NEW FRIEND: A Short by Me

Teaser Trailer: ANDY's CD's

Here is a short film that I'm assistant directing.  Please like our Facebook page for this!! It's gonna be hilarious!


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Trailer: THE THERAPIST

Here's the trailer for a new web series that I'm in.  So excited for everyone to see it.  I will let everyone know when the episodes start airing!!


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HORRIBLE BOSSES

What do you do when your boss is a total prick? The type of guy that makes you feel valuable only to make you work harder, but never promotes you.  The type of guy that’s a total screw-up, drug addict that makes you do his dirty work.   A sexy temptress that’s constantly trying to sleep with you against your will……Well maybe that last one isn’t so horrible, but that’s what our three leads in Horrible Bosses have to deal with.  Their solution: kill them.

            What starts out as a hypothetical joke, turns into a full-fledged premeditated murder scheme, although the perpetrators are far from cold-blooded hit man material, so initially they decide to hire a consultant in the form of one Mutherfucker Jones (Jamie Foxx).   With his advice they set out on a Strangers on a Train-esque mission to kill each other’s bosses, but of course if it were that easy there wouldn’t be a movie.

As someone who has seen many ups and downs in her film career, Jennifer Aniston might want to take note that workplace comedies seem to fare the best for her.   While Horrible Bosses doesn’t give her a chance to show off her emotional range like she did in The Good Girl, it does give her more of a chance to flex her comedic “flair” than she got in Office Space.  Also, unlike the majority of her forgettable romantic comedies, she actually gets to do something a little different.  Here, as the man-eater boss of Charlie Day, she’s oversexed, conniving and potty-mouthed.  Thank God!  Kevin Spacey tortures Jason Bateman with snarky aplomb as the slave-driving Mr. Harken, Colin Firth is also great as the d-bag thorn in Jason Sudeikis’s side, but the true stars of the film are the lead group of friends that plan to kill these a-holes.

            Charlie Day (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) really shines as the lovelorn Dale, actually making it believable that he’s uncomfortable with his hot boss constantly coming on to him.  His inventive performance is comedic gold.  Jason Bateman, the current king of the dry one-liner, is perfectly cast as the (mostly) sensible, Prius driving, Nick, and Jason Sudeikis finally gets a lead role worthy of his comedic chops honed on years of SNL.   I am not a fan of sequels, but if these three were to team up again to say, go to a wedding, ship an important package, or even deliver dry cleaning, my ticket is as good as bought.  For anyone who currently, or has ever, worked in a dead-end, soul sucking job, this is the film for you.  

BEGINNERS

Often films are billed one way, but are really something quite different when you see them.  Often this is for the worst.  Something that seems really scary is actually too foolish to be taken seriously, or something that looks hilarious in the previews fails to deliver one belly laugh in the theater.   Every once in a while though, a film will come along that is a pleasant surprise.  That was the case with Beginners, starring Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer. 

What I expected from the trailers, was a straight forward romantic comedy, but it turned out to be an artful drama about love and mortality.   In the film, Hal (Plummer) comes out of the closet in his seventies after losing his wife of four decades.  Finally, he decides to live the life he always wanted and to really enjoy what was left of his golden years and we soon learn it’s not a very long time.  This section of his life is all seen in flashback as his son Oliver (McGregor) is picking up the pieces after his father’s death and trying to figure out love on his own terms.  He meets the luminous Anna (Melanie Laurent) at a costume party and they begin a complicated love affair that they both seem to be excited and frightened by.   They both have trepidation and emotional damage, but that’s what connects them.   He’s a mopey artist doing album covers for rock bands and she’s a free spirited, bi-coastal actress with daddy issues.  There’s also an adorable pooch whose own thoughts provide an off-beat comedic relief.

Plummer’s engaging patriarch is lovable, stubborn and honest in his new found life.  He joins gay social clubs, goes to pride marches and even gets himself a younger boyfriend (Goran Visnjic).  He doesn’t try to impart wisdom on his son so much as to lead by joie de vivre.  McGregor’s Oliver is touching as he slowly learns to take chances in his own life and allows himself to be vulnerable.  Laurent rounds out the ensemble with an emotionally open and engaging performance.  I hope to see more of her in the future.  

Beginners is a charming slice of life that doesn’t try to answer too many questions and the questions it asks are thought provoking and apropos to our evolving cultural climate.   Should we even risk being in love if it will just end in despair?  Or is it better to simply be loved than to be in love?  

