THE JONES' - Do you wanna' f***in' die?!

nice, I really liked the part when he started singing:)... also the whole comic book transition was awesome!
 
Marlon,

Great job! I've watched most of the entries, and yours is one of my favorites. Very entertaining and pro looking in most regards (I'll get to that in a moment), I would love to see more of these characters and their exploits. Feature potential!

*SPOILERS*

Writing, acting, directing, editing, music, VFX all very well done. The technicolor cinematography was perfect for the comic book style.

My one and major criticism would have to be the zombie makeup. WTF was that!? :)
Everything was going great until the big line, "Zombies" and you cut (3:13) to a big close up of this green pastry dough covered face! Yikes! Ed Wood! Everything was so slick and pro looking until that... What happened? It suddenly, to me at least, became campy and I was taken out of the picture.

I think it would be much better to play the zombies as real as possible. Have you seen Zombieland? Your film reminds me of that in many ways. Realistic, nasty badass muthapoo poo*n zombies is the way to go!

My two cents.

In my top three! :beer:
 
I thought the bright colored zombies went along with the whole comic theme (which was extremely well done). The sharpness and color were really nice. I really liked it.
 
Marlon -
THIS is the way you incorporate your comic book background with film! Awesome work. This film was near perfect for me. I liked the intro, it really set up the mood. I instantly got who the main characters were and their relationship to each other. They were very "well drawn" and distinct individuals. Perhaps the zombie makeup was a bit cartoonish, but I felt it went along with the comic aesthetic of the film so it didn't bother me that much. I want to see a whole feature with these guys, starting with the beginning of the zombie uprising. They weren't always this bada** were they? :)
 
In spite of the fact that I don't care about guns and zombies, I really enjoyed this. The whole thing looked and sounded really great. The intro was super, and I liked the comic book shots. The interaction between the two guys was excellent.

My only issues are that the makeup seemed a little too "harsh", and there seemed to be a noticeable boom mic shadow around the 4:50 mark on one of the actors face.

Overall, this was very cool. I'm adding this one to my favorites for this fest.

cheers
 
I also enjoyed the comic book beginning but I did feel it was a little bit too long for an introduction.

The interaction between the two actors were very believable they were both very likable and they were both very enjoyable to watch on film - I would definitely hire them in a heartbeat.

Though you might have kept with the comic book theme go in with a colored zombies, I do think it detracted from your story. The "green girl" seemed like an outtake of "Star Trek" and I was just waiting for the guy to kiss her.

If you had kept the zombies grayish I think you would have come out with a better told story. Still fun and enjoyable overall.
 
This is one in my favorites list. It was entertaining and made me laugh. I did feel like maybe something was cut out when one of the actors said "I told you to wait" as the other shoots one of the zombies but it still worked. The make-up could have used work since I'm a big make-up EFX lover. A cheap effective way to get that look would be to get a bunch of gelatin from the local grocery store and apply it to their faces. Then throw on some make-up with less intensity. However the other digital effects worked well. The actors were great. I especially like the cuts of the actor saying "you wanna kickbox these muthas" that made me laugh. This was a great entry and I can't wait to see what you may come up with later.
 
Michael Anthony Horrigan said:
Loved this flick! The chemistry between the two characters was perfect. Laughed my ass off during a couple of scenes as well.

The action sequences/effect were really well done and I loved the comic book style opening. Nice editing all around.

Aside from a couple of minor focus issues and makeup effects that took me out of it just a bit. This was damn near perfect for the style you were going for.

Huge improvement all around from last fest. I would love to see these guys in another flick.

MAH
Click to expand...

Thanks, Mike! You know your opinion means alot. Glad you liked it. I enjoyed yours too.

EditPhish said:
I felt like I was watching one of the possible winners. It looked fantastic and the editing was tight. The sound fx and the score were excellent... top notch. You put together a really good story that looked and sounded great.

My ONLY criticisms: I didn't understand why some zombies were green. I think a few of the effects could have been left out... they seemed gratuitous. Dialogue at the beginning was a bit wordy (and was almost losing me... but just almost)... However, none of it took away from my overall enjoyment of the film.

Great work!
Click to expand...

Thanks, EP!!!!! I'm glad you enjoyed the film. I'm a big action guy so that's probably why I did what I did on the effects. It's really long story about the green makeup (LOL), but in the end we decided that it did fit the overall theme. Waiting to see what others think and react to that and we may change it.

