On the Beauty of Art Weekends

During a dark week at The Daily Show last month, I had the rare opportunity to spend a whole week charting out a new screenplay with my dear friend, Lucas Loredo, back in Austin (Lucas is currently in the MFA program at UT's Michener Center for Writers). We relived past glory years in the service of creating something new, spent time with our beloved theatre directors Annie and Billy Dragoo (who changed the course of our lives) and reminisced on the formative years that made us who we are. We had an excellent time looking back, and more importantly, ahead.

The screenplay, which recounts our wonderful experiences performing in Austin High School's renowned theatre department, is something Lucas and I have been talking about writing for a long time. We finally decided we weren't going to make any headway unless we took a full week and bunkered down to structure the piece. During that time, we charted out the events and character arcs in the film, and mapped out the entire movie and its events on foam boards attached to the wall. In the evenings, we cooked dinner and watched coming-of-age films which have inspired us over the years, including Almost Famous (2000), Lady Bird (2017), Dazed and Confused (1993) and The Spectacular Now (2013), taking notes for our script along the way.

Leading up to our self-imposed writing "residency," I spent the last several months working on a quite long document in which I recall every single thing that happened to me in high school. Even though I've only made it about halfway into my junior year, the document is already over 150 pages long. It's a bit overwhelming, but the document has provided a wonderful well of memories from which to cherry-pick for our film. Lucas is particularly talented at story structure and the hero's journey, and I think his discipline, combined with many of the specific memories and ideas I've written down over the last few months, make us a great writing team (we've already made one short film together, Jack and Lucas Go To A Wedding, in 2014).

A final script is a long way away, but we're finally on the beginning path to a dream project that means a great deal to me. On its tenth anniversary, here’s Lucas and me in action back in high school, in the Red Dragon Players' seminal 2008 production of Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, directed by Billy Dragoo and filmed here by Paul Schattenberg. One day I'll put up the whole show in its entirety.


Someone Who'll Watch Over Me - Scene Seven from Jack Kyser on Vimeo.


Someone Who'll Watch Over Me - Scene Eight from Jack Kyser on Vimeo.

Speaking of Jack and Lucas Go To A Wedding - this is a bit belated, but the film had its festival debut at the 2016 Black Cat Picture Show, followed by a screening at the Hudson Valley International Film Festival! I was thrilled to screen the film at the Black Cat Picture Show, only one year after my film You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory won their Best Student Film prize. You can see a clip from our film in the trailer for the festival.

In a bit of related news, I applied last fall to the University of Texas at Austin's MFA Film and Media Production program, which was a great experience in and of itself, as I was able to obtain letters of recommendation from my advisors and mentors and write about my interests and aspirations as an artist in detail. I had been considering applying to UT's MFA program for some time (it was the only graduate program to which I applied), but I certainly didn't expect to get into the school (they accept twelve students every year). In February, however, I was delighted to learn that I was offered admission, and for a time, I did not know what the immediate future held in store for me. When I was in Austin for my writing retreat, I also had my official UT campus visit, and I was astonished by the school's facilities, professors and classes - it had everything I could possibly want in a graduate school program. It was a very difficult decision. Ultimately, I decided that I was enjoying my current job too much and should stay in New York for the immediate future - but I was beyond honored to have been accepted to the program, and it was a wonderful experience touring the campus and imagining what my life would be like as a University of Texas graduate student.

Still, just being in Austin for a short period time makes me long for the opportunity to make movies there - specifically, one about growing up with my mother and father in the 1990s, and then the aforementioned film about the Red Dragon Players I'm currently writing with Lucas. They're both dream projects of mine, and ones I intend to make in the coming years.

I’ve been revisiting all kinds of wonderful memories from those glorious high school years lately. Nearly ten years after it first premiered, I re-watched the Red Dragon Players’ production of Jim Merillat's original musical Radio Eyes, in which I played the wildly erratic Inspector Riley. I received a copy of the musical from Jim (my DVD copy of the play was scratched), and it was a tremendous joy viewing the show with fresh eyes (it was one of my favorite musicals we performed at Austin High). I’ve also been looking at our productions of Round and Round the Garden (UIL), Over the River and Through the Woods (UIL), the aforementioned Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, Willy Wonka, Seussical: The Musical, Into the Woods, Urinetown: The Musical, High School Musical and others. There’s an overwhelming amount of material from which to pull for our film, and I’m thrilled to have recordings of many of our productions (although I wish we had recorded our productions of George Bernard Shaw’s Major Barbara, Carson Kreitzer’s The Lovesong of J. Robert Oppenheimer and Jason Milligan's …And the Rain Came to Mayfield).

