So I wasn’t blown away, but I enjoyed the movie. This isn’t a high-concept Charlie Kaufman script, nor was it a cute and charming love story like Science of Sleep. In simplest terms, this is a buddy picture. Two friends trying to save a business from imminent demolition. Basically, it’s Empire Records minus a few characters plus Michel Gondry’s magic.

It’s a comedy so there’s no need to provide a thorough review about performance. Mos Def was good enough to carry the picture. Jack Black is an awesome sidekick. He’s not quite as intense as his role in High Fidelity, but kind of along those same lines.

There is a sprinkling of “neighborhood vs. gentrification,” “small vs. big business,” “and guy-who-wants-to-do-something-better-with-his-life” themes. None of them hit you over the head, but at the same time I often wondered if some were even necessary. There was a character that seemed a bit out of place. He showed up in about three scenes but I couldn’t really figure out his purpose. I bet his story was an editing room casualty – probably for time and pacing.

The true stars of the film are the “sweded” versions of movies we have all come to grow and love. The Ghostbusters one was the best, probably because they actually did several scenes of it. I can’t stress enough how imaginative Gondry is. I really wish I could lobotomize the creative part of his brain and infuse it to mine. I’d even take in his nearly inaudible French accent if need be.

Ultimately, the words “A film by Michel Gondry” was enough to get me to purchase an $11.00 movie ticket…rather, get Tess to purchase my $11.00 ticket. (But she loves Mos Def, so she probably didn’t mind paying)

They always say that if you do not challenge yourself at something, you can’t expect to get better. This is what I thought about to quell the nerves over the job I worked this past weekend. I was hired by a DP friend, Jon Fordham, to key grip a music video for a band called Jigsaw Soul. It was a short shoot – 3 days that turned into 2 because of a crazy snowstorm – with a small, yet decent-sized grip and lighting package. Nothing to be nervous about, really.

Except I had never keyed anything this big before. Now I was responsible for making decisions instead of carrying out orders. I had to hire 2 grips to work under me – I’m usually the one who gets hired. And if all hell breaks loose on set and it was grip-related, it falls on me. Now that’s a lot of pressure on a guy who just started gripping this past May. It’s one thing if you’re the Key Grip on a student film and you’re not getting paid anything. But now I’m getting paid to do this and I have to prove to the Director, DP, and Producers that I am worth what they’re paying me. (It wasn’t a great rate, but that’s beside the point)

Being a Key Grip is a little weird, because I am not used to not moving. The Key Grip stays on set at all times. When I’m hired as a Best Boy or Additional, I am usually running around organizing stuff or doing minor tweaks. I found myself doing these things and my Third actually told me to stop because that isn’t what the Key Grip is supposed to do. I realize I have to learn to delegate, but it’s weird to see my guys working when I’m just standing around next to the dolly.

Perhaps the weirdest thing was that I had grips – who are way more experienced than myself – working for me. Imagine being the boss of two people you had learned from. That’s exactly what happened. On my first real set experience working “I Sell the Dead”, I was a Grip Intern. Nine months later, I’m a Key Grip and hiring the same guys that taught me so much. It felt weird delegating tasks to these guys. I’ll admit that I got a little caught up in what they thought of me as a Key Grip. I’m not sure I sounded very confident as a Key Grip, but I know that will change in time.

Ultimately, I wanted some sort of affirmation. But I wasn’t gonna get it. This job is for big boys. If you screw up, you’ll know it – a light will fall, something will break, someone will get hurt (Heaven forbid). Nothing like that happened and things actually went pretty smooth up until we got to the studio. (I made the mistake of burying the dolly in the truck because the director said the dolly was wrapped for the rest of the shoot. Turns out the DP would’ve loved to have it available in the studio. That was my bad, for sure – I was careless.)

In fact, I probably got the best affirmation when shooting some of the performance shots on Day 1. The director wanted a slow dolly move at the beginning and another one at the end. I would have to get from my first mark to the second mark at particular parts of the song, and then back again. It took two rehearsals and the timing was on point. When you nail it on the first take and the director moves on to the next shot, that’s when you know you’re on point.

I’m still new to the game, but I’ve come a long way. I am happy with my progression and hope to take on some more challenges when shooting picks back up this spring.

While I didn’t get to watch it live last night, I just finished the abbreviated DVR version. Here are a few thoughts about the winners:

Roger Deakins – got screwed! But I guess it’s not his fault that two movies he worked on got nominated for Best Cinematography. That probably worked against him since the Academy’s votes were split between The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and No Country for Old Men. Haven’t seen There Will Be Blood, but the photography looks good in the trailers.

