The Dark Knight: A Film Review

Three years ago, if you had asked me what I thought of the Batman film franchise, I would have told you it was over. That Joel Schumacher was an evil, soulless fiend and had effectively raped millions of childhoods with Batman & Robin, a travesty not even Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg would bother referencing. Then Christopher Nolan had an idea, instead of trying to pick up the pieces and carry on, he’d just wipe the slate clean and start again. 2005 was an important year for me; it was the year my faith in the Batman movies was rejuvenated. It was very earnest, dark and closer to the feel of the comic books than any other in the franchise, and it answered the question “Why is he Batman?” in more ways than one. When I heard a sequel was in the works, I was both overjoyed and apprehensive. The fact that Christopher Nolan wanted to continue the series was wonderful, but the bar had been set so high that it was all too possible that he’d try too hard and ultimately slip and fall. Oh, how wrong I was...

The story begins not far from where the last left off. Batman and Commissioner Gordon are beginning to succeed in taking down the crime kingpins of Gotham City, thanks in part to the new DA, Harvey Dent, and Batman is beginning to think that perhaps his job is coming to a close. That’s when a psychopath in clown make-up, who only goes by the name Joker, appears, to challenge everything Batman has ever believed in and to test the limits of Gotham.

I’m at a loss as to where to put my praise first. Everything, from the acting, to the script, to the score, to the directing, to the cinematography is done at such a professional level that not only does it set a new benchmark for comic-book films, but it sets one for films in general. It makes the impossible possible. Well, that may be taking it a bit far. It makes the highly unlikely credible, and believable. Batman’s existence is given meaning to the point where you believe a situation like this could present itself beyond the movies. To an extent. It explains why we need heroes, and why they need to be more than we believe we can be.

Christian Bale returns with an evolved personality, as is only fitting. When Batman Begins finished, he’d firmly established himself as both the Caped Crusader and the head of Wayne Enterprises, so it’s only fitting that he should have more confidence this time around. But unfortunately, the terribly cheesy raspy Bat-Voice returns with a vengeance. At least it’s not the Bat-Nipples, I guess. The rest of the original cast does a great job continuing their character’s respective histories, especially Michael Caine as Alfred the butler. As for the newcomers, Katie Holmes thankfully sat this one out, and has been replaced with Maggie Gyllenhaal, a much more fitting choice. Holmes was terribly forgettable in her role, whereas Gyllenhaal gives Rachel Dawes life, and makes her a character you want to care about. Instead of having the film tell you she’s Bruce’s lifelong friend, Gyllenhaal just makes it seem right. Defense Attorney Harvey Dent is played brilliantly by Aaron Eckhart. Without revealing anything (but if you’re a fan of the comics, come on, you know what’s coming), he smoothly and meticulously sets up a character that knows what needs to be done, but doesn’t know exactly how to get it done. That’s about as ambiguous as I can get.

And of course, you all know who’s left to discuss. I’m going to be very honest here; I forgot that Heath Ledger was no longer with us while watching this film. The simple fact of the matter is his performance is that captivating, that terrifying, that...well, that good that he becomes lost in the role. You don’t see Heath Ledger playing the Joker while watching this film. You see the Joker. He plays the role with such a level of unpredictability and madness, that you are terrified by his very presence, even when he’s off-screen. But he’s not without his trademark sense of humour. There will be quite a few moments when you can’t help but chuckle, even though your conscience is telling you not to.

The way that the script has developed the Joker deserves a tremendous amount of applause as well. In almost every comic-book movie, even the excellent ones, the villain really only exists because of the hero. It’s always a case of “You’re the good guy, I’m the bad guy, so we’ve got to tussle.” Not the case in The Dark Knight. Yes, the Batman is in the way of Joker, and becomes his target more than once, but the Joker’s ultimate motive is far greater, far more ideological than just killing Batman. He knows Batman is a symbol, a small glimmer of hope in a city torn apart by crime, and that destroying the symbol is a great step towards introducing full-blown chaos to Gotham City. Hence, the Joker’s encounters with Batman are usually more examinations of his limits and his ideals as opposed to all-out brawls.

