Here’s a trailer just to get you in the mood:

Be warned, this is very much NSFW including an Olsen Twins joke that some may consider over the line.

If the title itself doesn’t speak to the sheer comprehensiveness of the product, than the 17 and half hour documentary broken out in 8 DVDs certainly does. So much so, that the stack of blue DVDs sent over for review by producer Jay Holben, sat on my coffee table for a month or two while life and work kept me away.

The fact was the concept (a complete and total behind-the-scenes look at a micro budget film from script to screen) just felt too intimidating to tackle. Even though the content was separated into 108 different video modules covering individual topics (ie. Day 2 of the Shoot, Lighting), there was still a HUNDRED AND EIGHT to look through.

Even now as I write this review and having spent a significant portion of my weekend reviewing the content, I can’t say I’ve watched all 17 hours. But what I have seen (about three quarters) is a thoroughly engrossing treat to the ravenous filmmaker in me looking for my next on-set fix.

"Filmmaker In a Box" follows the production of a micro-budget film, "2 Million Stupid Women" from early script conception, through pre-production, budgeting, production, and through post. The story of this film with a budget of $100,000 is weaved together through interviews of key members of the crew including director Jamie Neese, writer Amy Heidish and Producer/Director of Photography Jay Holben.

Although there are some obligatory self congratuatory moments that are typical in all Behind-The-Scenes features, the interviews do seem to genuinely speak candidly about their experiences working on the film. That’s not to say "Filmmaker In a Box" has the manufactured drama that we’ve grown accustomed to from reality based television. But there interviews do seem to be honest about the mistakes and conflicts that arose during their filmmaking journey.

One very striking problem that the producers of "2 Million Stupid Women" faced that I, and many other filmmakers, can relate to is just how hard it is to get any sort of festival attention (something that may come as a surprise to anyone that still holds an egalitarian view of film festivals). With no star names, a genre that skirts the divide between comedy and drama, and two strong female leads, "2 Million Stupid Women" had a very limited festival run.

Unfortunately what plagued the film in the festival circuit may also hurt the case study. Without stars, special effects, or visual wizardry (the film is shot in a documentary handheld style), there’s not a lot for the filmmaking fan boy to latch on to. It’s certainly not a how-to package so ultimately where "Filmmaker In a Box" really begins to shine when discussing the producing aspect of the film (a subject that almost all other BTS products completely gloss over). Included in the package is a disc with all the business documents which can be a real asset to any serious student of the art of producing.

Strangely missing from this case study is some perspective from the actors of the film. Although they may be present as audio commentaries on the DVD of the film (which is included) as a director I would like to learn more about the actor’s perspective and how they prepare when working on a film like this.

And finally, the biggest issue… the price. As of the publication of this review, "Filmmaker In a Box" is priced at just under $400. That is a significant amount of money to ask for a case study of a movie that nobody’s heard of and contains no zombies. As someone who understands the value of the work put into the product, I can honestly say the dollar figure is justified but it’s just seems far too high for the micro-budget indie crowd to bear.

But if you have the disponsable income to spare, "Filmmaker In a Box" is a great look at the world of micro-budget filmmaking, especially in terms of producing.

*** Currently Filmmaker In a Box is reducing their box price. Click on this link to see the latest price

Part One:

Part Two:

Part Three:

VIA: steve weiss

Critiqued Films ~ Webisode 13
Television is a Drug by Beth Fulton. Submitted by Richard Van den Boogaard
The Hard Road by Charles Frisby. Submitted by Charles Frisby of Grunge Productions.
Vicky and Sam by Nuno Rocha. Submitted by Steve Weiss.

ABOUT [ critics ]: a web series
In [ critics ], film/video veterans, Steve Weiss, Director of FilmFellas & Critics, and Philip Bloom, a London based Cinematographer and Filmmaker, come together as dueling co-hosts to candidly critique web based content. [ critics ] offering an eclectic mix of personalities, perspectives and laughter.

Check out Brüno on IMDB.com

Director: Larry Charles

Staring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Gustaf Hammarsten, Clifford Bañagale

Rated: R

See Star Trek (2009) on IMDB.com

Director: J.J. Abrams

Writers: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman

Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Bana, Bruce Greenwood, Karl Urban,
Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Ben Cross, Winona Ryder

Studio: Paramount Pictures, Bad Robot, Spyglass Entertainment

Rating: PG-13

Release Date: May 8th, 2009

X-Men Origins: Wolverine on IMDB.com

Directed by Gavin Hood
Screenplay by: David Benioff and Skip Woods
Staring: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Will i Am, Lynn Collins , Kevin Durand, Dominic Monaghan, Taylor Kitsch, Daniel Henney,  Ryan Reynolds

Distributed by 20th Century Fox

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Observe and Report on IMDB.com

Directed and Written by: Jody Hill

Staring: Seth Rogen, Ray Liotta, Michael Peña, Anna Faris, Dan Bakkedahl

Release Date: April 10, 2009

MPAA Rating: R

Distributed by Warner Bros.

