Hope springs eternal, especially for baseball fans who are chomping at the bit for the regular season to begin.
This ode to baseball is simple yet charming as we are shown image after image of a dormant baseball stadium. Empty parking spaces, closed ticket booths, empty kegs, empty souvenir stands, even a slew of empty corrugated cardboard holders for drinks, hot dogs, peanuts and other goodies.
After seeing row upon row of empty seats in a cavernous Dodger Stadium, an uplifting message is supered on screen: “Cheer Up. Season starts soon.” A tagline carries the Dodgers website address.
This spec piece was conceived, directed and shot by Geoff Moore who is on the directorial roster of Detour, Santa Monica. It was done back when he was freelancing and garnered the support of bicoastal/international Station Film where it was exec produced by Michael DiGirolamo and Stephen Orent.
Editor was Catherine Bull of bicoastal Spot Welders.
Needledrop music was from the Icelandic band Sigur Ros.
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More