The memorable writing retreat in Austin has been surrounded by a welcome succession of what I'll call art weekends in New York, mainly spent with my wonderful girlfriend Sophia. After the production of our short play White Castle Valentine’s Day 2018 in February, she and I have embarked upon a series of escapades on the weekends, hoping to take advantage of what New York City has to offer.

On March 16th, we saw Kenneth Lonergan’s Lobby Hero on Broadway, which was, honest to God, one of the best plays I’ve ever seen. Then again, it was written by Lonergan, so what did I expect? Michael Cera, Bel Powley, Chris Evans and Brian Tyree Henry were all exceptional – I’ve since bought a copy of the play, and I’m in the midst of learning one of the many outstanding monologues from the show. The next night, on St. Patrick’s Day, we screened one of my favorite films of all time, Martin Scorsese’s The Departed (2006), at my apartment – I mean, how else was I supposed to spend St. Patrick’s Day? Scorsese’s film has lost none of its immediacy and power in the now twelve(!) years since its release, and the picture still stands as the defining cinema release of my lifetime (seriously). On Sunday, I treated myself to a double-feature of Francis Lawrence’s riveting Red Sparrow, which way exceeded my expectations, and Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther, one of the first Marvel movies actually about something. The immensely talented Coogler also gives us the best and most complex superhero villain in some time, with Michael B. Jordan excelling as Eric Killmonger.

This is a bit of a brief tangent, but in the fall of 2016, I had the pleasure of seeing Kenneth Lonergan in person three times within a two-week period. The first time was at the Museum of the Moving Image, where Lonergan spoke after an early screening of his new film Manchester by the Sea, which was the second-best film of 2016 (after Martin Scorsese’s Silence). I saw him again shortly thereafter at the opening night screening of Nancy Buirski’s By Sidney Lumet, on which I was an associate producer and assistant editor.

By Sidney Lumet opened on October 28th at Lincoln Plaza Cinema (which has sadly now closed after thirty-five years of business) and received rave reviews. On opening night, there was a Q&A after the film with Nancy and Christine Lahti (who starred in Lumet’s Running on Empty), followed by a great after-party at the Tisch WNET Studio in Lincoln Center. Lonergan joined us for the after-party, as well (our editor, Anthony Ripoli, edited the Director’s Cut of Lonergan’s masterpiece Margaret), but I didn’t actually get to meet him until after a screening of Margaret the next weekend (also at the Museum of the Moving Image). MOMI screened the Director’s Cut of the film (they were doing a retrospective of all of his films), and Lonergan held yet another fantastic Q&A. After the screening, I shared with him my adoration for both Margaret and Manchester by the Sea (not to mention his first film, You Can Count on Me). It’s always an honor to get to meet your heroes, and I’ve truly enjoyed familiarizing myself with his work as a playwright this year.

But back to the present! The next weekend, Sophia and I went to the David Bowie Is exhibit at Brooklyn Museum, which was astonishing – an aural and visual experience like no other. On Saturday, I saw The Panic in Needle Park (1971) at the Quad Cinema as part of the Pacino’s Way retrospective. I could have lived at the Quad during this run of films, screened mostly on 35mm. At this particular screening of The Panic in Needle Park, director Jerry Schatzberg introduced his film, and discussed working with Pacino in depth. He also directed the masterful Scarecrow (1973), with Pacino and Gene Hackman, which has long been one of the unheralded highlights of 1970s cinema. I was sad to be working during Pacino’s visits to the Quad, where he screened his passion projects Salome and Wilde Salome – but I cherish my memories of seeing him onstage in The Merchant of Venice (2010) and Glengarry Glen Ross (2012). Pacino recently turned seventy-eight, and he continues to inspire and amaze – most recently in his magnificent performance in Barry Levinson’s Paterno on HBO (less than a year after Levinson’s great The Wizard of Lies with Robert De Niro, also on HBO).

And then, on Sunday, Sophia and I saw Wes Anderson’s new film Isle of Dogs, which filled me with joy. It’s an emotional, beautiful movie – I was smiling the entire time. You can read my full review of Isle of Dogs for Austin Family Magazine here.