Thanks for watching and thanks for stopping by to give your review. It is much appreciated.

Edgen said:
Cool Flick Marlon! I want to see more of these guys duke-in' it out and verbally bashing each other.

Cheers!
/j
Click to expand...

Thanks, Justin! Glad I got your seal of approval. You know I'm a fan of your films. And who knows, maybe you will see these guys again.
 
Dauntless said:
nice, I really liked the part when he started singing:)... also the whole comic book transition was awesome!
Click to expand...
Thanks, Dauntless! I love how the intro came out. Thanks for stopping through.

Maximus said:
Marlon,

Great job! I've watched most of the entries, and yours is one of my favorites. Very entertaining and pro looking in most regards (I'll get to that in a moment), I would love to see more of these characters and their exploits. Feature potential!

*SPOILERS*

Writing, acting, directing, editing, music, VFX all very well done. The technicolor cinematography was perfect for the comic book style.

My one and major criticism would have to be the zombie makeup. WTF was that!? :)
Everything was going great until the big line, "Zombies" and you cut (3:13) to a big close up of this green pastry dough covered face! Yikes! Ed Wood! Everything was so slick and pro looking until that... What happened? It suddenly, to me at least, became campy and I was taken out of the picture.

I think it would be much better to play the zombies as real as possible. Have you seen Zombieland? Your film reminds me of that in many ways. Realistic, nasty badass muthapoo poo*n zombies is the way to go!

My two cents.

In my top three! :beer:
Click to expand...

Hey, MAXIMUS!! Thanks for the great compliments. Top 3? Beautiful - I'll take it. LOL! Yeah, the jury is still out on the green zombies. We have the ability to change the color. We thought it fit with the theme. Seems that it does for some and then some don't like it so much. Seems there's already some controversy over it. In the end I don't want people to say, 'I liked the film, but. . .' so it may be something we have to go back and change.

And yes, I did see "Zombieland" and I liked the action in the movie. I wish there would have been more funny stuff mixed in though. I did still enjoy it.

Thanks for the two cents and the beer!! :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)

dust'n the callipygous said:
I thought the bright colored zombies went along with the whole comic theme (which was extremely well done). The sharpness and color were really nice. I really liked it.
Click to expand...

AmyO said:
Marlon -
THIS is the way you incorporate your comic book background with film! Awesome work. This film was near perfect for me. I liked the intro, it really set up the mood. I instantly got who the main characters were and their relationship to each other. They were very "well drawn" and distinct individuals. Perhaps the zombie makeup was a bit cartoonish, but I felt it went along with the comic aesthetic of the film so it didn't bother me that much. I want to see a whole feature with these guys, starting with the beginning of the zombie uprising. They weren't always this bada** were they? :)
Click to expand...

Hey, Amy! Hell yeah they were always bad a**! :cheesy: Yeah, the zombie uprising would be very cool. I'll have to see what may come of this for sure. Thanks for the compliment about the comic book intro. I really worked hard on that and thought about it for some time before I decided exactly what to do and it seemed to work. Thanks for stopping through!

Denis Haineault said:
In spite of the fact that I don't care about guns and zombies, I really enjoyed this. The whole thing looked and sounded really great. The intro was super, and I liked the comic book shots. The interaction between the two guys was excellent.

My only issues are that the makeup seemed a little too "harsh", and there seemed to be a noticeable boom mic shadow around the 4:50 mark on one of the actors face.

Overall, this was very cool. I'm adding this one to my favorites for this fest.

cheers
Click to expand...

Thank you, Denis. That's great for us if you don't care for zombies and guns, but you still enjoyed the film. That means we did our job. Yeah, we may revisit the whole makeup thing in post. We thought it would fit the theme fine. The jury's still out. My make-up lady is great - we just made a decision and we're gonna' see how it plays out with you guys. I know what you're talking about with that shadow. It was actually something on set, but I almost changed that shot because I thought somebody might think it was a boom.

Thanks for adding us to your favorites!!!!

Charli said:
I also enjoyed the comic book beginning but I did feel it was a little bit too long for an introduction.

The interaction between the two actors were very believable they were both very likable and they were both very enjoyable to watch on film - I would definitely hire them in a heartbeat.

Though you might have kept with the comic book theme go in with a colored zombies, I do think it detracted from your story. The "green girl" seemed like an outtake of "Star Trek" and I was just waiting for the guy to kiss her.

