Kiss of Death (1947) - Richard Widmark, Victor Mature, Colleen Gray - Film Noir

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Another great movie is free on YouTube.  Kiss of Death (1947)  Richard Widmark got an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of the ultra-creepy no good street thug Tommy Udo. Victor Mature plays Nick, a sympathetic jamoke who is trying to turn away from a life of crime and Colleen Gray is his drop dead gorgeous and adoring girlfriend. If you’re looking for really good 1940’s crime drama, you can’t do much better than this I tell ya.

Kiss of Death (1947)

Paranormal Activity - Why does it work?

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Micah Sloat and Katie Featherston in Paranormal Activity

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Paramount Studios

Surprisingly, Paranormal Activity works for all the right reasons … good acting, good writing and good directing. When you have virtually no budget, you are forced to rely on basic film elements, and that is what filmmaker Oren Peli has accomplished with skill.

What stands out most is his blend of writing and acting. Clearly, the movie was at least scripted in terms of plot before shooting. He attempted (with success) to portray what is supposed to be spontaneous video shot by character Micah, the boyfriend of his haunted girlfriend Katie. But this creates a host of other problems in filmmaking, primarily acting.
The goal in this movie is not to display good acting, but no acting, and that is incredibly difficult to accomplish, even for the most gifted actor. Larry David achieves this effect in “Curb Your Enthusiasm”, but Mr. David is producing a comedy, and comedy is much more forgiving because you are supposed to laugh, and so it’s OK if the audience detects acting faux pas.
The ultimate fear in the production of drama is that the audience will break out in laughter due to poor acting, poor dialogue or implausible story construction. Yet there is not one instance of this happening in Paranormal Activity. It is a testament to Oren Peli’s filmmaking skills and the acting of Micah Sloat and Katie Featherston. It should be noted that the psychic played by Mark Fredrichs also stays true to form and his scenes are played out in a serious but impromptu fashion with great effect.
The filmmaking dilemma is this, you want to create what appears to be everyday life shot in a random way, but you have a story to tell with information that needs to get to the audience in order to make it interesting. The only way to accomplish this is to ask the actors to go off script and adlib while still saying the necessary lines. Oren Peli found actors who could accomplish this feat and they were lucky if they were paid $50 a day plus lunch at McDonalds.
There are many directors who refuse to let actors to go off script and will even reprimand anyone who does. And if the actor has a short resume, they may find themselves without a job.
Life is filled with random expletives, asides, mundane comments and jokes. But those are not what moves a story forward, and every scriptwriting book will tell you that if dialogue doesn’t move the story forward, cut it out.
The style of filmmaking displayed by Oren Peli is hard to pull off, and it is why it is not often used. It is a minor miracle that Oren not only pulled it off, but got it to theaters in wide release and made millions of dollars (for someone) in the process.
Like a rookie batter who hits a grand slam his first time at bat, the defining moment of Oren’s career has come right at the beginning. He and the actors involved will have the opportunity to move on to bigger projects, and it is likely they will be successful to at least some degree, because they have all showed their talent in the most raw form of filming.
Yes, it is no fluke that Paranormal Activity has been successful at the box office. It is a well made film. Paramount Studios will likely make a sequel, and likely, it will not be as successful. But a new form of filmmaking is taking hold. It has the promise of great success and great failure. Either way, it is already breathing new life into the world of movies. 

Ashley Palmer Interview: Paranormal Activity

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Hollywood loves underdogs and “Paranormal Activity” may go down as the ultimate rags to riches tale. The numbers tell the story. In its first week, PA opened in just 12 theaters, but grossed an eye catching $6489 per theater. You could hear a collective sigh at Paramount having not wasted millions of dollars on a remake. The film was originally shot for an almost non-existent budget of $11,000.