In Austin, in addition to my residency with Lucas and my UT campus visit, my mom and I saw Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One, which was a total blast (and just flat-out mind-boggling that Spielberg released the film within the same three-month period as The Post). We also saw John Krasinski's A Quiet Place, which I wish I could say I viewed in a very quiet place. I loved the movie (between this and 2016’s The Hollars, Krasinski is one talented director), and I think filmmakers should slowly start conditioning audiences to this level of silence in more movies. It is a truly effective dramatic tool – and it requires audiences to shut the hell up.

When I returned from Austin, the art weekends continued. Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here was a strange, beautiful and mesmerizing movie with one of the world’s greatest and most interesting actors, Joaquin Phoenix, at its center. Ramsay strikes gold once again, after her masterful We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) - there was no scene in this film that unfolded how I expected. And this picture could have been so violent, reveling in the brutality of our protagonist's methods - but Ramsay isn't interested in close-ups of hammers bludgeoning heads. She's interested in more specific details, and the effects trauma has on the human body.

Seeing the film a second time, I was struck even more by the connection between Joe (Phoenix) and Nina, the young girl he rescues from a New York City brothel. Subtly over the course of the movie, they recognize each other as having both experienced abuse and trauma in their lives. Both characters use counting mechanisms to cope with their suffering – as a child, Joe held a cellophane bag over his head and counted down in order to repress the brutality exacted upon him (and his mother) by his father. Likewise, Nina counts down in her head when she is preyed upon by men inside the brothel. These elements are beautifully woven together in an underwater sequence in which Joe attempts suicide, and as he counts down, he begins hearing Nina’s voice counting instead of his own, leading him to abandon his suicide attempt and attempt to rescue her. When I was in Austin, the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar had a You Were Never Really Here promotional photo booth, and you can bet I spent some time in there. Very well done, Amazon Studios.

The next weekend, I travelled down to Charlottesville with Sophia, where we stayed with her family and had a truly great time, as always. We even held a photo shoot with her friends Ivy and Clara, in which Sophia’s mom Maiya took some fine and truly strange portraits of us – you can see some of them throughout this post (I’m smoking a fake cigarette, by the way). While we were there, we spent time at a nearby reservoir, held a lavish banquet with friends, ate outside near the Blue Ridge Mountains, and, on our final night, watched Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) with Sophia’s dad Walter (I first saw this film when doing research for Blood and Thunder, and it remains one of the best and most original westerns I’ve ever seen).

Once back in New York, Sophia and I ventured to the Tribeca Film Festival the next weekend. On Friday, April 27th, I had my first virtual reality experience at Tribeca’s Horizons program. I was mainly attending because the program featured a short VR film by Terrence Malick, and it was beautiful (it’s telling that I finally tried out VR only because of Malick’s involvement). The next day, Alexander Payne spoke at Tribeca, with fellow Nebraskan Dick Cavett moderating the Q&A. What an amazing filmmaker and human – I sat in the front row and took notes, as every piece of filmmaking wisdom Payne offered was so valuable. Afterward, he told attendees he’d be around to talk in the lobby, and so I got to speak with him and share my adoration of Downsizing (2017). I could tell I was among devoted Payne loyalists, as much of the audience was quick to share that they loved Downsizing, too (which I maintain will be considered an ambitious modern classic in due time). I wish there were more like Payne – humble, Midwestern, authentic voices who make soulful movies about real people.

That evening, Sophia and I watched the recently released Criterion Blu-Ray of Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence (1993), which is just as astonishing and powerful as ever. I saw a restoration of this film at the 2013 New York Film Festival with Scorsese in attendance, and it’s taken this long for that stunning transfer to make its way to DVD and Blu-Ray. Thankfully, the Criterion Collection has given the movie a welcome home.

Sunday, April 29th was the sixteenth anniversary of my dad's passing. I know I share a lot of the same videos of him, but here's something he shot on our family's 1996 trip to New York. He was a wonderful soul, and over the years I've been overjoyed to transfer more and more of his home video recordings as a way of remembering him.


The Kyser Family in New York - 1996 from Jack Kyser on Vimeo.

In the midst of all of this, I caught a screening of Avengers: Infinity War before going to my evening shift one day, and I was surprised by the film’s effectiveness – particularly Josh Brolin’s performance as villain Thanos. You can read my full review for Austin Family Magazine here.

