Movie Review: Green Street Hooligans (2005)

We recently discovered this gem after a moment of violence erupted at a BSSC game. This is a London film, not really a Boston one, but a Harvard storyline is used to bookend the plot. It has the obligatory "rowing on the Charles" B-role, so it's qualifies as a Boston movie.

Matt (played by Elijah Wood) is just about to graduate from Harvard when his roommate frames him and he gets thrown out. He hops a plane to London to stay with his sister, but instead falls in with a "gang" (they call it a "firm", but that would get lost in translation on this side of the pond. Also, I'm going to use the word "soccer" here, so bear with me).

Pete (Sons of Anarchy's very British Charlie Hunnam) leads Matt on the tour through London's seedier side. They drink pints, then throw bricks at rival soccer fans. The film escalates the violence, but also lends a friendly face and logic to hooliganism.

There's a few forced moments in the plot, but overall this was a very well done film. And it's worth stressing to our football-baseball-basketball loving readers, there's barely any soccer in this film at all.

FINAL SCORE = B+

Long time, no post...

Hey readers,
It's been a while, and we apologize.


See, with the MA film tax credit threats taking all non-Kevin James/non-Adam Sandler movies away from the area, there hasn't been a lot of PA work lately. We've had some of our regular contributers quit the business; others are just wallowing in the fetal position waiting for their unemployment to expire.

In a world, where PAs fight for survival... (hey, anybody want to option this?)

Holiday Scoreboard!

We haven't done a Scoreboard posting in a while, so lets do that before we review "The Fighter" and "Locked In" later this week.

We've recently decided to add a "Boston Documentary" category. If they seem to score higher than their fictional counterparts... just remember, we have a lot of PBS fans around here.

Here are the latest rankings. As always, we grade on a curve:

BOSTON MADE MOVIES

A..... The Departed

A..... Jaws

A-.... A Civil Action

A-.... The Friends of Eddie Coyle

A-.... Gone Baby Gone

A-.... Good Will Hunting

A-.... Shutter Island

B+.... Black Irish

B+.... Mystic River

B+.... School Ties

B...... Blown Away

B...... The Boondock Saints

B...... Edge of Darkness

B...... Love Story

B...... Monument Ave

B...... The Thomas Crown Affair

B-..... 21

B-..... The Invention of Lying

B-.... The Proposal

C+.... Surrogates

C...... The Bostonians

C...... The Maiden Heist

C...... Paul Blart: Mall Cop

C-..... Alex & Emma

C-..... The Box

C-..... Ghosts of Girlfriend's Past

C-..... What's The Worst That Could Happen

D+.... Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

D+.... My Best Friend's Girl

D...... What Doesn't Kill You

D-..... Bride Wars

D-..... Furry Vengeance

D-..... The Women

F....... The Pink Panther 2

"DEFINITELY NOT MADE IN BOSTON" BOSTON MOVIES

(you cheap bastards!)

B-.... Daisy Kenyon

B-.... Practical Magic

D-.... Knowing

BOSTON DOCUMENTARIES

A-.... Standard Operating Procedure

B...... High On Crack Street

B...... Overnight

(click the links on the sidebar for our reviews of each film)

The Golden Globes and The State of Massachusett

The Golden Globe nominees were announced yesterday, and several Boston movies had a strong showing. They include multiple nominees for "The Fighter", "The Social Network", and "The Town".

If the Golden Globes serve as major clues to whom might receive Oscars, this is a very good sign. In fact, Boston movies might actually win more Academy Awards than Razzie Awards this season.

So things are looking up for film in New England, right? Wrong. With the threat to the film tax credit back in March, and the recent ousting of Nick Paleologos from the Mass Film Office, we had a terrible year. Other than some small, small budget indie flicks, there was 1 major movie shot here in 2010. That's it. Just 1. It was a rom-com starring Anna Farris... probably not awards material.

The Boston Globe did a nice job recapping the trouble with our state government and the film office in this article. The Boston P.A., and all the other out-of-work crew members are glad that the Globe took this stance. We need to bring the film jobs back to Massachusetts.

Movie Review: High On Crack Street (1995)

In anticipation of tomorrow's release of "The Fighter", it's as good a time as ever to discuss crackheads in Lowell.

