Ed Burns on the socialization of indie cinema

This guy is fighting to stay relevant... Nothing new or enlightenin to say and is still making the same sleepy material that very few people want to pay to watch. 9K is way too much on a feature that basically falls asleep on itself.
 
His film headlined the closing night at Tribeca. I have mad respect for that ... give him some credit Kholi !
 
Tribeca is a pretty weak festival IMO. But you're right, I think I'm just bitter toward certain filmmakers for no worthwhile reason. like Joss Whedon.
 
lol. I had no idea you didnt like Joss. Why come?

Tell me you liked Firefly and Serenity at least.

Oh man don't even get me started on Serenity. Holy crap.

He, Paul W.S. Anderson and Uwe Boll seem like they all hang out together. LoL

But that's just me, man. I know he has a lot of fans.
 
He may be slightly overrated by his diehard fans, but he's clearly in a completely different league than those two buffoons.
 
He may be slightly overrated by his diehard fans, but he's clearly in a completely different league than those two buffoons.

Whedon? I dunno, man. His dialogue is ultra camp and so are his action sequences. And, it's not like he's doing it any differently in any other movie... it's always the same kind of camp. Buffy, Serenity, everything he creates has that ultra camp.

Just look at CABIN IN THE WOODS. Goddard might've directed, but the tone and style is all Whedon, and compare something like Cabin in the Woods to W.S. Anderson's more "original" works (Event Horizon) or heck, even Mortal Kombat as much of a young favorite that was of my own. Looking at it now, it's so extraordinarily bad that I can't believe I re-enacted moments of it.

I guess my preference level's like Renny Harlin? That's about as much as I can take as far as camp and still be entertained. Then again, Harlin wasn't too campy at all, just bits and pieces here and there... what is that guy doin these days?
 
Love Whedon, Hate Burns... Well hate is a strong word. I've never liked him as an actor, or his work as a filmmaker. But I do respect the fact that he managed to make a name for himself on some level, and is now able to produce his work at the level it should be. At least he is not budgeting at $25M and calling it indie, that just makes me sick.

We can only hope that these small films released straight to iTunes or whatever can find an audience, hopefully an enlightened audience that might be willing to try out a film with no names attached that might actually good. The sad thing is that he is recognizable enough to maybe get some views even if it is crap, while many talented unknowns struggle in obscurity.
 
Love Whedon, Hate Burns... Well hate is a strong word. I've never liked him as an actor, or his work as a filmmaker. But I do respect the fact that he managed to make a name for himself on some level, and is now able to produce his work at the level it should be. At least he is not budgeting at $25M and calling it indie, that just makes me sick.

We can only hope that these small films released straight to iTunes or whatever can find an audience, hopefully an enlightened audience that might be willing to try out a film with no names attached that might actually good. The sad thing is that he is recognizable enough to maybe get some views even if it is crap, while many talented unknowns struggle in obscurity.
 
We are comparing and contrasting Edward Burns to Joss Whedon for what reason, exactly?... I am not the least bit familiar with Mr. Whedon's work and from the cursory Google search I did, I don't think I am missing anything. As for Edward Burns, I admire that he is doing what he wants the way he wants to do it. His new film "Newlyweds" does not look like a film that I am particularly interested in seeing, outside of the fact that it was shot for such a low budget, with a 5DMKII. However, I do have to say that I did watch his movie "Nice Guy Johnnie" and I really liked the movie. Yes, it was derivative, cliched and predictable. It was also very well acted, had very likable characters and was very well shot. It was not great, but i thought it was a whole bunch of fun, and I have watched it twice. I can see that his type of filmmaking may not be everybody's cup of tea, but to dismiss his efforts without acknowledgement of his success in, albeit, what may be a very narrow niche is not very fair, IMHO. I mean, for Pete sakes, they guy is doing his own thing in the way that many of us here are also trying to do theirs. Admiring him for that just seems natural.
 
Admire him. Noones stopping anyone from doing so. Aren't we allowed to not admire as well? Lol.

I guess I don't understand why he's relevant when most of user can shoot the same stuff he does. In fact they do, in test videos. So add a script and some bad audio and youre a filmmaker telling others how to make a sleepy movie for 9K?

Why do you need 9K to make a movie like that anyway????

I have not seen Nice Guy Johnny though so.
 
P.S I am perfectly willing to accept that I'm being a hater and a hypocrite. I wish I could settle for something so simple and actually make money on it. But I didn't start in 1995 when that stuff would get attention jusT because it exists and my gf is semi popular.
 
Here's a link to a movie that got into Tribeca, and I believe it was "critically acclaimed": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsquX3A70gA

Here's a best and worst list of movies in 2011: http://www.dailyactor.com/2011/12/the-2011-best-and-worst-list-of-films-and-actors/

But, the absolute worst film of the year is [....], hands down. It opens with the lead character shopping in a grocery store. She spots the woman who stole her husband and then does something vile that even thinking about it makes me want to puke. The cast is so bad that they should get their SAG card revoked.

You don't have to give up a limb to get into these festivals, just fly out to a better city for filmmaking and connections, go to festivals, network. Favors are more important than a good movie if you want to get into these things.
 
Whedon? I dunno, man. His dialogue is ultra camp and so are his action sequences. And, it's not like he's doing it any differently in any other movie... it's always the same kind of camp. Buffy, Serenity, everything he creates has that ultra camp.

Just look at CABIN IN THE WOODS. Goddard might've directed, but the tone and style is all Whedon, and compare something like Cabin in the Woods to W.S. Anderson's more "original" works (Event Horizon) or heck, even Mortal Kombat as much of a young favorite that was of my own. Looking at it now, it's so extraordinarily bad that I can't believe I re-enacted moments of it.

I guess my preference level's like Renny Harlin? That's about as much as I can take as far as camp and still be entertained. Then again, Harlin wasn't too campy at all, just bits and pieces here and there... what is that guy doin these days?

Did you get to see a sneak peek of Cabin in the Woods or something? I thought it was shelved indefinitely.
I admit Serenity worked better as a TV series than a film. I dont remember thinking Firefly was campy at all (my barometer for camp is Xena and Hercules from Sam Raimi).

Im actually really excited for the Avengers film due to Whedon. The guy gets team dynamics and characterization. Traits that are sorely missing in most popcorn films (MI: 4 handled this decently though).

Good point about stuff getting attention back in the day simply for existing. The bar has raised pretty high since then huh? The new criteria for attention at this point is probably District 9.
 
Here's a link to a movie that got into Tribeca, and I believe it was "critically acclaimed": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsquX3A70gA

Here's a best and worst list of movies in 2011: http://www.dailyactor.com/2011/12/the-2011-best-and-worst-list-of-films-and-actors/



You don't have to give up a limb to get into these festivals, just fly out to a better city for filmmaking and connections, go to festivals, network. Favors are more important than a good movie if you want to get into these things.

But it has Art Alexakis (of Everclear) and Theresa Russell (Black Widow, Bad Timing)!!!!
 
Socialization of indie cinema is based largely on acceptance by the masses in a manner which makes them intricate to culture.
 
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