Ashley Palmer in Paranormal Activity http://www.ashleypalmer.info

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Shandon Youngclaus 

It took three full weeks to get it to “wide” release. “Wide” is in quotes because the theater count was still only 760, but the per theater take jumped to a dizzying $25,813 per theater (compare to the #1 movie that week, “Where The Wild Things Are” at 3,735 theaters and taking in $8,754 per theater).
Paranormal Activity is now at $63.4 million gross with Halloween and a Friday the 13th yet to come. It should easily give the Blair Witch Project a run for its money as the ultimate Hollywood Horatio Alger story (Blair Witch Project cost $60,000 and took in $240 million worldwide).

What does this all mean? That movie history is in the making. The humbling notion that a young man with a camcorder, in this case Oren Peli, can produce a blockbuster rivaling scores of buttoned downed Hollywood Productions. Independent filmmakers rejoice.

Happily caught up in the maelstrom is lifelong actress Ashley Palmer, born and raised in the Midwest and pursuing her first love of acting in Los Angeles. Ashley’s longstanding career in acting is evidence that even though Oren had virtually no money to produce his dream, he took great care in choosing his cast.

Ashley’s personality belies her small part in this film. She is a young woman who has been acting since the age of five and she exudes a combination of experience and humility:

Was this kind of a throw away for you? Not thinking anything would ever come of it?

Ashley - I would never say anything is a throw away, because my favorite thing to do is to act. Anytime you get the opportunity to do that, you know, it’s just the best day of the year. I’ve done a million … independent films and short films and student films, and this was Oren’s first film ever … I thought he had a great idea … but I would have never dreamed anything this big would come of it. I didn’t think, oh gosh this is going to be my big break or anything. It’s still sinking in … it’s been a wild, wild, wild ride.

Did you get to know Oren or the other actors?

Ashley - We all became very close. We shot this years ago and I ended up traveling with a lot of them to Utah during the Sundance Film Festival. We did a number of test screenings … Oren’s just great about updating us with information coming up like, that Dreamworks is interested, and then it’s going to Paramount and all of that so we’re definitely in touch.

You’ve been acting since you were five, so this is something that you’ve plugged away at a long time.

Ashley - That’s the thing I’ve been trying to explain to people … so many of them are like … you have the smallest part in the movie … you’re not the lead, why are you getting all these opportunities? I don’t totally understand it myself. It’s so funny what it is that hits, you know … I feel like the opportunities that have come of this aren’t just from this small part in the movie, it’s from the body of work … and all the effort I’ve put in over the past twenty years.

You lived in Naperville (Illinois) until you were thirteen. Was the move to Cincinnati a sad event? Did you miss the Chicago area?

Ashley - Not to diminish Cincinnati at all, but I was absolutely devastated when I found out I had to leave Chicago. I love Cincinnati, that’s where my whole family is from and the move was actually very good for me because I was forced to not be so shy, and make new friends, and I ended up going to a smaller school, so I had more opportunities. However, I loved Naperville and I have so many near dear friends that are still there that … I still miss to this day. And it felt like I was torn away from this wonderful, wonderful place … I was on the swim team in Naperville. It was such a fantastic place to grow up … I already had my Naperville Central jacket with my name on it.

The first time you saw the movie, that had to be a few years ago.

Ashley - I’ve seen, I would say, five or six different versions of the movie. They were tweaking it, changing it, and re-shooting a little bit here, and changing the ending there, so the first time I saw the Paramount version was the day it opened in theaters, but there have been a lot of viewings along the way.

It that (horror) your favorite genre?

Ashley - You know, not necessarily, although I’ve always wanted to be in a horror film so it’s sort of funny this is happening with a horror film. My degree is for acting in musical theater … I definitely have diverse taste.

If you had your druthers, would it be TV, theater, movies?

Ashley - For me it’s just acting. It’s never been, I want to be a movie star, it’s never been, I want to be on TV, it’s always been, I love to act. So every opportunity that is presented to me I would love to consider. I want to be able to do it all.

It’s held me back a little bit in the past. I’m pretty versatile. You don’t look at me and say, oh, she’s definitely just going to be doing horror films, or she’s definitely just going to be doing theater. It’s kind of tough … people look at me and don’t know exactly where to pigeon hole me. But now that I have flexibility, it will be helpful.

