Blog Three: I Have No Idea What To Write About!!!

Howdy all, hope you're having an excellent October. I promised myself that after the first two posts that I would not simply make a list of things for my third post. So I sat down and I really thought hard about what I wanted to say.

What does Ross Boyask (that's totally me by the way) have to SAY about things? And why would what I have to say about anything mean anything to anyone else? And then I started thinking about how awesome Superman: The Movie is.

This is awesome.

And then my mind wandered... for ages.

Should I write about how I saw this movie when I was three years old and it stayed with me forever, how incredible John Williams' score is, the sheer integrity of Reeve's performance, the deftness of the direction and all the many, varied wonderful qualities of what is (if I HAVE to pick one) my favourite film of all time?

No, what's the point?


If you don't know how awesome this film is then watch it again, I mean really watch it, concentrate on it properly, listen to the soundtrack on headphones to discern the incredible sophistication of each track of music. But mostly, stare in awe at: the sequence where the young Clark boots the football in the sky and then chases a locomotive (accompanied by the track "Growing Up"), the scene where Clark saves Lois from the helicopter, preceded by the shot where he looks a simple phone box up and down in bemusement, not being able to change in a typical phone booth, and the wonderful moment when he cheekily breaks the fourth wall for one time only, giving the audience a wink when he catches the bullet fired by a mugger earlier in the film. The Dark Knight, Spider Man 2, Iron Man, X-Men 2? All great superhero films. But compared to Superman: The Movie? Not even close.

I enjoy Superman: The Movie more every single time I see it. Laugh harder at Otis and Luthor's banter, and more sharply feel the ache of Clark's grief at losing Lois before hurling himself into the air in the final act. But again, what's the point of my writing about this film, the most awesome film ever made?

Or maybe I should write about the films I'm currently working on?

Cecily Fay, who is also awesome.

Well Cecily and I are still delivering WARRIORESS. To our knowledge we are but a document or two away from completion and we are working on a couple of new trailers for the film, as well as the behind scenes documentary. We are also arranging a screening which will hopefully be for the end of this month. Watch this space and check out the website.
Also follow our Twitter feed.



Additionally the supernatural comedy short Jenny Ringo And The Cabaret From Hell is currently in post-production and you should most certainly check out the blogs of the writer/director Chris Regan and his lovely wife and producer Andrea.

I'm in the early stages of what might be considered pre-production on three new feature films but I'll only bother going into them when exciting new things happen.

Only now this is starting to feel like a LIST of things that I want to write about. And this blog is absolutely NOT going to just be a list.

I should probably mention at this point that this post is actually being written as part of a fortnightly challenge with the excellent, multi-talented and quite frankly stupendously BEAUTIFUL Adele Kirby. Did you just look at her new website? I'm right, right? Beautiful. Anyway we banter a considerable amount on the time-suck that is Facebook and, since she's highly unlikely to accept my regular marriage proposals, we've challenged each other to regularly blog about... well I guess whatever the Heck it is folks like us blog about. Hence this blog, which is NOT A LIST.

I don't look like this. Yet.

Hmm. Well I could write about me having just returned to martial arts training after a few (unforgivable) years out. People who know me know my weight has yo-yo'd the last few years and, despite training with weights and going running, I've not found a regime that really suited me. Well I've just started Muay Thai, and I'm already loving it. Loved the stretching, the drills, moving and throwing the punches out. As soon as I connected a punch properly for the first time in a very long time it was something of a revelation. More on this soon, assuming I survive the next couple of lessons. And if you're based in Brighton and want to come training, let me know. Great instructors, fantastic atmosphere.

A proper horror film. Go see.

I could wax lyrical about how good Sinister is, that it's the first vaguely original horror film I've seen in 5 years. How the scares work, how Ethan Hawke draws you in with a compelling performance, how the supporting cast are amazing aside from the actress playing his wife (someone Rylance) and how she seems to be constantly playing to the back row, and how director Scott Derrickson has delivered a tight, economical chiller which pretty much redeems his utterly worthless remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still.

And I could blat on about how this was all part of the first UK AICN (Ain't It Cool News) event. But again, what's the point?




And, finally, I could rant about why I will be avoiding Taken 2 like the plague even though I think Taken is one of the best films of the past ten years, and I've watched it (no joke) 39 times. My fears, ever since I heard that the sequel was going into production, have been confirmed bit by bit, stage by stage, all now partly confirmed by the "well it sort of looks good but actually it mostly looks SHIT" trailers, and the 12A rating, and then confirmed even more by friends of mine who know how I am in the cinema when confronted by an utter piece of shit. I cannot physically bear the idea that the sequel to my beloved Taken (fuck you I LOVE that bitch) is dreadful, but in my heart I know it is most likely to be true. I think that in matters of love, listen to your heart. Even when it's telling you something you don't want to hear. It's as true with films as it is of girls.