In "The Fighter", you'll see Christian Bale playing former boxer Dicky Eklund -- who not-so-coincidentally is the real life star of the HBO documentary, "High On Crack Street: Lost Lives in Lowell." Dumb movie title, yes. Dumb movie? Absolutely not.

This documentary takes us into the actual crack houses. I watched it with a friend from Lowell, who kept commenting, "I know that street. I know that corner." Oh, nostalgia. The film follows Dicky and two other crack addicts as they try to break the habit. It's compelling, and heartbreaking, and probably way more effective than D.A.R.E.

Filmmakers Maryann DeLeo and Richard Farrall called on the talents of Emerson College professors and interns to film this footage. Image the permission slip on that field trip!

"I, _____, release Emerson College from all liability in the event that I get murdered in a crack den during the filming of this production. In perpetuity, in all medium, worldwide."

"High On Crack Street" is pretty interesting, if you can get your hands on a copy.

Final Score = B

Vegas, Baby, Blah!

Okay, we get it, enough.

"21" tells the story of MIT students counting cards and taking Vegas for millions. It also shows-not-tells that Boston sucks compared to Vegas. Las Vegas is Oz; we're Kansas. There, you get to be anyone, anything. You're throwing money around, wearing designer suits, and banging hot chicks. Here, you're stuck miserably walking alone through "wintery mix".

Or so the juxtaposition of shots in "21" would have you believe.

On behalf of the great city of Boston, I would like to say:

1) Coming home from Vegas sucks, no matter where you live, and,

2) Living in residential Vegas sucks most of all.

Alright, location tirade, over.

Meanwhile, "21" is an okay movie. The underdog hero falls in with a powerful crowd, gets corrupted, redeems himself, etc. It's based on a true story, and the book, "Bringing Down The House." We like Jim Sturgess as the lead, despite his weird accent. There are also some new characters that weren't in the book, namely a blond love interest. Overall, everybody's fine in the acting department. The soundtrack was a little underwhelming. What I really liked, though, were the clothes.

Considering the amount of trouble other Vegas movies delve into, this one stays pretty PG.

Final Score = B-

Creepy PAs

Having just rewatched "Boogie Nights", we would like to award Philip Seymour Hoffman some sort of prize. His portrayal of Scotty J is one of the creepiest PAs we have ever seen.

And we have seen some creepy PAs.

A Civil Action (1998)

"A Civil Action" is Boston's version of "Erin Brokovich". Based-on-a-true-story, a lawyer fights against big company polluters on behalf of working class people, and their leukemia-stricken children. This Boston lawyer has the Brokovich tenacity, but unfortunately is a greedy jerk. Oh well, it's still a good movie.

Every rising middle aged star from the 1990's makes an appearance in this film: post-"Fargo" William H. Macy, pre-"Sopranos" James Gandolfini, post-"Misery" Kathy Bates, pre-"Monk" Tony Shalhoub... the list goes on. John Travolta, post-"Pulp Fiction" miraculous comeback, stars as the arrogant but not quite competent lawyer who bankrupts his firm.

The real star, however, is Woburn. Dirty, dirty Woburn. The drinking water smells like a Disney park ride, and sometimes the river catches on fire, but you can't beat the location! Characters keep describing it as a quaint New England town. They clearly didn't see the strip malls. At least they pronounce the name correctly.

This movie is interesting, well-made, and true to life... which does make it a bit of a downer. Still, it's got a heart and a subtle sense of humor. If only they'd left out the line about Roger Clemens.

Final Score = A-

The Top 5 Things We Learned About College... from Boston Movies

We've been rewatching some movies in our recently abundant spare time (cough-unemployment-cough), and thought it worth mentioning Boston's second most cliche movie setting: College.

Boston has a shitload of institutes of higher learning. If Boston movie characters aren't cruising around Southie in a beat up car, then they're probably attending college classes somewhere. If it's a Matt Damon character, then he's cruising through Southie on the way to class.

THE TOP 5 THINGS WE LEARNED ABOUT COLLEGE... FROM BOSTON MOVIES

5) Nothing says Boston movie like a Harvard sweatshirt.