Taking into account the above, this is without a doubt one of the most complex, violent and disturbing comic-book films I’ve ever seen. It has some of the most graphic violence for a film of its rating, and Batman’s face on the poster is probably the only thing that saved it from an MA rating (R if you’re in the US, 15 if you’re in the UK, something else if you live somewhere else). From the moment it begins, each scene is treated with an unnerving sense of tension, leaving the viewer clenched-fist waiting for the inevitable, yet not knowing what the inevitable will be. This is assisted by the score Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard composed, enhancing the feeling that everything is leading up to something else, and that expecting the unexpected is pointless, because it won’t compare to what’s actually going to happen. Apologies for the ambiguity, but I don’t want to spoil a thing.

To say that The Dark Knight is an excellent comic-book movie is a gross understatement. The truth is this film is more than that. It observes almost every aspect of both Bruce Wayne and Batman, constantly examining his motives and reasoning. It questions the line he treads between being a vigilante crime fighter and a criminal. It defines his role as a hero and then poses the question “Should he be the hero that Gotham needs, or the hero it wants?” It’s both an epic crime saga and an intricate, dark and disturbing character study that met all of my expectations and then exceeded them by leaps and bounds. Simply put, it’s a masterpiece.

5 out of 5.

-- Kaboose.

Hancock : The Review (May Contain Spoilers)

Looked at my kingdom, I was finally there! Sit on my throne, as the Prince of Bel Air...

I love Will Smith, for the most part, I've enjoyed pretty much all of his post Fresh Prince exploits, except maybe Wild Wild West, and I love comic books and superheroes a great deal, so, in theory, this should be a match made in heaven?

As You can probably guess from that, Hancock tells the story of a washed up, alcoholic and all round bum of a Superhero (Will Smith). His attempts at rescues and crime fighting usually cause more in damages than the criminals he's apprehended. The worst part of it all? He just doesn't care. He either enjoys the random destruction he causes, or he has some kind of major beef with humanity. Eventually, Hancock sides with PR executive Ray Embrey, in an attempt to clean up his act, become more of a respected figure in general and be a loved hero of the people. His first act is to go to prison for his crimes to the world thus far. Despite being able to break out at any time, owing to his powers of flight and super strength, Hancock adheres to the regime, and a MONTAGE appears to show his passage of time within prison. On the outside, crime figures are on the increase, and eventually Hancock is pulled off his prison sentence to help combat the crime on the streets, with a new attitude, appearance and tight rubber outfit. Eventually, Hancock is beloved by the public again, but things start to turn sour as the reformed super powered Smith begins to fall for his saviour Ray's wife, Mary Embrey, and one of his previously defeated petty criminals begins massing a plot to take out the new American darling...

So, Hancock is presented as a comedy film, but it really lacks that much serious humour. Any one who's seen the trailer (such as myself, which was my major qualm with the film), will have seen about 80% of the jokes and gags that the film has to offer. This kinda makes them a loss for me, but they were still amusing. Without the humour, it has to pull out a great Superhero movie to justify itself, and it still falls short of the mark. It's an average superhero movie, made better by Will Smith, but still not great or unique. Hancock does however, manage to escape, for quite some time, the dreaded "Origin Story Syndrome" that plagues most comic book films: Either we make one film to explain the character, then the sequel to be the action blockbuster, OR we make the film longer to include both; The former of course, being the preferable option, painfully. Hancock emerges into the film with amnesia and an attitude, and the action roles from there, which is refreshing. When the origin finally has to be addressed, it's actually done halfway through the film, and in a pretty unexpected twist, which I personally enjoyed, and didn't see coming. The action sequences in the film are also fairly exemplary, with brilliantly believable use of CGI and live action blending. The film falls down in the second half, bringing in the idea of Hancock loosing his powers, which is a bit of a staple in Superherodom, and the dramatic tension kind of weighing so hard as to almost snap the film in half from it's opening comedic tone. The "Bad Guy" is also a tad pathetic. Given little to no back story, and barely more screen time, with some badly written "epic" sounding insightful bad guy lines which would be more convincing spouted from Gary Oldman or at least from a Character with the development to be cool enough to pull it off, rather than sounding like a pretentious prick. Ok, I've lost my train of thought now, so I think I'll stop it there.