CHANGE

In the riveting short film Change, directed by Melissa Osborne and Jeff McCutcheon, we are brought into the world of Jamie (Sean McClam), a black teenager in Los Angeles struggling with his sexuality.   The film documents a 24 hour period from November 4, to November 5, 2008, when the election of Barack Obama as the nation’s first black president and the passing of California’s controversial Proposition 8 was impending.  For Jamie, who is black and gay, it’s a very important day.   The film opens in a history class where he and his classmates give speeches about who they would vote for in the election if they were eligible (since they are in high school and under 18) and some creative extras give wonderful off the cuff speeches, one girl even does an impromptu rap.  After class we see Jamie with a group of his friends who want to tag the home of a gay student (Jesse James Rice) in their class in anticipation of Prop 8 passing, but he persuades them to put it off until after the election thinking that it wouldn't pass.  

The authenticity of the film was punctuated by the documentary shooting style and the partially improvised script.   The film screened at Outfest where I was able to not only attend a Q &A with one of the directors (Osborne) afterwards, but actually speak to her personally about the film.  She said that the day was so ironic to her because she has a black mother and a gay brother, (she looked by all accounts to be white and had what sounded like an English accent) so the mixed emotions experienced by her family was what compelled her to tell the story.  I was personally glad that someone had addressed the issue.  At the time, I remembered being astounded that in a country where we could elect a president that was a product of a union that was illegal in most states at the time of his birth, we would still be too prejudiced to understand how big a step backwards this was.  
The film did an excellent job of showing the dichotomy within the black community regarding race and sexuality and how someone like Jamie gets caught in the crossfire and is marginalized within his own community.   At one point in the film Jamie’s dad tells him, “Change takes time, don’t take it for granted,” and succinctly sums up the theme of the film.  Alongside the numerous shorts and features about sex and sexual identity it was nice to see something that really asked provocative questions about where we are as a society.

TOP 10 FILMS of 2010:

1. The Social Network - The overly verbose script can feel overwhelming, but the execution and performances are superb.
2. Blue Valentine – Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams are heartbreaking and Cianfrance, makes this divorce tale feel like a love story.
3. Kick-Ass – The most fun, inventive and entertaining movie of the year.  Hilarious, heart-felt and (oh shit, I’m just gonna go ahead and say it) …..kick-ass!!
4. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World – The 2^nd most fun, inventive and entertaining movie of the year.  Or maybe it’s a tie! Loved it!
5. Shutter Island – A nice old school psychological thriller.  Well paced and well acted.  After The Departed, it looks like Marty’s officially got his mojo back.
6. The Kids Are All Right – Modern Family: The movie, and that’s a compliment of the highest order.  Great script, great acting.  Bening might finally get her Oscar.
7. I Love You, Phillip Morris -A hilarious and twisted true story of two men in love, brought to vivid life by Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor.  I couldn’t imagine any other actor gamely diving face first into the material like Carrey and he nails it. 
8. Inception – I have dubbed this film “Subconscious Island”, but it could also be called “Matrix Island” as well.  After SI the storyline (trippy is it real / is it not visuals, femme fatale wife, Leo) felt really familiar, but the set pieces were gorgeous and Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are always welcome.
9. Black Swan – The tightly wound ballerina is perfect casting for an actress as tightly wound as Natalie Portman.  Thank the slimy Vincent Cassel and a luminous Mila Kunis for giving this Swan wings.
10. Zombieland – Yes, Jesse Eisenberg did a commendable job in The Social Network speed reading through Aaron Sorkin’s taught script at the pace of a coked-up lab rat and it was wonderful, but it was here that he gave us, nerdy, flirty, funny and zombie killing bad ass.  And Woody Harrelson hasn’t had this much fun in too long.

TOP 20 SINGLES: (In no particular order)

1. Bottoms Up_ Trey Songs f/ Nicki Minaj
2. Hello Good Morning_ Dirty Money f/ T.I. (Remix f/ Rick Ross & Nicki Minaj)
3. Baby_ Justin Bieber f/ Ludacris
4. Ain’t No Son _ Court Yard Hounds
5. Animal _ Neon Trees
6. Fancy_ Drake f/ T.I.
7. Acapella _ Kelis
8. Rolling in the Deep_ Adele
9. Telephone_ Lady Gaga f/ Beyonce
10.  Dog Days are Over_ Florence + The Machine
11.  Whip My Hair_ Willow Smith
12.  My Chick Bad_ Ludacris f/ Nicki Minaj
13.  OMG _ Usher f/ Will. I. Am.
14.  F*ck You_ Cee-Lo Green
15.  Billionaire_ Travie McCoy f/ Bruno Marz
16.  Freak_ Estelle
17.  We No Speak Americano_ Yolanda Be Cool vs. DCup
18.  Your Love_ Nicki Minaj
19.  Tighten Up_ The Black Keys
20.  Monster _ Kanye West f/ Jay-Z & Nicki Minaj

TOP 5 ALBUMS 

1. Lungs_ Florence + The Machine
2. Pink Friday_ Nicki Minaj
3. Night Work_ Scissor Sisters
4. Court Yard Hounds_ Court Yard Hounds
5. Flesh Tone_ Kelis

GREAT PERFORMANCES of 2010: LIVE

Janet on American Idol (Again/Nothing/Nasty) _ Miss Jackson is still serving you bitches.  All hail.

