Our Brand Is Crisis

Rated R / 1 hr 47 min / Comedy - Drama

What is it about?

Sandra Bullock has been in seclusion for the past six years as a cat lady. She didn't collect cats, she dressed up as Hello Kitty and terrorized the neighborhood. Just when she thought she was out… they pull her back in. She is offered a job as a campaign strategist for a struggling candidate in Bolivia. They are losing badly because their candidate is Wile E. Coyote and all he wants to do is chase that damned roadrunner. She offers them a decorative bowl that is designed to suck a portion of their soul from them or something like that. She decides to take on the job once she finds out that the opposing candidate is being advised by her arch nemesis, the falcon god Montu who drops poop from the sky.

You will like it if...

You like interesting movies exposing the inner workings of a democratic election campaign. If you follow me on twitter I will sometimes post or retweet something political from time to time, but this movie touches on a subject that is near and dear to me. The amount of spin and bullshit that political parties and strategists will put into things. Most of that is done through the media spin machines here in America. I have been mulling over an idea for a video blog on this very subject, but I simply do not have the time for it. I recently had a couple of tweets go semi-viral, I say semi-viral because they both got well over 10,000 impressions which is 100 times what any of my other tweets would normally get. Anyway I bring it up because one of the tweets said basically that the pundits were trying to project onto the public what to think. Manipulating the public is what this movie is all about.

Sandra Bullock and Billy Bob Thornton do a great job in this movie. They have really good chemistry on film and play off each other well. My main gripe with this film is how those two characters are written as a typical trope. Bullock's character is written as a crazy bitch as if any woman who is assertive is a bitch and all women are crazy. Thornton is written as a horny old guy as if all guys are horny all the time. That kind of thing irks me when I think about it because this film is so interesting without those additions. True they do provide some opportunities to add some one liners that are funny, but most of those one liners are just as funny without the trope. There are a few twists and turns in the story that I enjoyed as well. At its hearth Our Brand Is Crisis is a tragic drama that has a direct correlation to what goes on every election cycle. If you are interested in the Democratic election and campaigning process at all then you should enjoy this film. Even if you aren't, the chemistry between Bullock and Thornton with a smattering of crisp one liners may be enough to keep your interest if you are a fan of either.

Next Week

Spectre. Vote in the comments if you like, but I'm reviewing the next James Bond film. Other releases that I will probably see include: Trumbo, Brooklyn, Spotlight, and I will probably skip The Peanuts Movie. As always the movie selection is subject to change based on what is showing here in theaters.

Upcoming to DVD on November 3

• Inside Out
• Vacation - About: Family vacation gone horribly wrong Quick Review: Meh Comedy.
• The End Of The Tour - About: Rolling Stone interviews an author Quick Review: Interesting Drama for writerly people

Open For Business: Promotion and You

Welcome to another edition of "Where is the toilet paper?" This week I really want to talk about promotion. I see a lot of advice for authors trying to promote their books, and a lot of authors making mistakes over and over again. The definition of insanity is stabbing a block of cheese and screaming "Daddy never loved me!" Actually I think the quote goes "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." POTAYTO POTAHTO. Again there is a ton of advice on this subject, and I am totally going to not add to that at all.

What I want to talk about is the way promotion can be a soul crushing endeavor. I used to hate it with a passion. Running around in a pink tutu with neon sign over my head that says "LOOK AT ME!", then wondering why no one says anything in my padded room. Why can't I just make my awesome over here and hide in a cave while everyone buys it? Well, how are they going to buy it if no one knows about it? So how do we promote the thing without having our soul crushed in the process?

DO THE ENJOYING OF IT!

What? Enjoy pulling your own nails off one by one? Enjoy extracting your own teeth? The agony of it all! Oh despair, the Skynet is falling! Terminators are roaming the streets collecting the kittens for Trumpcat pictures! Brian is an insane person and I will never enjoy the promotion soulcrush that makes souljuice that I have to drink to replenish myself before I die from lack of soul. *cue James Brown*

Yes YOU will enjoy promoting your awesome because it deserves to be treated like the awesome that it is! But how? I'm going to tell you a story. No it doesn't involve piggies or wolves or girls in red hoods. It begins with a man that has decided he is going to pursue the whole writing of things. He looks a lot like me, but less handsome. He's still a sexy beast if you like hairy guys.

Anyway this guy hates self promotion and all the social medias. The more social the more he hates it. He prefers one on one conversations or forum formats where he can collect his thoughts. He's not on the twitters, not blogging, no instagram, and he barely has a facebook set up to keep up with old friends. He vows to never do the socials media because it is the Emperor of evil things. So evil that even Darth Vader would turn on it.