The next weekend, we saw Jason Reitman’s Tully, which was a delight, reuniting the dream team behind Young Adult (2011) – Reitman, writer Diablo Cody and star Charlize Theron. It’s exactly the kind of interesting film that rarely gets made anymore. Reitman never ceases to surprise and engage me – he never makes the same film twice (I remain a fan of his slightly un-loved Labor Day and Men, Women and Children). Tully is also a movie that I heard people dismissing before it was even released. I’m irked every time I hear people talking about a film they haven’t seen, prejudging it and having no real interest in what the picture might have to say – instead reducing the movie to its most basic elements. This happens with older films, too, as social mores change and folks want to reevaluate certain films based on a new set of criteria and whether it aligns perfectly with today’s ideas. What they don’t seem to understand is that the capturing of a certain time and place is precisely what makes a film interesting, and in time, today’s seemingly evolved values and ideas are going to seem outdated, too.

On Friday, May 11th, we saw Carl Theodor Dreyer's astounding film Ordet at the Quad Cinema, followed by a Q&A with one of the greatest of all filmmakers, Paul Schrader. He gave great insight into Ordet and its influence on his new film First Reformed. The impact Dreyer's film had on our audience was palpable - it's a thoughtful examination of the role religion plays in our lives, and it takes on a kind of meditative quality as it goes on. There's something nearly God-like in its slow pans and long takes, creating a truly spiritual feeling I haven't experienced since Martin Scorsese's Silence.

There is a shot near the end of the film in which the camera does a slow, nearly-360° rotation around Johannes (Preben Lerdorff Rye) and his niece (as her mother lays dying) that simply took my breath away. It was one of the most profound and haunting marriages of dialogue and camera movement I have seen in some time, and it will not leave my mind any time soon.

On Saturday night, Sophia and I saw one of my all-time favorites, Martin Scorsese’s After Hours (1985) in 35MM at IFC, as part of their Waverly Midnights: Scorsese program. It’s as much of a delightful and exhilarating ride as it was when I first watched it on VHS as a kid – frenetic, thrilling and truly bizarre. Over the past year, there have been a lot of terrific opportunities to see Scorsese’s work on the big screen – I saw Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1975) and The Last Waltz (1978) at the Museum of the Moving Image last year during their amazing Scorsese exhibit, and IFC has been screening much of his filmography over the last few weeks (I’m going back in June to catch another favorite, Bringing out the Dead, in 35mm). Soon enough, I’ll have seen most of Scorsese’s films in cinemas (so far, I’ve seen nineteen, including the ones that were released in my lifetime).

When back in Austin more recently, I watched Woody Allen’s Husbands and Wives (1992) for the first time. This is perhaps the most formally fascinating film of Allen's career, and yet beyond all of the breathtaking handheld one-takes and jarring jump cuts, there's something truly unsettling here, both thematically and in the masterful performances. Husbands and Wives also has some very memorable set pieces - Sydney Pollack's drunken, rage-fueled visit to Judy Davis's house in the middle of the night is downright haunting (and, as more and more characters enter, it becomes one of Allen's best-directed group scenes ever). Meanwhile, two sequences with Allen and Juliette Lewis (when they retrieve his manuscript from a taxi driver, and then later share a kiss at her birthday party) will both linger in my memory for some time to come. This film is a scorcher.

My job at Comedy Central is going well – it’s always a joy to work on an interview clip with a guest I truly respect and admire. Here’s Sean Penn on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah this past March – with a (hopefully good) still I picked out for him. I’m currently reading his first novel, Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff, and it is a wild ride – a truly original and fascinating peek inside Penn’s mind. I miss seeing him onscreen these days, but Bob Honey is holding me over until his next film.

I also got to work on a great interview clip with Matt Damon and Gary White of water.org, which you can find here.

The film I directed last October, Four Play, is officially finished, and the film’s writer and producer, Ben Krevalin, is busy submitting the movie to film festivals. I think we made a pretty strong movie, with four really charming lead performances and some creative blocking in there. I suspect it will be some time before it’s available online, but if you’re interesting in seeing it, please let me know. And, yes, I’m still editing Harvey’s Last Night on the Avenue. I’m getting closer and closer, and more and more excited with each passing day as it comes together. I’ve never taken this long editing a film (in fact, I used to pride myself on making and releasing new films with great regularity), but this one feels like it needs my full attention and focus. It’s already been in the works for two-and-a-half years – what are a few more months? Anyway, by the next time I post here, I’ll have a trailer ready – and a full film (and web series) shortly to follow.

