"J.U.L." Shaun Patrick/Stewbottum

I haven't remarked on this one until now because I have been having serval nagging concerns with it that I haven't been able to come to grips with. In the whole scheme of things, while I thought it was funny, the bat to the 'nads just felt out of place. Either that or the f-bombs. Somehow, I'm having a problem reconsiling the two. I think I agree with snodart, one **** would have had more impact. As he continues, I think to myself, "okay, this guy's an ass." Maybe that's your point, though.

I really liked the opening right up to the bat to the 'nads. When the daughter asks, "What are you doing here?" she had a Napoleon Dynamite look on her face. I couldn't get the image out of my mind.

I understand the image of a father thinking he's on top of thing but not really being able to hold it together. JUST US LEAGUE is brilliant. The Bombinatrix, very funny. I thought the fight scene was very well done, what a wimp. Maybe that's why the language doesn't ring true; it's too tough coming from a wimp. Then poof...you lost me. He's outside with his kids. He's had the **** kicked out of him. The kids are bomb free but he's still got his on. Why didn't they take it off him after theirs were removed?

Visually, this was executed perfectly. Again, back to the opening scene of the minivan screeching to a halt...spot on. It appears a lot of work went into this and I'd have to say it paid off.

On the whole, I really liked this. I only mentioned the things above because they are what kept this from being perfect (for me). If I'm being over critical feel free to ignore me, after all it's just my opinion. :)

Good job. :thumbsup:
 
Blaine said:
I haven't remarked on this one until now because I have been having serval nagging concerns with it that I haven't been able to come to grips with. In the whole scheme of things, while I thought it was funny, the bat to the 'nads just felt out of place. Either that or the f-bombs. Somehow, I'm having a problem reconsiling the two. I think I agree with snodart, one poo poo would have had more impact. As he continues, I think to myself, "okay, this guy's an ass." Maybe that's your point, though.
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Some good comments here. I really think the baseball 'nads' hit really comes down to personal taste in humor. It's definitely low brow and normally I wouldn't be into it...but I think it just adds to the overall theme of being cruel to a parent who tries to win the love of his children through superficial means.

The Father is an ass and that was definitely one of our points. Our intentions weren't noble in anyway when making this one...we're a cruel bunch of bastards. We were basically trying to subvert the whole 'cutesy family bands together to accomplish a goal' genre.

Thanks for the props on the visual execution!!!

Blaine said:
If I'm being over critical feel free to ignore me, after all it's just my opinion..
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Don't worry, we can take it. Again, thanks for the comments. Blaine.
 
I've made my opinions known (a long time ago) that the language in film has become too much and has actually hurt our movie going experience. These "bad words" use to have power and would shock us when we heard someone say them on screen (or in real life). "Oh man, he said '#$%&'. He must be really ticked off." But now they're used so much that they've become part of regular conversation. They've lost all impact, all power. We've lost an important tool of communication, which use to help us vent or strike emotion within us, but now is just blah blah blah. We've desensitized ourselves and we've lost something important in the process. Sad.

Typically a young filmmaker will use bad language because he wants to be tough and hardcore. As if he showing off or saying, "Look mommy, I made poo poo. I'm a big boy now." It's also The Shock Jock Syndrome or, what I like to call, the Easy Way Out for a Talentless Hack Sydrome. If done correctly, bad language can heighten a script or movie, but when used too much (like too much of an ingredient in cooking dinner) it can spoil everything.

With that said, the language in J.U.L. didn't bother me. This man just had his wife leave him. When he tells the bad news, the children didn't hug their father or say anything at all. Actually, the son hits the father. It's obvious that this family was messed up, even before the cameras started rolling. That one scene said a thousand words of backstory. (Brilliant.) So now, all he has is sitting in the backseat. His bratty kids (One of which, just threw food at him.) The guy is on the verge of a nervous breakdown and he gets no respect. But he's trying to keep it together. But, much like the ending, he is a ticking time bomb. So he dropped the f bomb.

The downward spiral of the father and the dysfunction of this family makes the choice of "hugs" for a weapon, so much better. If they were a peaceful loving family wanting to go around and hug supervillains, it wouldn't have been so interesting. But here's a guy who probably doesn't even know how to hug (he most likely bought a self-help audio tape on how to talk to his children - Step 8: make matching t-shirts) and now he's trying to teach his kids (and the Bombinatrix) how to love. "Let's hug." Brilliant. He even had shirts (with a clever title) made.

Am I reading too much into this? Yes. Is it fun? Yes. :)
 
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Just wanted to give an actual review of this one...I think the story is strong and very entertaining. Seems to be missing a 'point,' but it's so much fun forget a point.