6.7/10

Oz Rembrandt

Diary of the Dead: The Review (May Contain Spoilers)

Om Nom Nom Nom... Brains... Diary of the Dead is 5th Zombie offering from grandfather of the zombie genre, George A Romero, after Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead and Land of the Dead. Tragically, in his old age, it seems the master is succumbing to a lack of subtlety which always set his movies apart from other shit fest zombie flicks.

So, in the style of Cloverfield, The Blair Witch Project and others, Diary of the Dead follows a group of teens (who else?) and their amazingly English stereotype college professor, as they open in the woods to film a project on a hand-held camera for their course. In this case, a take on the old style Mummy films (Not the ones with Brendan Fasier... They aren't old. I mean like, Really old, with Boris Karloff. Older than your parents. Unless you're like 48... Where am I going with this?). Filming is interrupted by confused news reports of the dead coming back to life and trying to eat the flesh of the living. Strangely, no-one goes "Shit, we're in a Romero movie!", but they do have the common sense to bundle into a large motor home and try to reach token screaming girl #2's parents house. On the way, there is gratuitous hospital based zombie violence all over the fucking place, with no attempt at scares what-so-ever. They also take supplies from a group of ghetto peeps of the streets who are about as token as there could ever get, get attacked by zombies, losing another faceless support actor, and get hijacked by the army and robbed of supplies (a part that could've been potentially a great insight into the shitiness of human behaviour under pressure, but because the "camera" is turned off, it's utterly missed, and summarised in a lame way afterwards... As if we couldn't work that out.) and more bland side characters are bitten, eaten and otherwise sprayed with amazing fake gore. Eventually, the group reach a friends house/mansion, where it turns out he's gone a wee but crazy. Zombies attack, the English guy uses a mother fucking bow and arrow, because apparently all us British are still experts in medieval weaponry. The narrator/cameraman is killed, as is pretty much everyone else bar the professor, Screaming Girl #2 and some Guy. The girl chooses to continue documenting the events outside the gargantuan panic room in the mansion. The other 2 aren't morons, and hide in it. Because she narrates the footage, and it's implied to have been found on youtube, we assume she survived.

Right... Good points are few and far between. The gore and violence is very very slick and impressive, but woefully overdone. No cut away's to imply horror and set the viewers mind racing, no, it's all CG and animatronic gore, which kinda reduces the impact of the whole thing. The film also lacks ANY scares. Not one. Not even a "Boo! ARGH!!!" moment, which I can normally admit to making me jump, even if it isn't really scary, which for a movie of the zombie subgenre, is a little weak. Every single character is a lame stereotype so 2D that it's amazingly difficult to feel sorry for them when some zombie is chomping down on their entrails, because to be honest, I couldn't even remember their names. The English Scotch drinking, pessimistic, sword wielding professor was possibly the worst of them all, although the ghetto kids the teens come across are a bit pathetic too with their "Now ain't no-one gonna stop us fo'shizzle" etc. I know Zombie films aren't well reknowned for their character development, but it's hard to create a sense of terror, when to be honest, you want the characters to get munched away just so you don't have to listen to their epically poor acting and scripting. The Camera technique... is a cool idea, and I liked it both the films I mentioned above, but here, it gets used to poor effect. For some reason, music is used over the top of the film... Which, unless the kids are being followed by a fucking symphony orchestra, is a little bizarre to say the least. The camera is often turned off or put away at times which would actually lend to some decent social commentary, almost as if Romero is to lazy to bother with any film direction. Unlike Dawn of the Dead, which utters slight, social ideas and stabbing realism into the zombie behaviour, diary attempts to work on the idea of the importance of the world wide media, spreading information through a touch of a button via the net. To be honest, Zombies all about, bbc news is the last place I'm likely to be. Nice attempt George, but it's all a little... In your face.

