Film

Kickstart ‘Full Metal Jacket Diary’ App

by Brian Smith on April 28, 2011

If you ever wanted a front row seat of a how movies are made, it might soon be at your finder tips.

Actor Matthew Modine showed up on the set of Stanley Kubrick’s 1987 Vietnam War masterpiece Full Metal Jacket, in which he starred as Private Joker, armed with his weapon, his gun and his Rollei. Matthew’s behind-the-scenes account of the making of the motion picture and photographs appeared his book ‘Full Metal Jacket Diary’. It’s a wonderfully revealing look inside the movie making process. If you’ve ever been curious about what it was like to work with Stanley Kubrick, ‘Full Metal Jacket Diary’ lifts the curtains and takes you inside.

Producer Adam Rackoff is looking for Kickstarter funding to complete a ‘Full Metal Jacket Diary’ iPad App loaded with additional photographs and new audio interviews. ‘Full Metal Jacket Diary’ has a cherished spot in my library of photography book, I’m eager to see how the additional content enhances the experience.

In a recent interview, Modine pointed out that Stanley Kubrick was always quick to embrace new technology. I think he’d love this!

Tagged as: Adam Rackoff, Full Metal Jacket, Kickstarter, Matthew Modine

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‘Teenage Paparazzo’ on HBO tonight at 9pm

by Brian Smith on September 27, 2010

in Film

Adrian Grenier’s thought-provoking documentary look at the life of a young celebrity paparazzi photographer premieres tonight on HBO at 9pm (Eastern). Aside from his devastating good looks, Adrian Grenier is nothing like his Vinne Chase alter ego from ‘Entourage’. I spent three days with Adrian making the rounds on Capitol Hill with The Creative Coalition in Washington, DC. and discovered there is much more to Adrian than those mega-star looks like his insatiable curiosity for the world around him. And one inescapable part of his existence are the paparazzi that follow him around. Rather than getting mad, Grenier decided he wanted to learn more.

The documentary turns the camera on the paparazzi as it addresses our fascination with celebrity as Greiner takes the time to see celebrity from the other side through the eyes of a 14-year-old paparazzo. Grenier is surprisingly well-versed in photography showing the young photographer John Filo’s ‘Kent State Massacre’ Pulitzer Prize winning photograph in the hopes he could steer him toward photojournalism.

‘Teenage Paparazzo’ is borne out of a curiosity about our society’s fascination with celebrity, which is a topic he certainly has had an inside look. Take a look at ‘Teenage Paparazzo’ and follow his ride.

Tagged as: Adrian Grenier, Entourage, HBO, Teenage Paparazzo

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Director Louie Psihoyos Nabs Oscar Nomination

by Brian Smith on February 2, 2010

in Film

Congrats to fellow Mizzou photojournalism alum, director Louie Psihoyos for his Oscar nomination and Directors Guild win for ‘The Cove’. As an old friend, I still remember Louie getting his film debut in a cameo as a news photographer in a Sylvester Stallone film in Dubuque, Iowa before going on to J-School…well look who’s invited to the Red Carpet this year…

THE COVE from thonie lee on Vimeo.

Tagged as: Academy Awards, director, documentary, Journalism, Louie Psihoyos, Mizzou, Oscar, The Cove, University of Missouri

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Up in the Air

by Brian Smith on December 16, 2009

in Film, Travels

Last month my wife Fazia and I caught a screening of Up in the Air, the new George Clooney film (opening Christmas day at a theater near you.) George plays a business traveler intent on grabbing every mile he can in hopes of his goal of 10 million mile status on American Airlines. Of course it goes without saying that casting Clooney is about the only possible way to make an air mile geek sexy…

Okay, okay, I know I’m no George Clooney, but I do have 3.5 million miles on American Airlines (a bit more than 14 trips to the moon) good enough to land lifetime Platinum status which really helps avoid all those long lines at the airport, but for some reason I keep narrowly missing Executive Platinum.

The other day, I was staring at my American Airlines statement which was hovering at 97,302 miles for the year. Pretty good for what’s been a very strange year in the magazine industry – but still 2,698 miles short of qualifying for Executive Platinum. So I did what every red-blooded American male would do and asked myself, “what would Clooney do?” Well, you can be certain that he wouldn’t just sit around on his ass and accept defeat. No, he’d get his butt on a plane. So that’s what I decided to do.

It didn’t take too long to figure out that the last bargains of the holiday season (unless you want to travel Christmas Day or New Year’s eve – which I don’t) are this week before the planes get jammed up with travelers and the best deal was a cheap flight to Vegas good for 4,350 miles more than enough to push me to Executive Platinum with just enough time to zip over to the the Strip then jump on a flight home.

Sure, it’s a crazy thing to do and I figured that my wife would think I was nuts, but my baby was actually quite supportive and even came running to get me when Up in the Air director Jason Reitman was on Jimmy Fallon telling a story about how he once did exactly the same thing flying to Chicago for a slice of pizza just to make his mileage quota for the year.

This morning started with my easiest trip to the airport…ever. So this is what life’s like without the six cases of gear and luggage carts we take on the road? I fly through security with nothing but a single carry-on laptop bag. Hit the American Admirals Club to kill half an hour with a latte or three before my flight and off I go on a smooth flight to Vegas so I have enough time to grab a cab to The Strip to check out the grand opening of CityCenter jump back in another cab for my flight back to Miami.

On my flight home, I sat in seat 3F next to a former NBA General Manager. We started chatting and he asks if I was in Vegas on business, so I just say “it’s a long story.” I ask him what he was there for and can only laugh when mentions Up in the Air and says he’s heen living Groundhog Day that this is the THIRD trip he made to Vegas this week so that he could get his miles…what are the odds that the guy sitting next to me was not merely doing the same thing, but actually took this crazy exercise three times as far as I did? Perfect ending to a crazy day…

Miami-Vegas

Tagged as: AAdvantage, American Airlines, Brian Smith, CityCenter, Frequent Traveller, George Clooney, Jason Reitman, Travels, Up in the Air

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A Lesson from Levinson

by Brian Smith on May 1, 2009

in Film, Inspiration

09-poliwood-009 I’m in New York attending the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of Barry Levinson’s film PoliWood with my friends from The Creative Coalition. The film both examines lobbying efforts by Hollywood celebrities as well as how the television media has changed since it’s origins as “profit” has overtaken “public service”.

Since I was working on the book Art and Soul as Levinson was editing his film, I was invited to a rough cut screening. Watching the transformation from rough cut to release is a fascinating process if you’ve never seen it. After the rough cut screening I was aked by Levinson and producers Robin Bronk and Robert Baruc, for suggestions about what they should change. I must say that I thought the idea of giving “notes” to the Oscar-winning director of Rainman may seem absurd. But what this taught me was that though Levinson might not have need a critique of camera angles, he clearly wanted to know how he could better communicate his message.

“Better Communication of Your Message” Can’t we all learn from that? If an Oscar-winning director like Barry Levinson wants to know how to communicate better, shouldn’t we all?

"PoliWood" world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.

"PoliWood" director Barry Levinson with Frank Luntz, Matthew Modine, Tim Daly, Josh Lucas, Wendy Malick and Ellen Burstyn at the Tribeca Film Festival world premiere.