Boston has 17 colleges, but you'd never know it. All movie students commute across the river to Cambridge, a completely separate city, to attend Harvard. Or maybe MIT. They most certainly do not go to BU, Northeastern, BC, Emerson, or Suffolk.**

**The rare exceptions that we could think of are Matt Damon's character in "The Departed" (Suffolk), and the ex-girlfriend from the Facebook movie (BU). Still, it's sorta implied that they would've gone to Harvard if they could get in.

4) Professors are perverts.

Alec Baldwin's sleazy professor in "My Best Friend's Girl". Stellan Skarsgard's creepy math professor in "Good Will Hunting". Victor Garber's sexually harassing law professor in "Legally Blonde". Who said there was no easy A at Harvard? Just see the professor after class....

3) Janitors and homeless people are smarter than the students.

This might actually be true. While we're specifically referencing "Good Will Hunting" and "With Honors", there's also a real life example of this: BU once invited the late Mr. Butch, the homeless King of Allston, to give a lecture. Now that would have been a great movie scene!

2) We only have tiered lecture halls in Boston.

That way, when the professor makes a joke, smarmy laughter ripples uphill. The class always seats 200+ people. We don't know how to build a classroom any other way.

A little fun fact, by the way: If you're watching a Harvard movie, it probably was not filmed at Harvard. Ever since the crew of "Love Story" damaged property, the University hasn't let a film crew in their buildings.

Instead, we often shoot at BU or Suffolk, regardless of what the script says. No wonder all movie classes look the same.

Degenerates.

Ruined it for everyone.

1) These schools are incredibly easy to get into...

Especially if you're poor. There must be a "Compellingly Lower Class" box on the Harvard applications. Dead parent(s) and a chip on your shoulder? Make sure to include that when you apply!

Because nothing says "underdog" like going to Harvard.

xtra normal videos

Good afternoon, campers -

We've noticed the trend of anonymously posting work grievances through the animated site xtranormal.com. There have been ones made by the camera crew, locations, accounting, even the Teamsters have one up!

This passive aggressiveness isn't limited to film crew; my eye doctor posted Optometrist vs. Patient on his Facebook page. Everybody in the world hates dealing with stupid people at work.

Here are our PA relevant favorites thus far:

Background Production Assistant vs. Extra

...in which a PA tries to get an unruly Extra to come on set. As lowly as the PAs are on the crew, Extras get treated like stray dogs.

"You look like a clown prostitute. I don't care enough to change it, just get to set!"

Key Set Production Assistant vs. Production Coordinator

... in which the Key Set PA annoys the crap of the Production Coordinator. Somehow giving her a British accent makes this even more realistic.

Eco-Friendly Filming

Ignore the title of this post... film production is notoriously NOT ECO-FRIENDLY.

In an industry driven by $$, environmental concerns take the back seat to cutting costs, speeding up the process, etc. Crew members drink from plastic water bottles and abandon them at random around the set. We use entire trees copying script revisions. I've even been on sets where they don't have basic recycling for all the producers' Diet Coke cans. Yikes.

(Never mind the vehicle fuel used while idling the star car to keep it warm for the VIPs, hazmat regulations sometimes getting ignored when getting rid of paint and chemicals... it goes on)

Luckily, recent productions are changing their dirty ways. Many Disney/ABC productions have switched to the "Virtual Production Office". Instead of printing out multiple memos, schedules, oneliners, call sheets, etc., the Virtual Production Office keeps everything electronic. Good move, since honestly, nobody reads all those memos anyway.

Eco-actress Cameron Diaz bought the entire crew of "The Box" coffee mugs to keep refilling. Other shows have been making the move to reusable water bottles. This may add a new component to your PA duties: dishwasher. At least it's for the good of the planet.

Not-Boston Movie Review: Daisy Kenyon (1947)

We stumbled across this movie recently, and noticed that it partially takes place in Cape Cod. It's not filmed here of course -- somewhere in a LA studio lot, they brought in a lot of fake snow. But we wanted to mention it, albeit, briefly.

"Daisy Kenyon", we feel, is what would happen if you took Denis Leary's show "Rescue Me" and set it in the 1940s. No, there's no fire house, but hear us out.

