What is a Movie Review?

I am a big movie buff. My favorite genres include comedy, action, horror, and occasionally sci-fi. That said, I don’t get a chance to go out to the movies as much anymore and therefore I tend to read a lot of user reviews before deciding which film to make the effort for. 

Why user reviews over critic reviews? I think they are just more honest and fun. Also, when looking to brush up on some old cult films or pulp classics, it's good to dig through user reviews to see which likeminded film fans agree are the truly classic films still worth an hour and a half of anyone's time. Horror film franchises especially benefit from the user review community - which saved me from the disasters of movies like "Critters 4" and "Hellraiser 9" ... well I skipped 3 & 4, 6-8, too, but "Hellraiser: Inferno" (2000) wasn't bad for straight-to-video.

Continue Reading at MoviePilot.com

A Celebration of the Horror Anthology (or Compilation)

First of all, let’s touch on the difference between a Compilation and an Anthology. I am not the expert on this, but for the sake of this article, an anthology is the collected works of a single group or artist, whereas a compilation is a collection of works by a variety of artists. Further, I would say that all anthologies are compilations, but not all compilations are anthologies. Like squares and rectangles.

I am not going to be exclusionary, as both anthologies and compilations have their strengths. The best thing about a horror anthology in particular is that when you have a good director, such as Lewis Teague who helmed “Cat’s Eye” (1985) or George A. Romero who directed “Creepshow” (1982), then you have a unique opportunity to let a talented storyteller take you on multiple rides for the price of one ticket. Not all stories need an hour and a half to be told. Basically any horror film that involves teenagers going camping is already wasting 15 minutes of precious “scare time” with the lame character setups as they all travel to wherever it is that they will eventually die bloody painful deaths. Why do we need to know which one is the slut, the jock, the nerd, or the good girl? We just came to see them die, and the sooner you get to the action, sex, or SFX, if not all three at once, the better.

Continue Reading at MoviePilot.com

The Bleeder

Is there a bit of slang in performance art called the “nosebleed?”   If not, there should be. I’m not sure what it would pertain to, but something to do with blasting through obstacles in a performance.  The urban dictionary has a few interesting definitions of nosebleed, and as is common with the urban dictionary, every word has to have at least two sexual definitions, whether they make sense or not.  One seemingly normal definition, however, was:

1. Metaphorically used to describe incredible heights
2. Metaphorically used to describe incredible speeds

I can get behind this definition as a starting point for deriving a whole new definition of the “nosebleed” in the context of performance art (such as Stand-up Comedy, for example).

Why the keen interest in the nosebleed? It comes from my latest travels during the holiday season.  While on the road, I spent some days in Portland, OR and there just happened to be a few Comedy Open Mics during the nights I was in town.  Well, hell yeah, I’ll sign up and do a few minutes of my shit for P-town. It was cool how many performers there actually were at the different clubs in town. Portland has a nice little comedy scene going, and it seems like the crowds are quite supportive.

Continue Reading at BlackMarketComedy.com

saQi - Heart's Castle (EP)

The latest release from saQi is a a 5-track EP called Heart's Castle.

"The album is ... a humble offering from my heart to yours and serves as a dedication to my father and the beautiful life that he lived." - saQi

Released in May 2010, the album features vocalists: Kyrstyn Pixton, Luz Alena Mendoza, Christopher Worth, Cohen, Leslie Kernochan and additional musicians: Russel Scott & Chet Lyster. Album artwork by: Dee aka "Sweet Anomaly."

Stand-out tracks include Cancion del Corazon featuring Luz Alena Mendoza on vocals and some of saQi's signature trumpet over raw guitar work. Twilight In Bardo (Remix) featuring Kyrstyn Pixton is another of the highlights. Kyrston also lends her vocals to the title track, which itself is an amazing body-moving trip through a mix of emotions.

As stated in his dedication to his late father, Heart's Castle is an offering from the heart, and it speaks on many levels to those going through love & loss, reminding us of how great it is to feel the whole spectrum of emotions.