A few extremely talented artists have passed away since I last wrote. Milos Forman was one of the greatest filmmakers of all time – and, in his incredible career, directed two films pretty much everyone can agree are among the finest ever made, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) and Amadeus (1984). Actor R. Lee Ermey (Full Metal Jacket, Seven) was such a presence onscreen – he will be missed. I had the opportunity of meeting him when I was a volunteer at Dennis Quaid Charity Classic Golf Tournament in high school, and he was extremely kind.

I don’t think I’ve written anything about this year’s Academy Awards. There’s really not much to say – they got nearly everything right except the biggest prize of them all. I suppose it doesn’t matter ­in the end – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was always a little dangerous, and the film (thankfully) didn’t play by the rules of what’s expected in cinema nowadays. But I can’t imagine anyone in his or her right mind looking back years from now and thinking The Shape of Water was a superior film. But the fact that Sam Rockwell, Roger Deakins, Gary Oldman and Allison Janney are now Oscar winners is heartening (not to mention Frances McDormand receiving her extremely well-deserved second Oscar). It’s not every year that your favorite film has a shot at the big prize (see Silence last year), so I was certainly rooting for Three Billboards in a big way. But now the noise of awards season is gone, and the greatness of McDonagh’s film remains.

Lastly, I never thought it’d happen, but I’m going to Springsteen on Broadway with Sophia in July! I haven’t been this happy since the last time I saw Bruce Springsteen during The River tour and made something of a tribute video here.

The Rape of Recy Taylor, Mike Maynard, Four Play, Summer 2017 and More

Currently receiving rave reviews at the Venice Film Festival, my former boss Nancy Buirski's new documentary The Rape of Recy Taylor is soon being released, and it's sure to make quite an impression. Per Deadline's exclusive article on the film, the story is as follows: "This is the true story of a 24-year-old wife and mother who was gang raped in Alabama by six white men in 1944. The doc highlights the black women who waged war to take back their bodies and their dignity, and by speaking up helped inspire the civil rights movement that was to come." I had the honor of working on the extremely powerful film, both as one of the assistant editors and as the voice of one of the assailants. Despite the fact that I lent my voice to an unsavory human being, I'm thrilled to have a significant amount of voiceover material in the film (along with my friend and fellow actor Tommy Bernardi, who voices another of Ms. Taylor's perpetrators). The film was recently named by Variety as one of twelve hot titles likely to spark bidding wars. The Rape of Recy Taylor makes its North American premiere next month at the New York Film Festival, where I very much look forward to seeing the finished film. It just received a rave review from The Hollywood Reporter, and Nancy received the HRNS Special Prize for Human Rights at the Venice Film Festival. Nancy also had a great screening of her film The Loving Story this February on Valentine's Day, which was a particularly meaningful event for all involved.

Going back a little bit, Nancy's last film By Sidney Lumet (on which I was an associate producer and assistant editor) made its broadcast premiere on PBS/ American Masters on January 3rd. There was so much great press surrounding its broadcast, including this amazing review from the Wall Street Journal and a New York Post interview with Treat Williams, star of Lumet's Prince of the City (1981), who participated in an interview after the broadcast with Buirski (I was part of the production team on the interview). The film is now available for purchase on Blu-Ray and DVD.

I want to tell you a little bit about Mike Maynard, who passed away on August 27th of this year. Mike was undoubtedly the most devoted supporter and champion of the Red Dragon Players at Austin High School, and, according to his obituary, attended 98 productions in total over his many years as our loyal friend. I say "our" because, although it's been eight years since I graduated from Austin High in 2009, there is a lifelong bond for many former students to this wonderful theatre department, and Mike was a major part of it all. I was in over twenty productions at Austin High, and I can guarantee you that Mike came to every single show, likely even more than once.