What would you call your favorite movie genre?

Ashley - I don’t know what my favorite is. If I was told I could only do one movie and that was it for the rest of my life, I would want to be in a movie musical. That’s what I grew up with … I watched movie musicals when I was a kid.

You sing and dance?

Ashley - I do. I went to college for music and theater.

They were going to redo the whole thing, is that right?

Ashley - There was so much talk of it, you know, I’m not really privy to any negotiations, I just sort of share the aftermath. There was talk about remaking the whole thing. There was talk about releasing it as a DVD for a follow up after they release the remake. It wouldn’t have surprised me. So much of the work I’ve done in the past has just been cut. So I can just go along with it. This is more than I ever expected. I guess I just got lucky.

You’re not someone who just landed in Hollywood a couple of years ago.

Ashley - That’s exactly right and frankly, I feel like most stories are that way. You know, sometimes people really like to do that rags to riches story, but that’s not very common. Most of us are out here plugging away for a long time before anyone learns your name. A lot of people have been sending me emails saying, what a life you have, I want to be an actress. I want to come to Hollywood. I want everybody to know that it’s a lot of work. And it takes a long time before you get any pay off. So I’m still working at it.

It’s an honorable profession. We all want to be entertained and inspired.

Ashley - Especially right now … everybody’s struggling. It’s really fun to be able to do something that people get excited about, and feel good about and, you know, maybe get a little scared, but that takes them out of their day to day drudgery.

Do you remember much about the filming?


Ashley - ... try to describe a day a work you had 3 years ago, tough right? ... it wasn't a "Oh my God we are making history" moment, it was just cool. It was one of the twenty or so independent films that I shot briefly, you know, over the last five years and it didn’t feel any different than anything else I’ve done. The fact is that Oren is just one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet and he was really hard working and really excited and he was an absolute pleasure to deal with through out the whole process. And even though he didn’t have film school experience … he was very professional about everything. I do remember that, but I couldn’t tell you what the situation with lighting was. I’m sure there was a light. I have no idea what kind of camera they used, but that’s usually not the actor’s concern anyway.

It will be interesting to see what happens next week, because it was number one. It’s probably going to be another four weeks at the theaters.

Ashley - Well, next week is Halloween, it can’t hurt, and then Friday the 13th is coming up in two weeks … and that will give it another push. I happen to know Friday the 13th is next month because it’s my birthday also.

Well Happy Birthday.

Ashley - Thank you.

Columbia College grads score big with Soprano's Frank Vincent in "Chicago Overcoat"

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How’d they do that? John Bosher and Brian Caunter were fresh out of Columbia College and all of twenty-three years old when they began their film debut in 2007. Two years later they have scored big with "Chicago Overcoat", achieving “Best of the Fest” at the 2009 Chicago International Film Festival.

Mike Starr (left) and Frank Vincent of “Chicago Overcoat” at the Chicago International Film Festival on Oct. 10, 2009.

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Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com 

“Chicago Overcoat” (mobster speak for coffin) was filmed and produced entirely on location in Chicago. The young men are self effacing when asked about their success, having hashed out the script on their own and then approaching Soprano’s star Frank Vincent. The story was written with Vincent in mind and he promptly accepted, testifying to the strength of the story.

Vincent plays an aging hit man who takes on a final job to finance his retirement, but relentless detectives stand in his way and he is forced to prove his worth one more time. The cast is surprisingly strong for a first effort. In addition to Vincent, Armand Assante plays the top outfit boss, fellow Soprano’s star Kathrine Narducci is Vincent’s love interest and Mike Starr is well cast as a street boss.

John and Brian employed fellow Columbia grads to handle the production and they have left behind a quality film. The cast was taken aback on the first day of shooting, expecting the young crew to at least be north of thirty. But after some early shooting jitters, they soon discovered they were in capable hands.

Young producers Bosher and Caunter may have some studio exec's in Hollywood scratching their head, but they will also be looking forward to their next effort.