If you had kept the zombies grayish I think you would have come out with a better told story. Still fun and enjoyable overall.
Click to expand...

Thanks for coming by, Charli. I'm glad you enjoyed it! So, you know about the green girl in "Star Trek," huh?? Does that mean you're a trekkie?

Thanks for the compliments. Yeah, we're still thinking about the makeup aspect of it. Aw, you thought the intro was too long?? No way. :embarasse That's like one of my favorite parts.



Nitsuj said:
This is one in my favorites list. It was entertaining and made me laugh. I did feel like maybe something was cut out when one of the actors said "I told you to wait" as the other shoots one of the zombies but it still worked. The make-up could have used work since I'm a big make-up EFX lover. A cheap effective way to get that look would be to get a bunch of gelatin from the local grocery store and apply it to their faces. Then throw on some make-up with less intensity. However the other digital effects worked well. The actors were great. I especially like the cuts of the actor saying "you wanna kickbox these muthas" that made me laugh. This was a great entry and I can't wait to see what you may come up with later.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Nitsuj. I was wondering when you were gonna' stop through. I'm blown away by all the positive responses. We will definitely keep the makeup thing in mind the next time. This was the first time I really had to do some serious makeup or create a monster. Yes, that part about the "motha' ****az" is one that I continue to laugh at as well. Everybody that has seen it finds that part laugh-out-loud funny.

Your favorites list? High-praise, my man. High praise. I'll be getting to yours soon as well.
 
Watched it 3 times. Loved it. This film had a different approach to the genre that was refreshing. The dialog was off the chain!! Snappy, well acted. Editing was also well done as was music queues. After effects were nicely executred. "You wanna Kung Fu theese M**F**? you wanna Tae Bo these M**F**?" LOL!!! Funny Funny Funny. This was a comedy that was expertly brought into the monster genre. The only thing I didn't care for was the zombies makeup. The rest of it was Top Notch and IMHO THE film to contend with in the competition.

PS Extra props for the comic book work!

WELL DONE MARLON! Would love to collaborate with you on a future project.
 
I had to laugh at some of the lines. I even picked up a few new terms. Guess I'm out of touch, haha. What do I compare this too? Hollywood features and actors with a 300mil budget? I mean, poo poo. I got a kick out of it. The only thing that threw me off was maybe timing/pacing in the dialog. Being an old musician, I don't know, there's a flow or a rythym that I read about in acting. I don't know about that specifically but in music it's about the same thing, rythym/timng. I think it is most probably lost in the editing stages. I mean a 1/4 beat in comedic timing can make or break a line, seriously. Not that I'm an expert, I'm not, at all.
But, in comedy, the editing is so important, timing wise, almost or maybe more so (?) as much as in music, is it not?

Anyways, that's my big concern. Otherwise I loved it. The comedy allowed me to actually overlook maybe some of the cinematic elements, which I dont think you would generally expect in comedy anyways. So, that could be an area of discussion.:)

Yeah. It was good. I liked it. It was entertaining. I love the poster (although maybe a bit over sat, BUT I LOVE IT, haha).

Overall, it worked for me. That's all I care about. I enjoyed it and had a good time.

If I have to be a prick, I'd say tighten the editing for timing of the lines and I'll let the DOP's around here worry about the rest as I don't have a clue about that. haha.

-Cheers.
 
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What a little gem hiding amongst these films here!.... Really enjoyed this...

Rough around the edges... but.... it most certainly had a very strong personality and an identity all its own, this film....

Loved how absolutely cheesy looking the zombies were, which played with the vibe of the two characters, and also contrasted well with some very nice effects that you incorporated, and the whole opening was fantastic...

It was definitely more a scene or a skit.... but seriously.... This is the beginning of something that really has a TON of potential...

When I see films in this fest that have their own unique personality, they get props from me, and get my attention...

I'm really glad I was able to watch this one. Thanks for taking the time to enter it in the fest...

You should seriously consider expanding on this whole idea... hell, I could even see this as an episodic web-series or something... Little bit of polish in the right places, and I think you've got something very marketable here.