So how do I go from that to where I am today? I try to smell all the roses now. Sometimes it's dog poop that I smell, but when life gives you dog poop sculpt it into the form of John Boehner's face. It should be about the right color for that. The great thing about social media is that you can set it to the side and ignore it for a while if you need to. When you think of something witty or clever you can pick up your phone and share it with the world.

If you can't think of anything don't pressure yourself into posting something. There are a multitude of people sharing their awesome on there. Share, reblog, retweet, or otherwise spread their awesome around like it is unlimited pizza. Everyone should have a chance to get a slice of awesome even if it is someone else's awesome. This is kind of avoiding the point though.

How To Do The Enjoying Of Self Promotion

If you want to be a writer or author then you enjoy writing, so write! There are so many ways to do this it makes my head spin. Turn every bit of promotion you do into a story. It's all a story that you control and you are the hero in the middle of it all. Tell the story you want to tell. You don't have to beg people to come see your awesome. Put it out there and tell everyone to go see it or Godzilla will eat their face. Do what you enjoy doing.

If you hate doing interviews then do the interview as your favorite character. Make it fun and enjoyable for yourself. If you have fun doing it then others will enjoy reading it for the most part.
Interviewer: Where do you get your characters from?
You: I AM GROOT

I enjoy writing fiction, so last week I created a serialized flash fiction story that was inspired by the blog post I wrote last week. The Storify of it is below. The point of this is that you are not in a cage where you have to post your link saying PLEASE CLICK ME OR I WILL CUT MYSELF. You can craft the promotion into something that is an enjoyable experience for yourself and others. Be creative. Innovate. Now I'm going to go make a bacon T-shirt with my website's link printed on it.

Steve Jobs

Rated R / 2 hr 2 min / Biography - Drama

What is it about?

Steve Jobs has a dream to build a revolutionary computer that limits what the user can do using proprietary code and limiting the amount of ports for accessories. Making it the opposite of the Apple II, the sole reason for the company's success. The Macintosh is born, and Steve Jobs is hailed as a genius. It's such a pretty baby, but it's too expensive. I'm sure any parent can relate. It fails horribly. Some say because of Steve's ego and others because the company made it too expensive and dropped support. I think it was the lack of emojis. Like cow bell you can never have too many emojis. At the same time he's fighting with his ex and denying that he is the father of their child.

You will like it if...

You like brutally honest biographies based on iconic characters. First and foremost I want to say that Michael Fassbender is the absolute perfect person to cast as Steve Jobs. The rest of the cast also does a fantastic job, but the entire film hinges on Fassbender's manic portrayal of Jobs. The movie shows him as the man he was, warts and all. The only problem is that much of the story is already known and there are several other documentaries and films about Steve Jobs. This causes parts of the film to drag. He had a dream and he didn't care what he had to do to get there. He pushed people to their limits and beyond, but no matter what he would not acknowledge the role that Steve Wozniak and the Apple II team had in building and keeping Apple afloat. In the end there are some great performances but no surprises in Steve Jobs the movie.

Next Week

Burnt, Our Brand is Crisis, or Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse. Make your vote heard in the comments or Godzilla will pick the movie! As always the movie selection subject to change based on what is showing here in theaters.

Upcoming to DVD on October 27

• Pixels
• Southpaw - About: Boxer put in tragic situation Quick Review: Good Drama! :D
• The Gift - About: Creepy guy gives gifts Quick Review: Good Mystery! :D

Secrets & Lies

Some of the most compelling parts of a story are the secrets and lies that are found throughout the narrative. That twist in the story that you didn't see coming because one of the characters was lying. The character who has a secret that they desperately want to keep. We all lie about something in our lives to keep our secrets. Sometimes they are little things that are done because a character doesn't want to hurt another's feelings. Other times it could be so that the character can portray themselves in a better light. The big lies and secrets keep a reader on the edge of their seat wondering what might happen next. Those are the juicy bits that make my nipples hard.

This week I want to discuss how I use these to build a story driven by characters. Their motivations are behind the scenes, but given time they will be revealed. All the dirty little secrets and lies that hide in the darkest deepest corners will eventually see light. Like cockroaches they will scurry away, but sometimes there is no shadow to scurry to. OK time to talk about picking up a shoe and squishing the bug.

Character Motivations

This is where everything starts. To build a character that feels real you need to understand what their motivation is. What is it that moves them? Hey Macarena! No wait... not on the dance floor. I'm talking about what makes them do what they do. This goes deeper than what happens within the pages of a novel. Why do they care? What is in their past that pushes them to act a certain way? There are 2 basic ways to do this that I know of. If you know another way I would love to hear it in the comments please.