Billy and Annie Dragoo, our beloved theatre directors, would always tell our class the day after a performance what Mike thought of the production. I'm not sure I know the origins of his devotion to the department, but I know he and Dragoo became very close, and his opinion meant a great deal to everyone. I remember he was a particular fan of the play Someone Who'll Watch Over Me in 2008, in which I performed alongside the amazing Lucas Loredo and Ben Stelly. Mike continued to be a huge supporter for me personally after I graduated. Last year, when I was fundraising for my series Harvey's Last Night on the Avenue, Mike chipped in and helped make the film possible with a contribution. It was such a generous act, and I was profoundly moved. I last saw him when I was in Austin in May at a performance of Shrek at Austin High, and he was as ebullient and spirited as ever. I can't claim to have known him incredibly well, but his presence was always felt in the department, and he will be greatly missed. You can read his obituary here from the Austin American-Statesman.

I'd also like to mention my mother's godmother, Vera Lee Giles, who passed away earlier this year. She was a truly loving and vivacious woman, and I have such fond memories of various poker nights and Christmas celebrations at her house in Austin. I saw her earlier this year at her home, and as always, she was a force to be reckoned with.

I've travelled twice to Charlottesville this summer to visit my girlfriend Sophia's family, and it's a beautiful town. I stayed in colonial Williamsburg with my mom and dad several times when I was much younger, and also travelled near Marshall, Virginia to shoot some key scenes for Alex Fofonoff's feature Blood & Thunder, but I loved getting to experience another part of Virginia. The second time visiting Charlottesville over Labor Day weekend was considerably different than the first time, given the horrible tragedy that occurred in early August when a Neo-Nazi terrorist drove his car into a crowd of protestors, killing a young woman. I imagine the mood of the city has changed considerably after that terrifying act of violence, and I truly hope it is not a harbinger of any more violence in other cities in which these abysmal human beings choose to hold their white supremacist rallies.

Earlier this summer, I signed on to direct a new film that I did not write, which is a first for me. The writer (and producer, and lead actor) is Ben Krevalin, a talented guy who is a friend of a friend. I attended a reading of his piece, currently titled Four Play, and I was very excited by the prospect of directing the film. This cast includes a number of incredibly talented people, including Justin Danforth, who starred in Harvey's Last Night on the Avenue - I simply cannot wait to work with him again - and two amazing actresses, Lizzie Stewart and McLean Peterson. Ben successfully raised over $15,000.00 this summer through an IndieGoGo campaign, which you can see here, and we begin production the first weekend in October. It's a incredible opportunity to be in post-production on one film and simultaneously directing another new one.

On June 28th, there was a great screening of my film Jack and Lucas Go To A Wedding at Anthology Film Archives as part of NewFilmmakers New York. I screened my movie Jake the Cinephile there over three years ago, and it was great to be back. We had a nice-sized crowd with some folks who hadn't seen the movie before, so that was very gratifying.

At the end of May, I made a big apartment move - my first in four years - with my roommate Bobb, to another location in Brooklyn (which is not too far away from our old place). My mom, Gretchen, came up to New York, and we had a chance to do some fun things. We made our way to the Longacre Theatre to see the musical adaptation of A Bronx Tale. I was particularly interested in the production, as it was co-directed by my hero Robert De Niro, who directed the film on which the musical is based  (which, in turn, was based on an autobiographical, one-man play by Chazz Palminteri). Not only was I impressed by the musical, I was very impressed by the box seats we acquired (how that happened, I'm not sure - I picked up discounted rush tickets on the day of the performance). I also saw the musical Groundhog Day, which was a delight. The lead actor, Andy Karl, was pretty unbelievable, in a physically demanding and highly comedic performance. Sophia, her father and I also sweat Sweat by Lynn Nottage on Broadway earlier this year, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama - another excellent production.

I'm continuing the monthly meetings for my Fellowship with producer Richie Jackson, which is going very well. I had a great birthday last month - my twenty-seventh, which is hard to believe - and I was surrounded by dear friends. I caught a screening early in the day of Kathryn Bigelow's Detroit, which was masterfully directed and performed - I wouldn't expect anything less from Bigelow (and Annapurna Pictures, for that matter).

Last summer, I assistant-directed a short film entitled Mouse, written and directed by the very talented filmmakers Celine Held and Logan George. It was a wildly fun two-shoot that also presented some unsavory smells - as we had several real dead mice on set as props. This short film has been tremendously successful, premiering at SXSW in March (and following that premiere with several other major festivals) and then receiving a Vimeo Staff Pick in June. As I write this, it has been viewed by nearly 400,000 people on Vimeo. Here's the short below - I think you'll find it quite hilarious and disturbing in equal measures, and also masterfully made.


Mouse from ELO films on Vimeo.