The 5-track EP is available for $5 at bandcamp.com. Click here to preview and download tracks from Heart's Castle.

Website Recovery Status

Some of you know, some may not, but SidFilmz attempted to upgrade our website at the end of April, and hit a snag. Unfortunately, Sid was so backed up with other projects (also know as "paying gigs"), that the team really hasn't had the chance to step up to finish rebuilding the website structure. You will notice, our header and side modules look a little bare, and we are slowly bringing some new content back into the blog.

In the meantime, Sid and the others are making tons of progress on other people's websites. For example, check out http://charlesguymusic.com, a new website launch for musician, Charles Guy. This was a fairly simple website set up for a local artist. Sid added some preview audio tracks for some of Charles Guy's albums, which are available to purchase via PayPal.

Another clean and simple website launch was completed recently for Dorris Construction (http://dorrisconstruction.com). This company focuses on environmentally conscious home and commercial building. The company owner, Gary Dorris, has received a number of awards for his excellence in the field.

The third new website for 2010 is a light-duty brochure website for Wheat Springs Bakery (http://wheatspringsbakery.com). This company belongs to a small, family owned wheat ranch in Gilliam County, Oregon. One of the owners was looking for a new way to market their staple crop, and came up with the great idea for Popped Wheat Berries.

Aside from all the website work, Sid is thrilled to be near the finish line of producing the 8-DVD Series for Tom Kane's 3-Day Film Workshop. This 12hrs+ of instruction on how to break down a film script into shootable days and build a budget that is accurate and in the limits of the studio's pocketbook, is a great resource for the aspiring filmmaker. SidFilmz took on the duties of editing this monstrous project, and has just completed DVD Authoring for all 7 video discs (there will also be 1 CD/DVD Manual). They are now in a studio being color-corrected and mastered for duplication. Look for them to be online and shipping by July 20.

What's New for 2010?

2010 and what's new for SidFilmz?  We'll get back to you on that.
Actually, it's business as usual.  Our Digital Media Producer, Levi Anderson, has been off working on other peoples films the last few months, and is now catching up on some video editing and website redesigns for SidFilmz again.  Stay tuned for some upcoming posts on the upcoming DVD Package for Tom Kane's Film Production Workshop.  This is for all you folks who love to make movies, but are too creative or artistic to think about it as a business. Tom helps you focus on how to tear a script down into workable parts, build a real budget and schedule, and produce an actual motion picture out of it.
For those interested, check out his website at http://filmtvworkshops.com.  Click on the Production Software link and you'll see some killer sales on Movie Magic Scheduling and Movie Magic Budgeting, 2 of the leading softwares for Assistant Directors and Unit Production Managers.

As for new websites, check out the slimmed and simple redesign for Luxury Lagoon Pools, a southern Oregon company who designs and builds custom inground swimming pools and outdoor recreation areas.  Some new additions have been made to Hotel Furniture Pro's website, and the redesign process has just begun for Dorris Construction and Design Residential.  Look out for those updates soon.
Oh, and SidFilmz is helping to put on the upcoming Killer Valley Horror Film Festival on Sat., January 16th, in Ashland.  This is a small-scale showcase of independent horror and sci-fi films, 3 years running now.  For more info visit their website athttp://killervalleyhorrorfilmfestival.com.

Upcoming Production (The Bag)

THE BAG is a short film in production in southern Oregon from a festival award-winning team, local to the area. THE BAG is a simple yet disturbing story of an elderly woman who has grown tired of living. The film is scheduled to go in to production in late October 2009.  THE BAG will be directed by Ray Nomoto Robison and was written by byMarlyn Mason. The film is set to star Peggy Stewart.

Robison and Mason previously teamed up on a short film, Model Rules, which has won a Grand Prize Best Screenplay Award at the 2008 Rhode Island International Film Festival and Northwest Emerging Artist "Best Short" at the 2009 Salem Film Festival.

Investors are welcome to contribute to the film, here.