En Vogue @ LA Pride_ Talk about still serving it! This was the pleasant surprise of the year.  Did not expect them to still sound and look so amazing and put on one hell of a free show.

Kelis @ LA Pride_ This performance was fun and quick just like Pride.  Too bad her actual concert couldn’t top it.

Florence + The Machine on the VMAs _ After all the lackluster performances of the year’s biggest hits, out of nowhere something lovely emerged and made everyone take notice.  If you saw this performance, then you saw a star being born before your eyes. 

Betty White on SNL _ Thanks to Facebook, the legend and only surviving Golden Girl took her place on the comedy throne she had too long eluded.  Wizard of ASS!!!

FILM:

Mila Kunis in Black Swan _ After making you fall in love with her in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I’m glad she got this scene stealing role that is likely to get her an Oscar nomination.   Next let’s hope someone gives her a starring role where she can really shine.

Halle Berry in Frankie & Alice_ So the film is a little hokey and feels like a 70's TV movie in the vein of Sybil or Three Faces of Eve, but those were award winning roles and this should at least net Berry a nomination for her virtuoso multi-character performance. 

Andrew Garfield in The Social Network_ A wonderful breakout role.  The heart of the social network.  

Jim Carrey in I Love You, Phillip Morris _ This gay, genius, con-man feels like the role Danny Kaye was born to play.  And since he isn't around there's no better replacement.

Tessa Thompson in For Colored Girls _ This was a film where the fine performances across the board elevated it from a typical Tyler Perry tear jerker, but Thompson's sexy, vulnerable turn was a standout. 

Melissa Leo in The Fighter_ After her knock-out performance in Frozen River Leo is back with another one-two punch as Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg's tough-cookie Mama.

Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right _ A relaxed slow burn of pure acting.  There's never a moment  where you don't believe every word she says. 

Jeremy Renner in The Town  _ I love Christian Bale and I understand why his performance in The Figher is so lauded, but when viewed alongside the soulful and ferocious Renner it comes off as a bit hammy.  This is real, no frills, acting. Bravo!

Ryan Gosling in Blue Valentine _ Gosling has a rare quality in an actor where he can make me fall in love with him again every time I watch him on screen.  This is no exception.  I felt like it was February 14th and I was the only person in the theater. 

TELEVISION: 

Nina Dobrev on The Vampire Diaries_  The inventive writing went to new heights in the second season when Dobrev took on the dual role of the placid Elena and the fiery Katherine.  Both the writers and the actress enjoy every delicious minute of it.

Ian Somerhalder on The Vampire Diaries_ All the best lines. All the best cheekbones. He's such a bastard, but you can't help but love him. 

 Ty Burrell & Eric Stonestreet on Modern Family_ It's hard to pick standouts on a show like this, but the never-not-funny Burrell and Emmy winner Stonestreet certainly never disappoint. 

Gwenyth Paltrow on Glee_ She may be Country Strong, but on her irreverent guest spot she was Pop Sweet.  The normally blah Oscar winner showed off her fun side and her silky pipes and made it look effortless.

BREAKOUTS:

Nicki Minaj & Bruno Mars _ If one of them didn't have something to do with your song.  You didn't have a hit this year.

Mila Kunis_ The newly single beauty brought grace and wit to Black Swan and now I can't wait to see what she does next.

Justin Bieber_ Say what you want about his teeny bopper image, but this singing, dancing, multi-instrumentalist will probably be playing the 2040 Superbowl...and you won't.

Tom Hardy_ Another suave and sexy Brit. Thank God!

Andrew Garfield_ If he brings as much soul and sensitivity to the new Spiderman as he did to The Social Network people might start wondering "Tobey who?"

HOTTIES:

Female

1. Mila Kunis
2. Nina Dobrev
3. Rooney Mara
4. Sofia Vergara
5. Courtney Cox

Male

1. Daniel Criss
2. Chord Overstreet
3. Taylor Kinney
4.  Cam Gigandet
5. Tom Hardy