I think there's no rason for refusing to spend or to hire other people in different mansions while doing movies like Spy Kids or Once Upon a time in Mexico.
Spy Kids 2, for example, in terms of CGI, would be a 100 times more enjoiable film with more money and some professional work on it.
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ September 29, 2003 11:49 AM: Message edited by: bully_the_kid ]</font>
Hey there.
"Spy Kids 2, for example, in terms of CGI, would be a 100 times more enjoyable film with more money and some professional work on it."
That's where I disagree. I can't see how spending more money on fx would have made that movie any more more fun.
For those films everything Rodriguez did worked. I guess his whole "home made" mentality suited those movies.
But when he is making stuff for an adult audience he needs to put a lot more time and effort into it.
Despin out.
I watch OUATIM last night and I am torn on how I feel about it. I really enjoyed the action and gun play in this movie for what it was and there was a lot of it. But I felt the story was rather lacking, somewhat confusing, and there were far too many characters with little background, not much to tie them together, and many of them could have been combined. I brought my wife with me (she has seen Desperado once and has never seen El Mariachi) and she was totally lost. The thing that confused her most was using the same actors who died in the last movie as new characters in this one and I have to agree that was a bad call.
Desperado is one of my top 10 all time favorite movies and the new one does not even come close to excellence of that film. Desperado had a very clearly defined story, good character development, an excellent soundtrack, and great action which incorporated all the unrealistic fighting clich? (such as one man with a shotgun defeating 25 guys with Uzi’s or the never ending ammo clip) in a sarcastically serious way. Other than the last item, OUATIM lacked all these qualities.
As far as the score for the movie, it was all right but nothing to rave about (and I say this as a musician and guitar player myself). I think it is cool that he tried to do the entire score himself, but I think Clint Eastwood said it best “A man has got to know his limitations”. I am also adding a few of my own songs in the movies I make but I know I am not the worlds greatest musician (otherwise I would be on a music board instead of this one), so I supplement my tracks with tracks from established local bands to offer a more solid score behind my movies.
Hey there.
"I know I am not the worlds greatest musician (otherwise I would be on a music board instead of this one),"
So what are you trying to say? You're the worlds greatest filmmaker?
CHEEKY F*CK.
Despin out.
Ouch! Your going to make cry Despin if you keep twisting my words around like that. Besides, if your film making is anything like your observational skills I’m sure you already hold such a highly esteemed title! Better watch it; I’ll be looking to steal the title from you in a few years.
Highlander1432 in
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">cudn't agree more. Most Rodriguez films are average at best, and his last two; Spy Kidz 3D and Once Upon a Time in Mexico are **** .Ever heard the expression "Jack of all trades, Master of none"?
He has a large following coz he claims that anyone can be a film-maker, hence the massive amount of kids running around with mini-dv cams now claiming to be Rodriguez style guerilla film-makers!
Well, here's my 2 cents on the "film composer" issue specifically, and a bit on Rodriguez in general.
Recording some music with your guitar, a drum maching, and a few synths, then handing it to a "real" composer who then spends endless hours scoring the music for all the instruments in an orchestra, means THAT guy did the score, not Rodriguez.
I guarantee you, Rodriguez did not score anything.
Hand him some music and ask him to transpose it for violas and horns, and you'll see someone scratching his head, trust me.
I've done this, and it's a huge, tedious task, and he doesn't do it.
He pays someone to do it.
Rodriguez is notorious for stealing all the credit for other people's work and talent, so he can make it seem like he's making the whole **** film, doing everything by himself, for his own self-promotion.
I read a post on AC from someone on the set of one of his films that he's listed as steadicam operator on, that he did a few takes with a steadicam (enough to get some good on-set photos for the magazines), then the "real" steadicam op shot the rest of the film, and that guy got a "steadicam consultant" credit, which is BS if you ask me.
Rodriquez is the master of self-promotion.
Why else do we see him in all the photos?
He's in more publicity photos for his own films than Spielberg!
And he's more full of **** than even Speilberg was in the early days, forming his own legend.
(All that stuff about setting up his own office at Universal was a load of **** . All the guys at the editorial dept. denied it, saying he was just hanging around bugging them, showing his 8mm films with a projector he brought in, etc. )
Have you seen this ridiculous picture of him showing Johnie Depp how to pose and shoot a gun for "Once Upon a Time"?
I mean, really!
El Mariachi was just an average ow budget flick.