Speaking of excellent films on which I worked, this year also saw the online premiere of Mike Cheslik's hilarious, wacko cartoon web series L.I.P.S. (or The League of Interplanetary Process Servers). I was the assistant director on this series three years ago, shortly before the production of Jack and Lucas Go To A Wedding (Mike was, in turn, my assistant director on that film, and his girlfriend Ani - who produced L.I.P.S. - was my producer). Filmed largely in a green screen studio, L.I.P.S. is another amazingly funny piece by Mike, and I was honored to play a small role in the series, as well, as a character with probably the most exciting name you can imagine - Relaxed Eyeball Dweller or [Indistinguishable Dissonant Noise]. I'll never get a better character name than that, period. Per Mike's synopsis, the series is about the League of Interplanetary Process Servers' finest agent attempting to deliver 30 subpoenas throughout the universe in ten minutes. Starring Ryland Brickson Cole Tews (a hysterical human being) and Allison Frasca (who is one of the leads in Harvey's Last Night on the Avenue), L.I.P.S. has screened at many film festivals around the country before premiering online. Here it is in its full glory:


L.I.P.S. from Mike Cheslik on Vimeo.

One major highlight from this past May was attending the 44th Chaplin Award Gala honoring Robert De Niro, organized by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. It was a great opportunity to celebrate the great man - from the nosebleeds, granted. Presenters and speakers included Martin Scorsese, Sean Penn, Harvey Keitel, Meryl Streep, Michael Douglas, Whoopi Goldberg, Barry Levinson and Ben Stiller. Afterward, in the lobby, I saw Michael Mann hanging around. It was that kind of night.

It's been quite a year for De Niro, who, in addition to the Lincoln Center tribute and the performances of A Bronx Tale, was a part of a Tribeca Film Festival talkback with the cast of The Godfather and The Godfather Part II as part of the film's 45th anniversary. This resulted in one of the greatest reunion pictures of all time, with De Niro, Al Pacino, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Duvall, James Caan, Diane Keaton and Talia Shire. I can't believe I missed it. It's worth watching the full 90-minute talkback here. In February, his new film The Comedian, directed by Taylor Hackford, was released. The film overall has its problems, but De Niro is fully committed, and it's a joy to see him share scenes once again with Keitel. Then, in May, he gave his best performance since Silver Linings Playbook (2012) in Barry Levinson's The Wizard of Lies, the fascinating and absorbing true story of Bernie Madoff. The film was made for HBO, but it has more quality and substance than most theatrical releases. I don't understand how this wasn't a major studio film.

And then, the big news - Scorsese's mob epic The Irishman recently went into production. It's currently shooting in New York (including in front of my old Broome Street apartment, apparently), and as expected, the film stars De Niro, Pacino, Keitel, Joe Pesci, Bobby Cannavale, Ray Romano and Stephen Graham (Pesci was apparently a hold-out, but he came out of retirement). I feel quite certain that there is nobody on this planet more excited for The Irishman than me. And it's already rumored that, following The Irishman shoot, De Niro and Scorsese could make Killers of the Flower Moon next year with Leonardo DiCaprio (that's very speculative, though).

There were some recent deaths of artists who meant a great deal to me, chief among them Sam Shepard. One could organize the greatest theatre and film festival in the world with the written works and performances of Shepard. Start with The Curse of the Starving Class, A Lie of the Mind and Buried Child, then move on to Days of Heaven (1978), The Right Stuff (1983) and Mud (2013). Then, for the great supporting performances, go on to The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), Baby Boom (1987), Black Hawk Down (2001), The Pledge (2001), Midnight Special (2016) and Out of the Furnace (2013). What a talent. I participated in a reading of The Curse of the Starving Class last December with my good friend and fellow Red Dragon Player Cora Walters, in which we played Weston and Ella. That text is absolutely incendiary from start to finish. And then there's Jerry Lewis. I just watched his brilliance performance again in Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy (1983) in July. He was a genius in every film - the two I enjoyed most (at my grandmother's house in Hallsville, I remember distinctly) were The Nutty Professor (1963) and The Disorderly Orderly (1964), which has an ending so funny I remember nearly crying.