Marion Cotillard – I’ve loved her since the first time I saw her in this French movie called Love Me if You Dare. I didn’t really think she’d pull out the victory. The safe bet probably would’ve been Julie Christie since she won the Golden Globe. Cate Blanchett is always good, but maybe she was nominated for too many things this year. I would’ve been happy with Ellen Page winning – I loved Juno and I’m sure she was a popular choice among the younger voters – but I think it was a longshot. I have no opinion of Laura Linney since I didn’t see The Savages.

But I like to think that Cotillard won because she was simply AMAZING. I knew nothing about Edith Piaf when I saw the movie but was completely captivated by her performance in the film. There’s one scene where she just rocks it – it is a steadicam shot that follows her throughout her house in a very important part of the character’s progression.

Michael Clayton – If No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood didn’t come out this year, I think it would’ve had a better shot at taking home some statues. Tom Wilkinson probably would’ve won the Supporting Actor award if Javier Bardem didn’t rock the hell out of Anton Chigurh. Clooney would’ve had a chance at the Best Actor statue too. Glad Tilda Swinton won for Best Supporting Actress, though. There were some scenes where she didn’t have too many lines (if any at all) but her reactions to the discovery of a situation spiraling beyond her control we real and on point.

Best Original Screenplay should’ve gone to Tony Gilroy. Ok, I loved Juno and am happy that it won. Juno was a hip, cool, heartwarming coming of age teenage kind-of love story. Juno was a character-based piece whose brilliance was in the dialogue and the interesting character relationships. Michael Clayton was more plot-driven – a smart, well-crafted corporate drama-thriller that unraveled smoothly and methodically. I did not expect to enjoy a story about corporate lawyers and other rich people, but the storytelling was brilliant. Interestingly enough, Gilroy wrote the screenplays for the Bourne series.

Speaking of the Bourne series…

The Bourne Ultimatum – wow, pretty much a sweep of all the technical post-production awards: Achievement in Editing, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing. Makes sense, I guess – it’s an action movie with a bunch of fights, car chases, and explosions. My favorite scene was the fight in the bathroom where there was no background music or score – just the sound of two dudes fighting – pretty intense. Not to mention the editing had to be on point with all the handheld cinematography. I’m sure it takes mad skill to cut the film in such a way that the audience does not get motion sickness…er, at least not TOO much motion sickness.

Juno – I’m not really surprised that this movie didn’t win a whole lot of awards. While Ellen Page was great in it, she was certainly overmatched in the Best Actress category. Her nomination opens the door to grander roles and she’ll have a statue in due time if she picks the right films. I’m interested to see what Diablo Cody has coming down the pipeline. A part of me thinks she captured lightning in a bottle – with the stellar cast and director. How much range will she have in her writing? Will she just be the next Kevin Smith? Not that it’s a bad thing.

Jon Stewart – Great host. Probably the best in recent years. Right now, the only other person I can think of that can do as good a job at hosting this event is Conan O’Brien.

All in all, pretty good Oscars this year. I’m glad Michael Moore didn’t win. A part of me thinks that his past wins were anti-Bush propaganda. But it’s the last year of the Bush regime so maybe it’s the Academy’s way of saying they’re over it. I kind of dug the interviews with former Oscar winners. It was funny when I heard Sidney Poitier say “there is no honor in Hollywood…” I thought, “oh man, that’s one hell of a sound byte”. Then he completed his sentence.

So now that the Oscars are over, movies will probably hit a lull until the summer blockbuster season hits full gear in May. Hopefully there will be a few gems before then.

Next up: Be Kind, Rewind

Kristin Kreuk as Chun-Li? This movie is gonna SUCK – big time! But it might end up surprising me the way Transformers did. Don’t get me wrong, Transformers was bad for sure, but not as bad as I expected. Perhaps there will be some things about Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li that I will get a kick out of – like Lana Lang in white F-me boots and buns, Michael Clarke Duncan knockin’ heads off of fools, and Taboo doing something other than dancing around being BEP’s hype man.

But really, could it be any worse than the Jean-Claude Van Damme version?

Now I can buy a Blu-Ray player! But I guess I should get an HDTV first. But I guess I better pay my taxes before that. But I guess I better get a job before I do that!

Such is the life of a freelancer.