I see films better shot, and in fact, very similar, at the Mexican restaurant I eat lunch at.
This is run-of-the-mill Mexican TV stuff, which Rodriguez correctly was aiming for that market when he made the film.
It's just that lucky for him, the agent he showed the film to, and the average American moviegoer, had NOT seen these types of films, and they created buzz around what he had done.
Lucky, lucky guy.
And by the way, El Mariachi was "SHOT" for $7K, which means, in the can, which means, NOT FINISHED... for $7,000!
Big Deal!
They put over $150,000 into post to get it to the stage of having a master suitable for watching.
What that means, is the film that everyone keeps saying "wow, he did that for $7,000?" is actually the result of of $157,000, not $7,000.
I'm just so sick of hearing he did the film for $7,000, when NOT ONE OF US has seen that original, 3/4 inch video edit that he made for $7,000, but the $157,000 version after they put a ton of cash into.
Matt Pacini
Well, here's my 2 cents on the "film composer" issue specifically, and a bit on Rodriguez in general.
Recording some music with your guitar, a drum maching, and a few synths, then handing it to a "real" composer who then spends endless hours scoring the music for all the instruments in an orchestra, means THAT guy did the score, not Rodriguez.
I guarantee you, Rodriguez did not score anything.
Hand him some music and ask him to transpose it for violas and horns, and you'll see someone scratching his head, trust me.
I've done this, and it's a huge, tedious task, and he doesn't do it.
He pays someone to do it.
Rodriguez is notorious for stealing all the credit for other people's work and talent, so he can make it seem like he's making the whole **** film, doing everything by himself, for his own self-promotion.
I read a post on AC from someone on the set of one of his films that he's listed as steadicam operator on, that he did a few takes with a steadicam (enough to get some good on-set photos for the magazines), then the "real" steadicam op shot the rest of the film, and that guy got a "steadicam consultant" credit, which is BS if you ask me.
Rodriquez is the master of self-promotion.
Why else do we see him in all the photos?
He's in more publicity photos for his own films than Spielberg!
And he's more full of **** than even Speilberg was in the early days, forming his own legend.
(All that stuff about setting up his own office at Universal was a load of **** . All the guys at the editorial dept. denied it, saying he was just hanging around bugging them, showing his 8mm films with a projector he brought in, etc. )
Have you seen this ridiculous picture of him showing Johnie Depp how to pose and shoot a gun for "Once Upon a Time"?
I mean, really!
El Mariachi was just an average ow budget flick.
I see films better shot, and in fact, very similar, at the Mexican restaurant I eat lunch at.
This is run-of-the-mill Mexican TV stuff, which Rodriguez correctly was aiming for that market when he made the film.
It's just that lucky for him, the agent he showed the film to, and the average American moviegoer, had NOT seen these types of films, and they created buzz around what he had done.
Lucky, lucky guy.
And by the way, El Mariachi was "SHOT" for $7K, which means, in the can, which means, NOT FINISHED... for $7,000!
Big Deal!
They put over $150,000 into post to get it to the stage of having a master suitable for watching.
What that means, is the film that everyone keeps saying "wow, he did that for $7,000?" is actually the result of of $157,000, not $7,000.
I'm just so sick of hearing he did the film for $7,000, when NOT ONE OF US has seen that original, 3/4 inch video edit that he made for $7,000, but the $157,000 version after they put a ton of cash into.
Matt Pacini
I'm not harbouring any delusions that Rodriguez is the greatest filmmaker alive, indeed Mariachi isn't really that amazing a flick, but he did complete post-production for $7000, but on 3/4 inch tape. When Columbia wanted a film print, he then had to back and re-cut the whole thing and get that blown up to 35mm. That's the $157,000 version. His $7000 version is in the 10 Minute Film School on the DVD, and it looks considerably cleaner. The film print looks washed out to me in comparison to this.
Rodriguez took lessons in orchestrating between finishing shooting on OUATIM and starting post. That's why I'm less dubious about believing what's his work in this. Listening to the Spy Kids scores, I couldn't be sure.
I'm pretty sure you can't just steal credits like that. Isn't there unions and organisations to stop that kind of thing happening?
I've yet to see Mexico, but I'll agree that Spy Kids 3D wasn't as good as it should've been, and was probably made to show off the technology. But it's still a kids flick, and the kids around me were entertained, so it wasn't a complete failure.
I'm not his bum-chum, honest.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">LOLI'm not his bum-chum, honest.
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