This had such a strong identity, and I can just see such potential in it, that I can pretty much completely overlook the technical shortcomings and such... I think this has become one of my faves of the ones I have seen so far... I'm actually sitting here smiling typing this, and it's got me all geared up to watch another batch of films... There have been some surprises this fest. This one gets a strong vote from me for potential and personality.

later,
Jason
 
Marlon this has got the be the hardest review I've ever written. Oh, before you freak out, I ****ING LOVE THIS FILM! There. Iit's been said. Now I've had a bit of a battle writing this review. This is now attempt #3 after an inadvertent browser refresh. That lost review was brilliant and incisive and quite lengthy actually but it was one hell of a read. I may have even complimented you a couple of times in there. :grin:. But that is now lost. Attempt #2 was just lame.

So here goes: brilliant slice of a much bigger picture. There is history already going on, relationship stuff happening and real myth building stuff happening. I mean everyone hears about the zombie outbreaks and they may see the heroes, but you get right down and dirty to a pair of the most unlikely heroes to enjoy kicking zombie ASS!!! Gotta love it.

You have a brilliant knack for shooting AND editing action, which is alot harder than it looks. It's a hell of a talent for any filmmaker and you have it in spades. Stylized yes but one HELL of a style. The comedy was spot on and I really wanted to spend more time with these guys on their zombie killing spree. Kinda got the feeling that they got more kicks out of the chance to actually kill zombies than they were doing it for any noble reasons and that portral is key. After all who among us wouldn't like to grab firearms and shoot as many zombies as we can before losing count? Count me in.

Now with the zombies I had a couple of things that kept bugging me even on the 4th viewing. The makeup I can buy. Not too glaring there since it's such a comic book, but I would have loved to see more realistic makeup. Also the zombies just seem to stand around even when they're supposed to attack. I was actually waiting for the guys to be constantly bickering even while casually taking out the occasional rampaging zombie. The other zombies were just waiting around to die. Like the ex-girlfriend. I understand the set-up, but she should have torn his face off or at least tried to. There would have been an interesting joke right there in that situation.

Apart from that little quibble, it was a solid effort and went directly into my favorites. I wanted to give you a solid ten, but your bribe was a litle short. (kidding guys! kidding)

Solid improvement all around. You focused and brought the cat in out of the rain.

Time to ****ing die!
 
This was a fun campy romp. With the aweful makeup and the car marked for the junkyard I don't think you were going for anything deeper. I really loved their back and forth banter. It had some nice lines. I certainly laughed when he blew away the dudes ex. Good Job.
 
Good stuff Marlon. Dialog was funny and you are getting better with every fest. Keep it up. I finally don't have any projects on the table and I'm jumping in the next one for sure this time. Great sound design too. I need an MP3 of those gunshots!
 
That was well cool. Fast dialog, well acted, excellent sound and a great concept with top notch production.
And green zombies :)

Outstanding.
 
First off - you did wonders here. I had a feeling this was going to be good from the screen shots early on, and your two leads have what it takes to make this happen for you. Excellent performances all around. I like how you started off with the comic book pages, except the movements on them were a little erratic. It looks as though you had some trouble setting your motion splines correctly. Its an easy fix. Previous posts may have mentioned the out of focus shots. Get rid of it. Its jarring. Replace that moment with a cut away to a zombie or stay on the other character. Green zombies? It surprised me. But it didn't take long for me to accept. Your film is fast pace, gritty action with personality. It was done before I knew it. That's a good sign.
 
Jason Ramsey said:
You should seriously consider expanding on this whole idea... hell, I could even see this as an episodic web-series or something... Little bit of polish in the right places, and I think you've got something very marketable here.
Click to expand...

I definitely agree.

Extremely funny film. A good refresher to have some comedy in there. Their relationship and banter was very entertaining. It made me wonder if it were not scene taken right out of a feature.

Great work. High score. The only thing that holds me back is that I did not feel it was a complete story. Yes I was entertained and laughed the whole time regardless, but it still should have felt complete and less like a scene.

Great work!
 
This was a fun film! Really enjoyed it. The opening was very well done (and it should have been, you had this film in the can with about 2 months to go!) and set the episode in motion. I say episode because that's really what it was... a few pages from a comic book.

The acting was strong and I think you did a great job casting these two....the old girl friend thing had me rollin'! It's amazing how good direction, camera work and editing can make a film shine, which is what you did here. This film looked great to my eye.

The make-up on the zombies....MEH....hey, it's a comic book for Christ sake.

Congratulations to you, the cast, and the crew on a very sucessful production. I look forward to future films.
 
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