3.7/10

Oz Rembrandt

A Brief History of DC: Why We Celebrate DC Week

In Tim Burton's idea of DC there lays only two forms of existence: Obscured dreams and major successes. The famed director has had a pretty triumphant ride with DC comics, namely one of their poster children, Batman. As any Burtonite knows, Tim Burton directed the first film about the caped crusader in fifty-three years, creating a sequel three years later dubbed “too dark” for children. No Burtonite knows this preposterous definition, yet DC comics obviously did. After Batman Returns was released Warner Brothers began production on Superman Lives, slated to be directed by Tim Burton and written by Kevin Smith of Clerks fame. This time around it wasn’t Tim Burton’s visions that might’ve frightened moviegoers, but writer Jon Peters of…Wild Wild West fame. Peters desired to have Superman step away from his traditional blue and red suit to trade in for an entirely black one piece that would make the man of steel seem more “grown up”. This adaptation of Superman called for fights with polar bears, giant spiders, and for Lex Luthor to befriend a dog from space. After several disagreements on various levels of production, Tim Burton left to film Sleepy Hollow and after no other directors where able to commit, the film fell through completely.




However, despite popular belief, the reign of DC comics didn’t begin in the late 80’s to early 90’s. DC gains started its roots in 1934 as a magazine called New Fun, later becoming New Comics to then become Adventure Comics. Adventure comics would publish the heroes Batman in Detective Comics and Superman in Action Comics in 1937 and 1938 respectively, gaining a two year head start on competitor Timely Comics (now known as Marvel). These early years of what would become DC comics became known as the Golden Age of comic books, giving birth to the superhero genre. The nickname for Detective Comics became DC, years before it officially was changed to the moniker. Originally, All Star Comics, a comic book publisher that gained interests in the early 1940’s, published heroes such as Wonder Woman, the Flash, Hawkman, Hawkgirl and the Green Lantern. Detective Comics, which had then become National Comics, bought All Star and thus, their characters as well. Even with these new names under National Comics’ belt, the popularity of these heroes declined and the Golden era of comic books was finished with, National Comics moved on to science fiction and western comics, seemingly leaving the heroes in the dark forever.




This depression of comic books was released in the late 1950’s with a new age for our heroes in tights and masks, the Silver Age! The Silver Age of comic books was said to have began all with DC’s very own character, the Flash, now resurrected from his former Golden Age self to a nearly completely different persona and identity. This sudden popularity brought the Justice League of America, a more modern version of the Justice Society of America. The Silver Age brought less creative characters such as Supergirl, Batwoman, Bizzaro and Bat-Girl (not to be confused with Batgirl) and one of Superman’s greatest foes, Brainiac. Many may also recognize this time as the age that brought us Adam West in tights as Batman, in the aptly named, Batman, the popular live-action show which ran for two years until in 1968 it was cancelled, not more than two or more years before the end of the Silver era of comic books. However, along with the television series came animated shows for Batman, Superman and even Aquaman. The Silver Age did end, the Comics Code Authority (the rating system which comics were forced to be governed under) lightened its rules and allowed a time for more genres other than superhero comics to be published.