Look, thanks for reading all of this, but I must apologise because I still have absolutely no idea what I actually want to write about...

So check out this awesome trailer for The Man From Hong Kong instead, it says way more about life than I ever could!

Best to you all,

Ross

The Difficult Second Blog

So there's two days of Jewish New year, so it seems in keeping that I would type a second post. Also it was important to me when I finally decided to do a blog (is there a more appropriate description for this other than to "do" a blog?). I confess that before I went to bed last night I texted myself (yes I do that) a list of things to blog about. So, in order then...

WARRIORESS

Cecily and I are currently delivering the film to our sales agent. For those who do not know this includes not just mastering the finished film (with the help of the amazing post production teams at Splice and Wave) but also delivering various other elements including what seems like a tree's worth of documents.

Luckily our deliverables company Santx (website currently under construction) are working with us to enable us to get through this ever-so-slightly harrowing process with minimum pain. I'm currently editing the behind scenes featurette, which is taking much longer than I want it to, but it's still good fun to see it coming together. If you think making a micro-budget martial arts fantasy feature film is hard, try delivering one afterwards on virtually zero cash...

JENNY RINGO AND THE CABARET FROM HELL

I had the pleasure of editing the sequel to Chris Regan's first short film Jenny Ringo And The Monkey's Paw which you should definitely watch because it's awesome. Chris is a very talented writer, and we've worked on a number of projects together including Ten Dead Men and Warrioress.

Also if you're a member of Shooting People, please take a moment to click this link and give Jenny Ringo a rating as film of the month. The second film is currently in post production, and you can keep up to date with it's progress on the Facebook group. Do so.


THE MAGNIFICENT ELEVEN

I had the privilege of working on this feel-good comedy drama at the end of last year, doing some second unit direction towards the end of the shoot.

The film has a great cast including Keith Allen, Sean Pertwee, Gary Mavers and Robert Vaughn stars as the lead villain in a lovely tip of the hat to the original Magnificent Seven film.

The international sales agent trailer can be seen here.


 
TOWER OF THE DEAD

So this is one of my upcoming projects as Director, it's a full-on action horror probably best described as Hard Boiled meets 28 Days Later.

I co-wrote the script with veteran actor and writer Paul Reynolds and we've been touting it around to get investment for the film. As part of our endeavor we shot a make-up test and created a teaser trailer from the results which you can see here.




So that's a selection of what I'm working on right now. There are some other projects in the pipeline as well, but it's probably best to go into them in more detail as and when they become more "real".

Oh, very briefly a film that I had a very small acting role in has been nominated for best feature at this year's Raindance Film Festival.

The film is called City Slacker, and I "acted" as one of a series of very bad dates that the lead character has dinner with, meaning I fulfilled a lifelong ambition to participate in an "Unsuccessful Dating Montage!"

The website for the film is here. There's also a Facebook group.



FILMS I'VE WATCHED SINCE STARTING THIS BLOG

Let's keep this simple, with short reviews...

Probably the 7th time I've seen this film.

Aside from the utter dislikability of Vince Vaughn (Watch him properly in any of his films. Look deep into his eyes. He detests you) this is a hilarious slice of fun with a fantastic cast, and the actual Dodgeball tournament is genuinely exciting.

It also co-stars the hugely"YES PLEASE" Julie Gonzalo.

Horrible load of bollocks starring an obviously aging Kate Beckinsale as an immortal vampire assassin. She is thoroughly unconvincing in her action sequences (as is that other so-called "action actress" Angelina Jolie) but that's the least of your worries in this poorly rendered CG-Fest. It's only 75 minutes long, which I would normally applaud (most films these days are entirely too long - Bad Boys 2, The Hangover 2 and Knocked Up should NOT be 2 and a half hours long) except that the film makes absolutely no sense (as do none of the other preceding installments), and for all the "sturm und drang" onscreen it is fitfully boring.

This review is entirely too long, but not half as long as the time I will never get back having watched this only to be proved right...

Classic Clint Eastwood film that combines classic, lean action thriller storytelling with a plot so dark that I'm still thinking about it hours after having finished watching it.

