I was sorry to hear about the passing of George Carlin. Along with Richard Pryor, Carlin helped change stand up comedy. To me Carlin was a truth teller and a wordsmith. He knocked down pompous hypocrites with just the right
Details, Details, Details
“God is in the details,” the architect Mies van der Rohe said. (Though I prefer the Devil is in the details, but you get the picture- details are important.) The first class all Flashpoint students take is called Sound, Image,
August take 2
In December I wrote about the terrific play Steppenwolf Theater Company play August:Osage County by Tracy Letts. I saw it last summer in its world premiere in Chicago. At Thanksgiving it moved to Broadway and a two months ago Tracy
The Last Picture Show?
An article in today’s Wall Street Journal caught my interest. Headlined, “Hollywood Studios Seek Control Over Delivering Movies to Homes.” The gist is this: studios will allow consumers to watch newly released films in their own homes (in HD). On
Sydney Pollack
Sydney Pollack died last week and I would be remiss if I didn’t write something about him. I think I was more of a fan of Sydney Pollack the person than of Sydney Pollack films- though he made a bunch
The Adams Family
While on hiatus from Filmmaking 101 one of the things I did was watch the remarkable HBO mini-series John Adams. The series was based on David McCullough’s Pulitzer Prize winning biography of our second president, John Adams. The series stars
Flashpoint Academy Year 1: that’s a wrap!
Hello again, it’s been awhile since I have written. Thanks for your patience and all the emails asking where I have been, I hope this helps explain somethings. This past Saturday, May 31, Flashpoint Academy celebrated the successful completion of
A Few Words on Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston died the other day and it is sad to me to have him remembered only for his NRA positions and his embarrassing appearance in Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine. Heston was from an era in Hollywood that doesn’t
Let’s Play Two!
Meteorologically, today is the nicest day we have had in Chicago since a freakish 65-degree sunny day came and went in early January. The calendar says spring, but the Cubs played their first home game last Monday in a 45
Film Production 2
The Flashpoint Academy film students just finished production on their second films. This is a picture from the set one day last week. Before they embarked on these films I sat in on a series of production meetings and was