It was now almost obvious that a new popular age for comic books would emerge from the ashes of the previous reign. While sugarcoated shows like the Superfriends were premiering on Saturday morning lineups all over America, comics took a turn for the dark, and entered the Bronze Age. Writers began experimenting with storylines involving drug use amongst heroes, the most pivotal in the DC universe considered to be the Green Arrow’s sidekick Speedy and his usage of heroin. The Bronze Age also introduced more minority characters, most notably Black Lightning who was the first African-American superhero to have his own headlining comic for DC and Cyborg of the New Teen Titans. Alan Moore, considered one of the most influential writers of our time., published V for Vendetta under Vertigo, a branch of DC. This era also saw many adaptations of comic book superheroes, DC saw one of its most popular heroes, Wonder Woman, adapted into television format with Lynda Carter at the helms, playing the crime-fighting goddess. The first film based off of Superman also reached light, gaining an overwhelming positive reaction.

Many debate on whether the Bronze Age of comics ever actually ended, this time around the category of superhero seemed to be indestructible on nearly all plains of existence. However, the “DC Implosion” occurred around the middle of the Bronze era when writers began pitching more series than DC could sell nearly ruining the industry completely. The company survived, throwing out several titles to make up for lost money and time. Aquaman, Black Lightning and Batman Family were among the twenty series cancelled, twelve of the twenty merged or reprinted later on, whereas the other eight became doomed to never see the light of day again. Following the original dark tone that the Bronze Age began with, Frank Miller wrote Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and the DC universe would face a crisis of infinite proportions.




Crisis on Infinite Earths was published in April 1985, and reportedly was one of the major signs that the Bronze Age was ending. Crisis changed origins of some characters, completely altering others. It all started with a simple ploy to destroy the entire universe, this event called for nearly the entire charter of DC heroes to embark on a mission to fight the force threatening the existence of all life as we know it, although, famously, the life of not one, but several vital heroes faced the end of their careers. A year later the Crisis arc finished, giving leeway to spin-offs and similar titles but most of all, modifying the DC universe forever by what was known as one of the most important stories in comic book history.

Today comic books face an age known as the Modern Age or Dark Age of comic books. The Modern Age began in the mid 80’s, again by DC, this time via Alan Moore with his widely acclaimed graphic novel, Watchmen. Moore later published Batman: The Killing Joke, a comic book giving Batman’s archenemy, the Joker, a full backstory and nearly killing off Batgirl, but instead leaving her paralyzed. Unlike many one-shot comic books, the Killing Joke’s story merged into the casual Batman series, making Barbara Gordon resign her role as Batgirl. Writer Neil Gaiman would write The Sandman in 1989, a heavily art-driven seventy-five issue run, with covers illustrated by Dave McKean who would later go on to illustrate Grant Morrison’s Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth. DC experimented with several character-altering events, such as Batman being crippled by the villain Bane, Superman dying and Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern, being turned into a villain.




Outside of the actual comic industry DC remains strong. Tim Burton directed two extremely popular adaptations of Batman, leading to two new cartoon series based off of the two poster boys of DC comics, Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series in the mid 90’s based off of the artwork of Bruce Timm who would go on to influence the Justice League in 2001. Bruce Timm’s designs would later go on to animate the continuation of Batman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, a cartoon based off of a speculative future of the Batman series where Bruce Wayne is no longer the Batman and a newcomer, Terry McGinnis, mans the role of Batman. The role of DC in other media has been frequent, most notably the Batman franchise, which after Burton left the director chair still attempted to flourish under the care of Joel Shumacher, who most famously gave the batsuit nipples and Mr. Freeze a slew of terrible punchlines. After a general fallout, the Batfilms were revamped by Christopher Nolan who started from scratch, adding villains and characters who had not previously seen the light of a moviegoer’s day and using a whole new cast. With this new release came a new cartoon series simply named, the Batman, doing just as Nolan had and starting over on a clean slate. After Nolan’s highly successful Batman Begins, the Superman franchise revamp was inevitable with Superman Returns, another prosperous installment. Both films look forward to sequels in the future. More DC related characters and titles have been announced to have films in the works, including Watchmen, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and a Justice League based motion picture.

