The Proof Is In The Background

I have watched a lot of terrible movies in my lifetime. Movies that were only made because the producer's son wrote it or his daughter wants to try to be an actress. Now, I can forgive a bad low-budget movie if the script and acting are solid, just like I can overlook a bad script in a big-budget action movie with unbelievable special effects. At least then some aspect of the project can be redeemed. What I can not stand, however, are terrible actors trying to make a horrible script work in a no-budget setting. When that is the case I would much rather they shelved the project until such time as they can afford better actors and possibly use that time for a re-write. Fortunately for you, I have discovered the quickest way to determine if a movie you stumbled upon is really that terrible, so hopefully you can save yourself the aggravation of watching them and wasting hours of your life.

As it turns out, the secret to telling how seriously you should take a movie lies in the background. If you are watching a movie that has an outdoor scene and everyone not involved in the movie is staring at the actors then that is a clear sign you need to move on. You see, this means they either don't have the budget to pay these people to be extras (and that means they know not to wreck the scene by staring), or the film doesn't have the level of professionalism to have a production assistant who's job it is to watch the background and make sure this kind of thing isn't happening. It also says they couldn't rope off the area to shoot because they didn't have the money to secure the proper permits. I know all this because this is what use to happen to me all the time when I was filming stuff for my various production classes. But, that was college, this was a movie on Showtime. You would think it wouldn't be a problem at that level, but apparently it is. Lastly, the staring means that people are trying to figure out what is going on, whereas any movie with real actors you can tell right away. The difference in reactions goes a little something like this: "Oh look, it's Tom Hanks. They must be filming a movie." vs "I don't know who that person is. Do you think it's a movie? Is it a commercial? Lets watch and find out." So, now you know - if the people in the background of the movie are watching the actors more intently than you are, pick up the remote and find something better.

-Last night we once again had a big group of thunderstorms roll through the area and once again we lost power. Now, far be it from me to talk badly about me beloved home town or its utility services, but this is getting ridiculous. This has to be at least the third time we have lost power this year and it's the first day of June. I don't remember us ever losing power this frequently ever before. I really hope this isn't still an issue when we get into July and August, because losing A/C during the summer months would really suck.