Defoe is one odd bastard and his performance in this movie re-inforces this.

There is a brilliant comic blackness to this movie. Schreck is brought to life (or death) so seamlessly by Defoe, that a whole different dimension is added, not only to this film but also to the original Nosferatu. The nearly unrecognizable Defoe has certainly outdone himself on this picture, and his performance works in a complimentary fashion with the overbearing and static turn by Malkovich.

Although the screenplay by Steven Katz incorporates a lot of speculation on the actual filming of Nosferatu, the focus of the movie remains steadfast. Murnau is shown as a man utterly possessed with his project, and Schreck teeters between a devout thespian and a total fruitcake who may or may not be a real vampire.

It's hard to say which character is more devoted to his craft: Murnau, the director who sees nothing beyond his picture; or Schreck, who walks the fine line between acting and actually becoming so invisible that everyone is left guessing.

This film by director E. Elias Merhige is a truly triumphant examination of what drives the artist. It is also a fine tribute to Murnau, who otherwise would have risked going down in the annals of Hollywood lore for road-head. A A---
Josh Tyson

DVD Report

Tremors: Collector's Edition

The tiny town of Perfection, Nevada (population: 14) has a problem. To be precise, it has four, and each of them is thirty feet long, travels underground like a shark through water, and is extremely hungry.

For even the casual viewer, Tremors is a delightful film, but for the horror film buff, it is a special taste treat: the plot and set-up are right out of a '50s black-and-white Universal horror flick. The isolated desert community, the unseen and powerful enemy, the banding together of the seemingly doomed community against the menace--all have been updated with loving care, and a knowing wit that manages to wink at the audience while avoiding the cynicism that would pervade the later Scream movies.

My disc bears a copyright date of 1998, and as one of the first of the Universal Collector's Editions, this shows a pretty good start. Universal has honed the special "making of" featurettes to an art form on the more recent Jaws and Jurassic Park DVDs, and this one, though no less thorough, suffers on several levels. It has the usual interviews with the director, writers, FX men, miniatures gurus (but not producer Gale Anne Hurd, hmmm), and though the information they give is interesting in its own right, few of these men are forceful, entertaining speakers. The later featurettes use behind-the-scene photos and concept art to keep the story moving visually, but there is little of that here; it relies over-much on clips from the movie, and you may find your mind wandering during its 45 minutes. It does, at least, have it's own chapter listings, so you can cut to discussion about any portion of the movie you wish.

Immediately after, however, is the "Creature Featurette", a ten-minutes plus assemblage of behind-the-scenes FX and miniature footage, assembled to some original music by John R. Graham. This takes the creatures from initial design tests through building and filming, and provides a satisfying overview of movie magic from the pre-CGI days. B

--Dr. Freex