DC comics started as one of the forefathers of the superhero industry, in its seventy year run the company has faced turmoil that nearly destroyed them, tragedy that nearly killed its greatest champions and most of all, gained a faithful following of fans willing to endure it all. Now we celebrate DC week starting on the first day of July to commemorate those heroes lost, those heroes who have mysteriously reappeared out of seemingly nowhere and to just show a bit of every Burtonite's deep down geeky side.



Possibly said fans.

So join us celebrating DC week at http://www.timburtoncollective.com/forum/ starting July 1st!


~~Vonni

TBC forum down for a while

For TimBurtoncollective.com forum users:

The TBC forum is down for some while. Apparently the bandwith load taken up by the forum was so high that it made the whole shared system network run too slow, so the provider shut it down. An upgrade for a dedicated service (expensive) is what the provider suggests, but we will have to see what is the best possible solution.

Meanwhile, hang on tight, all other parts of the website are still operational, as well as all of our other sites and forums. (this is a good time to check out http://www.indeppth.com/forum or http://imaginarycinema.com/phpbb2/index.php for your forum needs!)

Thanks

Interview with Snuggably_Wonkable, winner of 2007 Halloween Costume Contest

The Winner of the 2007 Halloween Costume contest was Burtonite/Depptologist Snuggably_Wonkable, who dressed up as Pyramid Head, from the videogame, Silent Hill. Burtonite morbid_lydia caught up with her to discuss her highly imaginative and macabre outfit, along with her ideas on fake blood, locations, and filmmaking.

Burtonites Blog (morbid_lydia): Alright, thank you for agreeing to do this, Alex. It's an honor to have you featured
Snuggably_Wonkable: No Problem!!

BB: Anyways, do tell me, your costume idea was, to say the least, unorthodox. What gave you the idea to do Pyramid Head?
SW: Well, I am a big fan of the Silent Hill Series, and my favorite character is Pyramid Head. He is just so intimidating! I was playing the part of the game where I am trapped in the same room as Pyramid head, and it just hit me that it would be so fun to be him!

BB: That's neat! Did you think immediately, "Crap, where am I going to get the material for that?" or did it come later, actually planning it?
SW: Well, it came later. I proposed the idea to my mom, who didn’t think I could pull it off. She said it was too impossible of a costume... Later on when I was planning it, I really realized how hard it would be...

BB: What materials did you use exactly?
SW: Well, I made two versions. The first one was made from Styrofoam with poster board over it and wire on the inside. I had started it one day on a whim, and when I was done, it wouldn't even fit through the door. I tried it on, and I couldn’t even really hold my head up, it extended for about four feet in front of me... far to big to walk around in, and I about took my sisters head of when I was turning around. So I scrapped it, and started another version, simply made out of reinforced cardboard and allot of pain and tape, this one was a lot smaller and ended up being the one I used.

BB: Interesting! Did you have any plans for going out on Halloween and showing it off, or was frightening the Burtonites enough for you?
SW: I ended up going Trick Or Treating this year, dressed as Pyramid Head. No one knew who I was, of course, But it was quite enjoyable to walk around it. Before that, me and my best friend walked around our neighborhood, frightening cars, and scaring the hell out of her neighbor’s five year old brother and sister. It was great fun. I think I freaked a few kids out on a passing school bus....


BB: Amusing! And now onto the actual contest: Did you feel at all intimidated entering?
SW: A little bit, I mean, I had never really entered a costume contest before, and I didn’t know what to expect. I get really nervous entering contests, no matter what type.

BB: We're glad you did though! Did you have any particular regrets after entering? Is there anything at all you would change if you could go back in time?
SW: I regretted the location of my pictures a bit. I wanted to take pictures in my dark basement, since I thought it would be more fitting. My sister who was taking the photos refused to go down there, though, so I had to deal with the kitchen. In the end though, I figured I would have to make do with what I could. It was hard keeping my dog out of the shots though. She seemed to like the smell of the fake blood.

