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Rating: Summary: I LOVE THIS SERIES!!!! Review: Here's why:
1)From the beginning, they set up the filmmakers to fail by allotting a comparitively meager budget and ridiculously short timeframe to produce a "Hollywood" feature.
2)The producers constantly bad-mouth their last Project Greenlight film, Stolen Summer. "It's a REAL MOVIE this year," says Affleck.
3)The directors show their dismay of allowing Chris Balis, the awful producer of the last project, to produce their movie. Cut to Balis wolfing down a bagel. Its obvious Chris Moore brought him on so he could have someone under his thumb. When Balis wisely suggests that there should be another editor on the movie other than the directors, to allow for a diffent point of view, Moore responds," I see producing as supporting the directors' process, not subverting it!". Balis is left impotent for the rest of the production. (Balis was right. The directors end up cutting the film and the movie is awful.).
4)Moore blames everyone else for the faults of the movie, yet its his hands-off approach, allowing the directors to do whatever they want, that in large part is what's responsible for the movie's failure. When he asks the writer on the set how she could allow the directors to run roughshod over her script, after giving her no power at all to prevent it, she rightly responds,"F-You, Dude!"
5)The only time EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Ben Affleck arrives on the set, its with superstar girlfriend J-Lo. Not too disruptive to a movie set, is it? Reminds me of when Elizabeth Taylor would show up to Richard Burton's set with her whole entourage.
6)We see Good ol' Matt Damon at the beginning of the series, when they choose the winners, and then at the end, when the movie is finished. He doesn't even show up at the premeire, but cuts a ten second closing comment for the series from another location. However, he's wearing a Project Greenlight hat, so he must have been deeply involved. HAW!! I want to be an EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, too!
Can't wait for Season Three!!
Rating: Summary: Reality TV - Oxymoron Review: In its second season, Project Greenlight demonstrated--with crystal clarity--its true designs: to destroy decent, talented people for the sake of television ratings and money. Let's be clear about this. PGL isn't about giving amateurs a fair shot at making a feature film. They're given almost no time, a half-baked script, whining, semi-talented overseers, and a editing room intent on twisting words and events to make the two young directors look like fools. Thankfully, Ben Affleck and Chris Moore didn't need PGL to make themselves look like fools. And that may be the ultimate truth here--misery loves company.
Rating: Summary: 2 terrible directors, 1 good DVD Review: Maybe, but without the Force. But, you can see his considerable ass break a rather sturdy chair. I agree that this show and the "contest" are pure scams, and are designed like a joke to catch decent, well-meaning contestants in a trap designed to humiliate them. It's painful to watch, unfair, and certainly not worth owning. Of course, this may be all Ben Affleck has left after his string of awful movies. Watch out next year, you wannabe Players!
Rating: Summary: Better than the series but not true to the winners Review: The time and budgets are shortened and the stress levels are high on all of the winners of the PGL contest. But let's face it. that makes for some good reality TV. The Battle of Shaker Heights has as much class as any movie in it's genre. It has heart and humor, well balanced and does the three project winners proud. The DVD, yes I actually bought and watched it BEFORE writing my review, has a little more of a glimpse into what really went on behind the scenes and not just the good for Reality TV stuff. These are some great talents that were put in a situation to make them look bad. It is good TV but not good business for the PGL Executives. I recommend you get the DVD, watch the movie with commentary, and see a glimpse of some of the stuff that was cut from the series. These items shed a little more light on the fun the cast and crew had making the film and the dedication that was much more dramatic than blowing a few conflicts out of proportion. To all the players in PGL, I commend the effort, and hope that those who put the show together can try not to use shock value in the future and show us why these people really do have a reason to love their work.
Rating: Summary: Better than the series but not true to the winners Review: The time and budgets are shortened and the stress levels are high on all of the winners of the PGL contest. But let's face it. that makes for some good reality TV. The Battle of Shaker Heights has as much class as any movie in it's genre. It has heart and humor, well balanced and does the three project winners proud. The DVD, yes I actually bought and watched it BEFORE writing my review, has a little more of a glimpse into what really went on behind the scenes and not just the good for Reality TV stuff. These are some great talents that were put in a situation to make them look bad. It is good TV but not good business for the PGL Executives. I recommend you get the DVD, watch the movie with commentary, and see a glimpse of some of the stuff that was cut from the series. These items shed a little more light on the fun the cast and crew had making the film and the dedication that was much more dramatic than blowing a few conflicts out of proportion. To all the players in PGL, I commend the effort, and hope that those who put the show together can try not to use shock value in the future and show us why these people really do have a reason to love their work.
Rating: Summary: 2 terrible directors, 1 good DVD Review: These two directors I cannot remember which one is which right now. The short one I think is Efram Potelle. He was a complete jerk throughout the entire series. He had people step down from the project he was so rude. He had a major attitude like so many short people trying to get respect he tried to demand it instead of earning it. Chris Moore should have fired his butt several times. I am a major film buff. Although I have not made a movie in any way, I could tell these guys, right now, were extremely incompetent. One director would give the actor a specific direction, then the other director would give a different direction. Watching this was painful. Every wanna be director should be made to watch the PGL 1 and 2. Just like making the band is to music. They both show how not to do things. As for time and budget, these guys got a shot to make a movie!!!!! They are not owed anything else. Almost all movies have extreme deadlines and budgets. Only the Great Stanley Kubrick and ones like him get great flexibility on things like time and budget. Not to mention that Kubrick was almost always under budget. As for these two previous reviews, they sound like they were written from the directors themselves. They are that pathetic of people that they would probably write them to keep people away from seeing them completely embarrass themselves on HBO and now on DVD. The Directors are the equivalent of 2 Jerry's from survivor. They say that they are edited to look like incompetent jerks, but I say you will only look like a jerk on TV, you most likely are a JERK in real life. Watch for yourself and see if you think these directors are that bad. This DVD is Truly an example of how not to direct a movie (and how to deal with people)
Rating: Summary: It's amazing how some people are dumb enough ... Review: to think "reality" TV shows people in a truthful light. I only hope the muttonheads who think that any of the ordinary people on Project Greenlight were depicted in an accurate light grow up and grow up fast. This is the Hollywood meatgrinder in action--anything and anyone for a buck. The fact that people were duped by this only underscores how right P.T. Barnum really was.
Rating: Summary: It's amazing how some people are dumb enough ... Review: to think "reality" TV shows people in a truthful light. I only hope the muttonheads who think that any of the ordinary people on Project Greenlight were depicted in an accurate light grow up and grow up fast. This is the Hollywood meatgrinder in action--anything and anyone for a buck. The fact that people were duped by this only underscores how right P.T. Barnum really was.
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