In a movie making era with no nudity, and family-values fun for all, "Daisy Kenyon" deals with darker adult emotions. They can only hint at certain things, for censorship's sake. The movie touches themes of infidelity, WWII soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder, child abuse, assault, and endless drinking to sooth the pain. These dysfunctions, put through the 1940's film filter, still come out looking like a romantic comedy. However, beneath the merry surface, these people are not okay.

Should you watch this movie? Maybe not... it depends if you like older films. It's just interesting to see how they handled untouchable issues. Also, it stars Joan "Mommy Dearest" Crawford as the title character, and Henry Fonda.

Final Score = B-

Box office WIN / Movie attendance FAIL

"The Social Network" was the big winner at the box office this weekend... we unfortunately can't give you an update or review because it was completely sold out when we went. Even our backup plan to see "The Town" was thwarted... it too was sold out.

Even with a Sox-Yankees double header, Boston Movies do well in Boston.

Five Dollar Friday

I was recently trying to explain "Five Dollar Friday" to someone, who didn't quite get it.

At the end of each shooting week, we like to decorate a bucket for "Five Dollar Friday". One of the Set PAs (or, in this picture, Jackie Chan) carries it around, and collects $5 bills from the crew. People either write their name on a scrap of paper, or on the bill itself -- which is defacing currency, but that's neither here nor there....

In fact, if you ever wind up with a $5 bill with a name written in sharpie, it probably came off a film set.

Anyway, at the end of the day, one of the names is drawn -- and the winner gets the entire bucket of money. It's like winning a raffle -- and there can be quite a chunk of change in there. Good manners dictate that you tip the bucket carrier $20 or more, and if you go grab drinks after, the first round is on you.

Happy Friday!

Scoreboard!

Periodically, we post a scoreboard of all the movies we have reviewed thus far. Usually we save it for Fridays, but we have something else planned this week.

Here are the latest rankings (accompanied by a picture of Doyle's Pub, where almost half of the movies have a bar scene). As always, we grade on a curve:

A..... The Departed

A..... Jaws

A-.... The Friends of Eddie Coyle

A-.... Gone Baby Gone

A-.... Good Will Hunting

A-.... Shutter Island

A-.... Standard Operating Procedure

B+.... Black Irish

B+.... Mystic River

B+.... School Ties

B...... Blown Away

B...... The Boondock Saints

B...... Edge of Darkness

B...... Love Story

B...... Monument Ave

B...... Overnight

B...... The Thomas Crown Affair

B-..... The Invention of Lying

B-.... The Proposal

C+.... Surrogates

C...... The Bostonians

C...... The Maiden Heist

C...... Paul Blart: Mall Cop

C-..... Alex & Emma

C-..... The Box

C-..... Ghosts of Girlfriend's Past

C-..... What's The Worst That Could Happen

D+.... Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

D+.... My Best Friend's Girl

D...... What Doesn't Kill You

D-..... Bride Wars

D-..... Furry Vengeance

D-..... The Women

F....... The Pink Panther 2

And for Not-Made-In-Boston Movie Reviews:

B-.... Practical Magic

D-.... Knowing

(click the links on the sidebar for our reviews of each film)

Movie Review: Standard Operating Procedure (2008)

(You might have thought we were going to review "The Town" this week, considering it just won the weekend box office... but No! We'll get to it soon.)

Okay, you might be asking yourself why this site is reviewing Errol Morris's 2008 Abu Ghraib prison torture documentary, "Standard Operating Procedure"... after all, the subject matter entirely takes place in Iraq. Plus, it gets gruesome to watch -- not our usual light-hearted Kate Hudson fare.

It's a partially Boston-made documentary: Morris used the High Output studios in Canton to film some of the interviews, including the scandal's poster face: Lynndie England. Can you imagine casually running into her at the craft services table?

"Standard Operating Procedure" works through the Abu Gharaib scandal one photo at a time, breaking down the evolution of 20 yr old military guards to sadistic torturers. Morris interviews many of the convicted players. It's discouraging to find out how normal they are. Isn't that Morris's point, however, that anyone in that situation could have behaved the same?

Morris famously uses a camera device called "The Interrotron", which almost acts like a Skype conversation between himself and the interviewees. He used it at the High Output studio. On the big screen (or on your laptop), it adds the effect of having the interviewees staring down the audience as they talk. It's a little creepy. For the subject matter, it seems perfectly appropriate; we all have culpability here.