Production value is good. I'm gonna make another comment on the language - SLIGHTLY out of place, but not a big deal. The costumes were great, and the casting was right on. Good job directing the kid actors!
 
PK Gillock said:
With that said, the language in J.U.L. didn't bother me. This man just had his wife leave him. When he tells the bad news, the children didn't hug their father or say anything at all. Actually, the son hits the father. It's obvious that this family was messed up, even before the cameras started rolling. That one scene said a thousand words of backstory. (Brilliant.) So now, all he has is sitting in the backseat. His bratty kids (One of which, just threw food at him.) The dad gets no respect, but he's trying to keep it together. But, much like the ending, he is a ticking time bomb. So he dropped the f bomb.
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Well put, PK.

PK Gillock said:
Am I reading too much into this? Yes. Is it fun? Yes. :)
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LOL
 
mjmcneese2 said:
Good job directing the kid actors!
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Thanks for the comments mjmcneese2!

Funny story with the kid actors... The boy, Mitchell, was really primed to do the wiffle bat 'nads' hit and we had to get it into his head that he wouldn't actually be hitting Marc--just casting the bat in the general direction of Marc's crotch area. Mitchell was adamite that he could stop the bat before he hit Marc and we were like, listen you have to do it our way or your going to hurt Marc.

During the whole process I was really getting a kick out of Marc's (the father) facial expressions as Mitchell kept practicing and practicing. I think Marc wanted to strangle me.

Good times.
 
PK, you hit the nail on the head. The "audio tape" remark is particularly appropriate. The term I used while writing was, "over-seminared." (Been to too many seminars). Expecting something like a tee-shirt to substitute real love, when you need a map to find your kids' school.

Now, whether he got through to the kids by the end is up to some debate. You can be a cynic and say he didn't, that he was still reciting self-help nonsense, or you can be an optimist and note that he stuck with it even while getting walloped, and they helped their dad to his feet. Either is valid, I hope.

As for the bomb at the end (the exploding kind, not the F-kind) -- you are correct, Blaine. It's a bit of a leap of logic, which we hope will be permitted for the purpose of a punch line. It's in the same spirit as the ridiculous idea that Dad doesn't untie the superheroes! I file it under "Permissible Absurdity," but if it doesn't fly for you, I can't say you're wrong.

(We filmed a line where the Bombinatrix says that, since they're clearly not real super heroes, she's taking her expensive bombs back, and gets them from the kids, but doesn't bother with unconscious Dad -- but it just slowed things down, explaining stuff that didn't seem 100% necessary. Plus, it was more effective when the bomb wasn't called attention to, because the explosion came more as a surprise. We also filmed one of the super heroes saying "Why didn't the fool untie us!" but again, the jump in logic was a calculated risk.)
 
Yeah everyone survived and we're all still friends. I kept telling Marc:

"You're wearing a cup, now take it like a man.'

Seriously, though, big props have to go out to our fight choreographer, Aaron Edell.
 
I'm good with it WilderWorks. It was just an observation I thought I'd ask about since I have access to the principals. :thumbsup:

As I said, you guys have an excellent entry. :)
 
This was funny. I enjoyed it. The dad is priceless. There was a level of corn, but it worked great.

I liked the dolly shots, too.

You went there with the leather.
Nice work.
 
Matthew B. Moore said:
This was funny. I enjoyed it. The dad is priceless. There was a level of corn, but it worked great.

I liked the dolly shots, too.

You went there with the leather.
Nice work.
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Thanks for the comments, Matthew! What leather? That costume was completely compromised of raspberry flavored fruit roll ups. We had to feed the crew somehow.

Anyway, the dad character was definitely priceless in script form but Marc's energy really took the character to a whole other level. We just let him run with it.
 
Check out his site: www.flackman.com

He's sort of moved on to doing more directing and less acting but you can see him in a couple of the clips on his site--particularly in "Today Will be Yesterday Tomorrow"

Enjoy.
 
Keely Flynn

Keely Flynn

PK Gillock said:
Oh, and the Bombinatrix too. :)
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Keely starred in a college television series we worked on together, Darwin's Kids (http://www.misplacedplanet.com/dskcontent). She now lives in Chicago, where she focuses on the stage (though she was in a national TV ad for computer graphics school, in which she turned a man into a monkey.) She's a member of A Reasonable Facsimile Theater Company, and her cleavage was featured on this poster: http://www.arftco.com/psychobeach.html. Beyond that, she's the nanny every little boy wants. :love4:
 
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