Dragonball:Evolution is based on the 1980’s anime series Dragonball. It is the story of Goku, a young boy raised by his grandfather in the ways of fighting and using his “ki” for energy attacks. The evil Piccolo is scouring the earth for the 7 Dragonballs which he’ll use to make a single wish- to rule Earth. Goku must find a way to stop this menace accompanied by kung fu legend Master Roshi, adventurer Bulma, thief Yamcha, and Goku’s love interest Chi-Chi.

This movie is, in a word, “GARBAGE!”

This disappoints me very much to say, as I’ve always been a huge fan of the Dragonball franchise (Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball GT). I love the anime, I love the video games, I love the manga…. I even own the ENTIRE Dragonball GT series on VHS, as well as VHS copies of several of the animated Dragonall Z movies. I’m absolutely addicted to the anime, and despite the trailer for this live action movie being as poor as it is, I still had hopes for the movie. Those hopes were destroyed.

This has been a total bastardization of the anime! First off, in the anime, when Goku first encounters the evil Piccolo, he’s still a kid! Like… 10! In this movie, he’s turning 18.

WRONG!

In the anime, young Goku had a tail because he is actually a member of the alien race called Sayians… in this movie, no tail.

WRONG!

In the anime, Chi-Chi is a decent fighter who’s father is the legendary Ox King… in the this movie, Chi-Chi is a totally badass self trained fighter and nobody knows it.

WRONG!

In the anime, Master Roshi is an old and very perverted white guy… in this movie he’s a kindof perverted middle-aged Asian. WRONG! In the anime, Shenron is green… in this movie, he was kinda gold.

WRONG!

In the anime, Oozaru is a giant 100+ foot tall ape… in this movie, he’s maybe 8 feet tall.

WRONG!!!

In the anime, Grandpa Gohan died of old age/heart attack (if I remember correctly)… in this movie, he is killed when Piccolo seems to use The Force to crush the old man’s house on him.

WRONG!!!!

In the anime, the Saiba-men were creatures that grew out of the ground from seeds planted by Nappa… in this movie, they were created from Piccolo’s blood. WRONG This movie didn’t have Krillin.

WRONG!!!!!

And don’t get me started on Piccolo’s make-up and costume!

Ok… so let’s IGNORE the fact that this is supposed to be following the Dragonball story since it’s done an annoyingly bad job at it, and just look at it as a stand alone film.

The dialogue was corny, cheap, childish, bad, and in many parts it seemed to tell you what was about to happen then tell you what is happening then tell you what just happened! WHAT?! Bad story telling right there! And in many places, it was so blatently obvious by the dialogue that they were trying so very hard to make this movie seem “dark” while still scoring a PG rating. That’s right, not PG-13… but PG! Sorry, Hollywood, you just can’t have a DARK PG movie! Doesn’t work that way!

The acting was pretty bad. Yun-Chow Fat was pretty good, I’ll give him credit. And I think James Marsters might have been a decent Piccolo if they would have had him in the movie for more than 10 minutes! Everyone else though was rubbish! Even Emmy Rossum, who I typically enjoy… her performance in this was just as bad as Christina Ricci’s performance in Speed Racer! Yeah, that’s right! I said it! And this Justin Chatwin guy who played Goku? Who the crap is this guy?! I’ve seriously never heard of him before, and after seeing this movie I now know why! He’s very much without either talent or even a commanding presence. I mean, Vin Deasel is a terrible actor, but he’s got this aura to him that makes him a great action star… this kid? Not so much!

The special effects were… decent. I guess. But none of it had anywhere NEAR the intensity of the DB/DBZ/DBGT animes! Even the Kamehameha blast looked WEAK!

This Jamie Chung, though… the chick who played Chi-Chi? Ok… she’s honestly the first Asian chick I’ve EVER seen that I thought was hot! So seeing her in a low cut blouse was a plus!

The camera work was average.

The story was ok, but iffy.

BASICALLY… As an official Dragonball live action movie, it was a complete and utter failure. As a standalone movie with no attached franchise, it’d still be a terrible movie!

So on the FilmmakerIQ scale of intellect, where a 10 is pure genius and a 1 is having the self induglent dialogue of “DBE? Great name!”, I give Dragonball: Evolution  a 2.5. It scored points for Chi-chi being hot.

Dragonball Evolution on IMDB.com

Director:James Wong

Screenplay by: Ben Ramsey

Staring: Justin Chatwin, Emmy Rossum, Yun-Fat Chow, Jamie Chung, James Marsters, and
Joon Park

Release Date: April 10, 2009
MPAA Rating: PG

Miss March on IMDB.com

Written and Directed by:  Zach Cregger and Trevor Moore,

Staring: Zach Cregger, Trevor Moore, Raquel Alessi, Molly Stanton, Craig Robinson, Hugh M. Hefner

MPAA Rating: R

Release date: March 13th, 2009
Released by: Fox Atomic