It can be difficult to sit through this film, but is well worth the investigation.

Final Score = A-

Coming Soon, updated...part 2!

Meanwhile, at Fenway Park --

No, it's not the sequel to Fever Pitch, it's Ben Affleck pulling out all the stops for his latest film, "The Town". Not only has he made some of the higher quality Boston movies of recent years, he's really good to his crew.

We cannot believe the speed with which the Boston Globe turned these photos around (the screening just ended!)... but hey! That's why they're paid and we're not.

Photos of "The Town" Premiere at Fenway Park, via the Boston Globe

And while we're at it, here's the Boston Globe's review of "The Town". We're not so lazy this time that we're going to skip reviewing it ourselves (coughFurryVengeangecough), we just haven't had the chance yet.

For extra fun, click on the Take 2 video. While it's not their best review, Ty Burr and Wesley Morris bicker better than any reviewers out there.

Coming Soon, updated...

Good afternoon, PAs --

We have two corrections to our recent posting regarding new releases:

1) "Valediction", aka "Locked In"

We had originally told you that this film would never be seen or heard from again... and we were dead wrong! It has a premier slated for the opening of the Boston Film Festival, this Friday, September 17.

Ticket information is HERE

(by the way, our friends from the crew say that the synopsis is completely misleading... but you'll have to go to see for yourself)

2) We forgot to mention "The Social Network",

aka The Facebook Movie. Aaron Sorkin, creator of "The West Wing" wrote a script about the making of Facebook... and it actually seems awesome. We should know... someone "loaned" us the script. They shot a few scenes over at Harvard, and the rest in LA. We're gonna call this a Boston movie anyway.

We're particularly looking forward to Justin Timberlake, who plays a cracked out wheeling-and-dealing Napster protege, Sean Parker; Timberlake should be bouncing off the walls with this character.

"The Social Network" comes out October 1st, in every single theater near you.

What to do in this situation...

Okay, Sparky, here's the deal:

Some of us follow the blogs and Facebook postings of fellow crew members. One Facebook page in particular, My Mom bought me a RED camera so now I'm a DP, is amusingly snarky. He recently posted the following picture and status update:

"Lame PA told me not take pics of their stupid movie set in Rhode Island. Some show called "Burden of Proof." I asked if Timmy Rubensteiner was the DP. Then said, "of course not, jackass cause that's me! Your movie sucks, I'm Audi 4k bitches!"

Okay, while we laughed at this, it brings up a common annoyance among Set PAs: what do you do if people are trying to take pictures and you're supposed to stop them?

Answer? Nothing.

Just because you signed a confidentiality agreement with your start paperwork, and just because it says "No photographs on set" on the call sheet, doesn't give you legal footing to stop others from taking pictures... Unless they're paparazzi, in which case go nuts and hit them with a C-stand. Getting arrested for that would be so worth it.

For the sake of keeping your job, however, you probably should ask the person with the camera to stop photographing... repeatedly. That way, you at least tried to do your job. If they don't there's really nothing you can do about it.

A nod to Philadelphia films

Welcome back from Labor Day weekend!

One of our contributing writers passed through Philadelphia this past weekend, and spotted something in their airport:

"In one of the long hallways between terminals -- I think it was terminal A -- they lined the whole thing with Philadelphia movie posters. You know, they've got all the Rocky movies, "The 6th Sense", all the other Shyamalan movies, "Witness", "12 Monkeys", "Philadelphia", and some other obscure ones I'd never heard of. There must have been a hundred of them -- it took up the entire length of the moving sidewalk."

What a great idea! In an entire airport full of historic landmark decor, movie posters add a fun twist to promoting the city. We think Logan Airport should steal this.

In fact, we would like an entire wall of movie posters right after you pass through security. Think about it: everybody's scrambling to put their shoes and belts back on... and we all feel a little sheepish after getting body scanned, frisked and molested. Wouldn't movie posters make a great distraction? Wouldn't it cheer you up to see tourists point at the "Jaws" poster and proclaim, "Well, I didn't know that was filmed here..."?

Hey Logan Airport... get on this!