The film is probably most famous for the classic line "Go Ahead, Make My Day" as uttered by Harry Callaghan, but huge props should go to Sondra Locke for her performance as the troubled vigilante character at the centre of the story. Funnily enough I remembered enjoying this film but had forgotten  the actual details of the story, and how intense the film is. Very glad I saw this again.

Watched 25 minutes of this and turned it off. Might try it again but in no hurry to do so.

It has a decent cast and I was momentarily excited to see the legendary Bill Sadler (check him out in Trespass and Tales From The Crypt: Demon Knight) make some brief appearances. I have a feeling he will become more important later, but I can't take Sam Worthington seriously. He's standing on a ledge hundreds of feet above the ground, and looks like he's waiting for a bus. Another time maybe.



CURRENT TV SHOWS

Having now typed all of this up I'm highly aware that I've just been making lists. This simply will not do as a regular format for my blog. However, one more list will be my top 10 TV shows I'm currently enjoying. All are currently on the air, in alphabetical order:

Bad Education - one of the few UK comedy shows currently worth watching, starring and written by Jack Whitehall, about a young teacher who has more in common with the kids in his class than with the other staff at the school. Good laughs, great cast, worth a watch.

Boardwalk Empire - Season 3 has just started of this superb period drama show starring Steve Buscemi. Unmissable.

Boss - Utterly gripping drama focusing on the tough, TOUGH Mayor of Chicago as essayed by Kelsey Grammar. You've never seen him in a role like this before and the show is the natural descendant of shows such as The Wire in terms of style and tension.

Hell On Wheels - Superb Western Drama which follows the building of the first American railroads starring Colm Meaney who appears to be channeling Gene Hackman, Anson Mount and, in a surprising, star-making role, Common. If you loved Deadwood (as did I) you will vibe off this show.

Louie - One of the most funny, yet affecting comedy shows I've ever seen is currently in it's third season. Written and directed by, as well as starring stand-up comedian Louie CK, who is making serious inroads into giving his fans what they want at a price that they can actually afford - see his website - the show not only gives us an insight into his world perspective, but it also at least feels like a genuine window into the world of a single dad trying to make his way in a confusing world. By turns touching, surreal and hilarious. The episode guest starring Robin Williams this season is genuinely moving while also being laugh-out-loud funny.

Real Time with Bill Maher - Fantastic weekly panel show hosted by comedian and commentator Bill Maher. Watching this in the UK gives you a feel of the political and religious divisions tearing the USA apart. Also Maher made the excellent documentary Religulous which I highly recommend you watch at your earliest opportunity. The trailer is here.

Sons Of Anarchy - Awesomely good biker action drama, now in it's 5th season, set in the same world as the awe-inspiring police show The Shield. Ron Perlman, Katey Sagal and Kim Coates are just a few of the amazing cast tearing up the screen every episode.

Stephen Hawking's Grand Design - Splendid documentary show explaining the work of some of the foremost scientific minds on the planet. The producers have used some excellent computer graphics work to clearly demonstrate the theories, and the voiceover dips between the familiar computerised voice we all know and love, and the more cultured tones of the narrator. If you believe in an invisible superman in space, take an hour a week to learn about some of the more provable majesty of our universe.

Strike Back - Top Notch action entertainment and it's actually a UK show (well co-production anyway)!!! Full of shooting, fight, car chases and hard fucking, Strike back is a full-on action movie every week with massive bodycounts, proper squibs (not just cg blood), excellent production values and a pace that the Bourne movies should be jealous of. It's total bollocks by the way, but it's so entertaining that it hardly matters. Season 3's guest stars include Vincent Regan, a bored looking Charles Dance and "the makes me weep at the knees" Rhona Mitra, who the aforementioned Jolie and Beckinsdale cannot hold a candle to in terms of looks or screen action ability. And the sex scenes (at least one per episode) are so ferocious that Ron Jeremy would go running for cover.

The Thick Of It - Series 4 of this biting political satire has lost a few of it's teeth but it's still highly entertaining. Well worth watching but one feels that the creator Armando Iannucci has put more of his time into the US spin-off show Veep, which is quite frankly AMAZING!!!

Right this blog/list has been way, way too long. I'll rein it all in for the next one...

Be well, and give someone a kiss x

Nearly forgot the trailer! This time it's for the totally not ridiculous Werewolf police action film Full eclipse:

New Year, New Blog!

Hello You!

Well it's officially the 1st of Tishrei 5773 according to the Jewish calendar, and I figured if I was ever going to start an "official Ross Boyask blog" today would be the day to do so.

