Know your Locals!

Working on a movie set, you inevitably will meet many people who are union members. Here's a quick guide of which people do what:

Teamsters Local 25 - These guys drive and are responsible for all the vehicles used on set, including crew shuttle vans, "star cars" for celebrity actors, wardrobe trucks, catering trucks, grips trucks... the list goes on and on. They are local to Boston and northern New England. My experience, as a female, is that they're generally tough-guy-with-a-heart-of-gold types. My coworker, who is male, would like to add, "Don't ever fuck with the Teamsters."

IATSE Local 161 - These are your production office people: the Production Coordinator, APOC, the Accounting department, and Script Supervisor. This local is run out of New York, but covers the New England region.

IATSE Local 481 - This union represents a whole slew of departments, including (in no particular order) Art, Grips, Wardrobe, Electrics, Props, Special Effects, Set Dressing, Greens, Construction... I'm forgetting some here -- and I apologize. 481 covers New England, but not New York.

IATSE 600, International Cinematographers Guild - This is the Camera department's union. This is not a New England based local, so you'll run into 600 members in New York and beyond.

United Scenic Artists 829 - These are the artists who do everything from elaborate production designs to painting walls. You'll often see them covered in paint splatter... lovely people. The 829 covers New England, New York and beyond.

There's also SAG for actors, DGA for directors, WGA for writers, and the PGA for producers. These people are "above the line" and tend to get flown in from LA.

Review of a Non-Boston Movie: Knowing (2009)

KNOWING! A movie set in the Boston area, that clearly was NOT filmed in the Boston area. It uses a lot of shoddy VFX and greenscreen. Major location give aways include unrecognizable landmarks, the "Ice Cold Beer" sign at the rest stop convenience store (not legal here), trucks in the background that appear to be driving on the left, and, oh, a major car accident scene set on hill-less terrain so flat you can see the horizon. It's not New England. It's not even the United States.

Meanwhile in Melbourne, Australia... Nicholas Cage will be furrowing his brow and delivering monotone predictions about the pending apocalypse. It's hard to take seriously. We started heckling about halfway through the film. If only Bruce from the Family Guy had been in this (Everybody else on Earth is going to die? "Oh noooo!").

We will half-heartedly give kudos to "Knowing" for digitally blowing up the city of Boston. Usually, movies like to blow up New York, or Washington DC. Our blown-up city envy needed to be addressed, so thank you. Melbourne thanks you too.

We give this movie an Aussi Salute, and not much else.

Final Score = D-

Review: The Departed (2006)

Finally, we get to review a good Boston movie!

Martin Scorsese's "The Departed" was made before the Massachusetts film tax credit came into play... which means, unfortunately, that this was mostly shot in New York. Digressions. It's a great movie about Boston. Sort of.

Yes, we know, this is not a Whitey Bulger biopic. It's based on a Hong Kong film called "Infernal Affairs", which was then adapted by local guy William Monahan. Good job, especially with everything that came out of Mark Wahlberg's mouth.

We have to get really nit-picky to find things we dislike about this movie... and they mostly involve the Madolyn subplot (and her work wardrobe!). Oh, OH, and the stupid digital rat in the last shot. Even the Ralph Wiggum knew better. "The rat symbolizes obviousness."

Meanwhile, "The Departed" zips us around the city in dark cars, blasting the Rolling Stones and introducing the Dropkick Murphys' "Shipping Up To Boston." We crank it up every time we drive over the Zakim bridge at night, or watch Papelbon dance around in his underwear. The Alec Baldwin vs. Mark Wahlberg dialogues, gun fights where everybody dies, and Jack Nicholson's general creepiness... we like this movie a lot.

Our friends on the crew reported long, perfectionist Scorsese shoots. Supposedly the night filming in Chinatown was so hot and humid that they had to pump hot steam out of tubes to create the haze. Must have smelled horrible. Add Matt Damon, running in heavy fall/winter wardrobe, and... well, that's why they pay him the big bucks.

We'd love to give this a Dignam "Whoop-de-fucking-do", but instead:

Final Score = A