AFF11 – Corman’s World/6 Month Rule
The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.
CORMAN’S WORLD: EXPLOITS OF A HOLLYWOOD REBEL (2011)
Directed by: Alex Stapleton
Written by: Alex Stapleton/Gregory Locklear
Roger Corman is a pioneer. He was making movies for teenagers before anyone else even knew what a teenager was. He made movies cheaper than anyone else and never lost a dime on any of them (except one).
Roger Corman may be the most important filmmaker of the latter half of the 20th century.
Lofty words, eh? But they may just be true. Not only did he change the film industry, but he started just about everyone’s careers in one way or another. Rarely, though, does he get the recognition that he deserves. Most people call him a “schlockmeister,” a name that he takes offense to.
Alex Stapleton’s new film tries to rectify these slights. He gathered interviews with acolytes, friends, co-workers and the man himself in order to correct the ideas that people have of what a “Corman film” is. No, not all of his films were great. That’s not really the point, though. The point was to make something that he believed in and that other people would want to see, get it out there and then move on to the next film.
Corman is a hard man to work for, according to his former employees like Jack Nicholson, Peter Bogdonovich, Martin Scorsese and Peter Fonda (just to name a few), but he always knew exactly what he was doing and knew how to make real filmmakers out of these people. Ron Howard said that one of the best lessons Roger ever taught him was “If you do a good job, you will never have to work for me again.”
Corman’s World is the kind of documentary that you show to a budding filmmaker. Very few films make the viewer really want to “go out there and DO something,” but I think that Corman’s World is one of those films. By the end, not only were there quite a few “tear up” moments (including one with Nicholson, strangely enough), but I felt like everyone in the theatre was ready to go out and start a new career.
If only we knew what that career was going to be.
Directed by: Blayne Weaver
Written by: Blayne Weaver
Tyler (Blayne Weaver) has a theory for everything related to females. He knows who they are even before they know him and he knows exactly how to get them where he wants them. He also believes that any man can get over any woman in six months.
Could Sophie (Natalie Morales) be the one who disproves all of the rules?
Meh. Whatever. This seemed like a bit of a vanity project for writer/director/star Blayne Weaver. The problem is that he was a bit too Christian Slater and not enough…interesting. In fact, the two lead characters were not NEARLY as interesting as the supporting characters. His best friend (Martin Starr) is trying to get over his ex-fiancee (Jamie Pressly, who is wasted in a ten second role). Sophie’s on-again, off-again is an up and coming rock star named Julian (Patrick J Adams) who is everything that you would expect a pretentious but trying to be down to earth rock star to be.
Best of all, though, are Dave Foley and John Michael Higgins as an instigator of a gallery owner and Tyler’s agent, respectively. Just about every line out of these guys’ mouths is funny. Actually, if the entire movie had been about them, I would have been much happier.
As it was, it was about two people who fell in love instantly, but couldn’t get it together long enough to really get it together. By the end, I really didn’t care whether they got together or not…although I kind of knew that I wanted them to not get together. He’s a douchebag and she’s an idiot. Why do we want them to procreate?