BB: My dog does too, when I make it at home out of corn syrup. What did you use, corn syrup, or fake stuff in a tube?
SW: Corn Syrup, It was really hard though, my batch never seemed to get the right color, no matter what I did. My first few batches came out bright pink, which I did not expect at all. It seems that someone had placed the NEON food coloring in the wrong box...

BB: How many bottles of food coloring did you end up using?
SW: Well, certainly more than I should have. I made two large batches. The first one was the perfect color, but when I was outside splattering the butcher robe, My dog raced by me and I ended up spilling the whole container down my front. Ha-ha! My stomach was red for quite a few days. The second one, I used more caution, and it ended up working pretty well. I'd say abut one and a half bottles. I made it in bulk, since I can use it for my movies....

BB: Do you feel as though your love of costumes ties in to your interest in filmmaking? You also participated in the 2007 Golden Borton Awards, and won best costume.
SW: Certainly! In my films, In my upcoming films, I need to do a lot of make up effects and costuming. Making them is much better than buying them, since even if I buy it; I end up modifying it anyways. I am collecting quite a collection of clothes and fabric to redo/make a costume. My films hardly ever take place in modern day, so I always need to find a way to make the correct style for the film....

BB: Would you ever consider costuming or film set design? You seem to have an eye for details and crafting.
SW: Oh yes! Costume making would be wonderful, and something I would really love to look into more. I am a beginner in sewing, but once I get better, I might sign up to help with the costume making in our local Theatre.

BB: And last of all: Will you enter next year's contest? Do you want to join in the fun again?
SW: Definitely! It was awesome to join, and it was wonderful seeing all the costumes! Everyone did so wonderfully!

BB: That's great to know! Thank you for allowing us to interview you, Alex, it's been a pleasure.
SW: The pleasure’s mine!

The Golden Bortons 2007: Winners!

THE RESULTS ARE IN!

I would like to thank everyone who voted on all of these fine films and everyone who submitted their movies. These were all fine films. Seriously; I am not using that lightly. Every single film showed that the people behind the making of them truly felt an earnest inspiration and motivation to create. Not surprisingly, there were several ties and even more near-ties. But (as cliched as it is), winning doesn't matter. Anyone who has made a film with the care, commitment, and dedication that these filmmakers have are already winners. It is a demanding, but thoroughly exhilarating, form of art.

Now let's get to the freakin' winners, already!:

Best Picture:
--William Palacio and Michael Smith, for Two Left

Best Director:
--Michael Smith, for Two Left

Best Leading Actor:
--Dakota Nickels as "The President," in Bullet Race

Best Leading Actress:
--Lorelei Linklater as "Jane," in The Substitute

Best Supporting Actor:
--Craig Shannon as "Frank," in Dream House

Best Supporting Actress:
TWO WINNERS!
--Lisa Diduch as "Mother" and "Hey Babe Girl," in Bullet Race
--Evan Schumann as "Mean Girl," in The Substitute

Best Screenplay:
--Tor Hershman, for AMEN (hotep IV, that is)

Best Editing:
--Michael Smith, for Two Left

Best Cinematography:
--Michael Smith, for Two Left

Best Music Editing:
--Tyler Morgan, for Bullet Race

Best Sound Design:
THREE WINNERS!:
--J. L. Carrozza and Ryan Murphy, for Dream House
--Tor Hershman, for AMEN (hotep IV, that is)
--Michael Smith, for Two Left

Best Art Direction:
--Autumn McPherson, for Instamatic

Best Costume Design:
--Alex Baxter and Jake Hansen, for Until Death Do We Love: A Silent Film

Best Makeup:
TWO WINNERS!
--Lindsay Garallo, for Dream House
--Billy Idle and Autumn McPherson, for Instamatic

Best Special Visual Effects:
--Michael Smith, for Two Left


Once again, congratulations to all who submitted and made these excellent films, and thank you for everyone's participation! I hope next year we have a contest at least as enjoyable as this one. Until next time, Happy Halloween!