Me, being baffed in the face by a Ninja. Happens a lot.

For those of you reading this that don't know me (why on EARTH are you reading this?) I have nearly no idea of how to explain who or what I am, so I suppose the best way of describing Ross Boyask, given that you're reading this online, would be to post some links pertaining to me, myself and I. So without further ado...




This is me on Facebook.

Be warned, I'm opinionated and rude. I also want religion removed entirely from the world for various reasons. Some of my posts concern this, and I am actively disrespectful of all religion and other mumbo jumbo. I'm aware that this is not nice, but I make no apologies for it, and I'm going to keep doing it and keep telling other people to do it too. Moving on...

This is me on the IMDB.

Be warned, you probably won't have heard of the films I've made or worked on. Some are awesome, some are not, but I've worked with awesome people on all of them and I strive to learn something new every single day that I work on a film.

Additionally I've worked in film acquisitions and sales for a few years, so I try to combine my passion for production with business knowledge which, in my experience, a lot of film makers really don't seem to care to do.

This is the website for Warrioress the latest film I have directed, which we have just completed. I was lucky enough to work with Cecily Fay, who not only starred in the film, but she also produced it, co-wrote it, choreographed most of the action scenes, composed and created all of the music, provided all of the costumes and props etc. She's a mini-miracle, and her own website can be found here. I've totally seen her naked by the way, but it was all in good taste. We worked with some amazing cast and crew on the film and I'll go into this much more at a later date. But please also check out the Warrioress Facebook group. The latest sales agent trailer can be watched here.

So what else do I do? I occasionally guest-host a wickedly good (I'm not being a dick, it's REALLY good) Film Podcast called Filmsploitation, hosted by Phil Hobden (who I used to make films with, and now we like each other again), Andrew Mackay (I've been in one of his films) and Richard Blanchette, who is like totally American, but not irritatingly so. The Facebook group is a platform for ferociously intense film and TV debate. We're a friendly and passionate bunch, so check it out and get involved.

I help run a monthly film event in Brighton called Moviebar. It is absolutely awesome and is on the first Monday of every month. There is also a Facebook group for it and if you're based in the area and remotely interested in films you'll love coming along to it. We show short films, trailers, music videos etc, and there's a quiz where you can win prizes. And best of all it's FREE! Come along, the next event is October 1st. All details are on the website and Facebook group.




For those of you on Twitter you can follow me - @rossboyask - nice and easy that one!

On a personal note, I'm WAY overweight but working on it. Another thing that New Year will help me focus on for a bit. I'm still trying to decide how much of my personal life to incorporate in this blog. I'm considering saying "if anyone wants to know something, ask me and I'll answer honestly here" but I don't know how many people would want to ask me personal questions in the first place...

That'll do for now. In an effort to ensure that this blog isn't just about work-related matters, the most recent news is that I had the pleasure and privilege of attending an amazing wedding on the weekend just gone for the splendid couple who are now Jonathan and Archie Glendening. It was an amazing day and you couldn't meet two nicer people than Jon and Archie.

Points of interest:

1. It was a full-on Bhangra wedding. I've never been to one of those. It was bloody brilliant!
2. I had a suit designed for the occasion (which will also be worn at film screenings from now on too) by the amazing Michelle Chong, recommended to me by my excellent friend Hayley Nebauer.
3. I filmed on actual film for the first time. Jonathan, who is a very talented director in his own right, provided me and two other chaps with real super-8 film cameras he used to make films on as a kid in order for us to capture some memories through the day. He also had three HD cameras filming the proceedings. Ridley Scott-style coverage!
4. As I was leaving the wedding very, very late on Saturday night I was molested by two women who loved the suit (thanks Michelle!) and then my right shoe exploded. Seriously, it exploded from under me. Weird.

I know some ridiculously nice, cool, lovely and talented people, and I will no doubt mention them and post their links etc on here as I go along. 

Okay, enough already. Hope you are all well, please feel free to leave comments. I'm going to try to post regularly. Next time I'll talk about what I'm currently working on, and probably what I'm currently angry at. Oh, if you're reading this and working on the no doubt sanitised, PG-13 remake of Robocop, kindly do anything you can to sabotage it. I'd massively appreciate that.

And why am I calling this blog A Work In Progress? Because that's totally me. I see myself as a project that needs a lot more developing, and I've probably only got what 40 years or so left to do so? Better get a move on...






Screw it, think I'll finish each blog with a trailer. So here's the trailer for Gymkata, which is awesome.