The first way is to have the characters shape the story. As you build the universe around them the characters will run wild within it. They will make their decisions. They will lie and keep secrets. How big is their lie? How big is their secret? When the secret is revealed how will they all react? I like to give my characters enough rope to hang themselves, but this isn't my preferred method. There ends up being chaos within the pages. The main characters could decide they hate each other and wander off to do different things. One character tries to solve the murder while the other determines that she or he will be the greatest Pokemon champion the world has ever known. This can result in the author using their God mode to force characters back in their place. The author may be forced to have a character lie or mislead another character to push back against the chaos. This can add another level to the story giving one of your characters a chance to betray or simply disappoint another character, or it could be the tipping point toward a plot hole.

The second way is to build the shape of your story then mold characters that fit within the roles needed within it. This is something that I have always been good at. Finding the right piece of the puzzle that fits to make a picture of a rainbow. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Everyone makes mistakes. What kind of motivation will character A need to make mistake number 5 which will result in plot twist alpha? This is how I build characters that fit within the mold of my story. This is everything to my story. If the characters don't make mistakes, if they don't lie, or if they don't keep secrets then the story becomes very boring indeed.

The Breadcrumb Trail

The breadcrumb trail can be handled many different ways. Throughout the story I like to leave subtle hints that something is coming. Little tidbits of information that lead up to the big reveal. You could put large neon signs up saying "THIS CHARACTER IS THE VILLAIN" then watch as the other characters struggle to figure it out while leaving the reader squirming in their seat. There are many degrees of this in between from the subtle hints to the not so subtle to laying out the truth to the readers but leaving the story's characters in the dark. What I don't recommend, and I see this in film a lot, is to skip this part altogether. This can cause readers to jump out of their seat, scream "WTF", and then throw the book across the room. This is the winding path that leads to a compelling reveal.

The Reveal

I always enjoy writing this part. It isn't always the ending of the story, but it is an ending of sorts. The resolution of a story arc or a revelation that brings certain facts to light. That "Ah HA" moment. Making the light bulb shine brightly over a character's head. Is there a confession, is the secret forcibly taken, or does one of the characters simply figure it out with horror on their face? How will everyone react?

I watch a lot of movies, and have been enjoying many of the new shows on TV lately. I have been noticing many of these types of twists in the story centered around lies and secrets. Do you find these secrets to be as enjoyable as I do? What are some of your favorite books, TV shows, and movies that have great plot twists? Please no spoilers! I would love to hear what you think in the comments.

Crimson Peak

Rated R / 1 hr 59 min / Drama - Fantasy - Horror

What is it about?

Edith Cushing knows there are ghosts because Casper wanted to be her friend when she was young. The ghost of her mother kicked Casper's pansy butt then warned her about Crimson Peak. Now Edith is an aspiring author (I can relate weeeee), but the male overlords of traditional publishing reject her for not writing frilly romance. How dare she have ideas or opinions, after all the movie is set well before women get the right for such things. *rolls eyes* Enter Loki, err.. Thomas Sharpe a strange foreigner who has a title and lands. He is there to find investors for a machine he built and meet with a single woman whose family doesn't hesitate to let everyone know that he's interested. He says a big fat NOPE to that. He is more interested in Edith and her scribbling. Edith's father doesn't trust Thomas and his creepy sister, but he isn't sure why. He hires a private investigator to find out, and they find some shocking information.

You will like it if...

You like beautifully crafted movies with thrilling stories. First off I have read some of the reviews from mainstream websites saying that this film isn't scary and are giving it negative reviews because of it. They are flat out wrong. One of the lines early in the film describes it pretty well. Applied to this movie the gist of the line goes: This is not a ghost story, but rather a murder/mystery that just happens to have ghosts in it. Yes there are scary parts, but it's not really a horror film. We've been so desensitized to much of what is in the film that it doesn't really scare as much as it would have 10-15 years ago. The ghosts in the film are still amazing and creepy. The special effects are just as good as any other film Guillermo del Toro has done (Pacific Rim, Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy, etc.). The acting is also top notch throughout, but the real star is Jessica Chastain. She plays the creepy sister Lucille Sharpe, and I absolutely love her to pieces from start to finish in this movie. The script for Crimson Peak is one of the best Guillermo has had to work with as well. The dialogue is interesting, the pacing is excellent, and the twists and turns kept me rapt in anticipation of what would happen next. If you are looking for a horror movie then you will be disappointed in low amount of scares. Crimson Peak is a hauntingly beautiful film with a twisting story that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Oh yea, it also happens to have ghosts in it.

Next Week

The Last Witch Hunter, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, Rock the Kasbah, or Suffragette. A lot of choices this week, so make your vote heard in the comments or Godzilla will pick the movie! As always the movie selection subject to change based on what is showing here in theaters.

Upcoming to DVD on October 20

• San Andreas