Earlier this year, there was another heartbreaking loss - one of the greatest of all directors, Jonathan Demme, passed away. I met Demme when I was twelve years old at the Austin premiere of The Truth About Charlie (2002) at the Paramount Theatre. I gave him a copy of my weekly film review article in the West Austin News, and I told him how much I loved The Silence of the Lambs (1991). He laughed and was surprised that someone my age had seen that film. I believe my mother must have interjected in there, saying she supervised my seeing it. I saw him again last year at the Tribeca Film Festival for the panel after the By Sidney Lumet screening - I remember giving him his badge and seeing that same smile that emanated generosity. He was such a great filmmaker - from the crazy energy and life of Something Wild (1986) to the haunting melancholy of Philadelphia (1993), from the reinvention of a film classic with The Manchurian Candidate (2004) to the reinvention of his own career with Rachel Getting Married (2008) - and that's not even getting to his music documentaries!

Then there was the cinematographer whose images have inspired me more than any other photographer - Michael Ballhaus. We shared a birthday, which I discovered rather recently, and that brings me great joy. He photographed many films by Rainer Werner Fassbinder (I'm ashamed to admit I haven't seen any of those films yet), and then moved on to American films, collaborating with Scorsese on seven pictures - After Hours (1985), The Color of Money (1986), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Goodfellas (1990), The Age of Innocence (1993), Gangs of New York (2002) and The Departed (2006). His cinematography was exhilarating, to say the least, and the fact that he never won an Academy Award is astounding. He shot many other films (I recently re-watched Robert Redford's Quiz Show, and there again was his energetic camerawork), and it's truly sad we won't see another Ballhaus-shot film again. Here's Scorsese on his frequent collaborator.

Another major Scorsese collaborator, Frank Vincent, passed away this past Wednesday. He gave iconic performances in three Scorsese pictures - as Billy Batts in Goodfellas (1990), Salvy in Raging Bull (1980) and Frankie in Casino (1995). His interactions in these films with Pesci were particularly memorable (the two actors had a long history together, even working as a comedy act in the 1970s). He starred in countless other films, including Do the Right Thing (1989) and Cop Land (1997). There aren't many actors who were in four of my top thirty favorite films, but Vincent was one of them. Now go home and get your f#$%ing shine box! 

Bill Paxton, a Texan, was a welcome presence in so many films, and a great director, too, as he proved with the under-seen Frailty (2002). Robert Osborne was the face of Turner Classic Movies and a trusted voice in cinema. John Hurt, the brilliant star of The Elephant Man (1980), passed away this year, as well. He had just given a great supporting performance last year in Jackie, and always was a pleasure to watch in films as varied as Alien (1979), Heaven's Gate (1980), Owning Mahowny (2003), V for Vendetta (2006), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) and Snowpiercer (2014). Time Magazine film critic Richard Corliss died, too - in addition to being a great critic, he wrote a fascinating book titled Conversations with Scorsese, which is exactly that. The late Martin Landau was so memorable in, among many other films, Ed Wood (1994), North by Northwest (1959) and Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989).

Speaking of Scorsese, the Museum of the Moving Image held a career retrospective of his work this spring, and he was the subject of an incredible exhibit at the museum that was, quite simply, overwhelming in its thoroughness and one of the most extraordinary exhibits I've ever seen. Because I was heavily in the midst of pre-production on Harvey's Last Night on the Avenue, I only visited the exhibit twice (which seems sacrilegious to a die-hard Scorsese fan like me). In fact, there were both Scorsese and Robert De Niro retrospectives going on in New York at the time, and I had to be making a movie right during them. At the Scorsese exhibit, I found I couldn't possibly absorb everything it had to offer. I could have gone back five more times, at least. The first time I went, I followed it by attending a screening of Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) in 35MM with Sophia and her friend Erin (who works at the museum), followed by a Q&A with its Oscar-winning star (and one of the greatest actresses of all time) Ellen Burstyn. The second time I went, I followed it by attending a screening of The Last Waltz (1978) in 35MM, which was introduced by Scorsese himself. I had never seen either of these masterful Scorsese films on the big screen, so that was a real treat. The film I wish I had seen in 35MM was Bringing out the Dead (1999), one of Scorsese's best and less talked-about films - it's not the kind of movie that screens often theatrically, so I may have missed my chance on that one.

For this post's final mention of a Scorsese screening, Sophia and I went to an outdoor screening of my favorite film, Goodfellas, earlier this month at a place called the Knockdown Center in Queens. I couldn't help but thinking - we weren't that far from where the events in the film took place. There was live music before the screening and during a brief intermission. All in all, it was a nice time.

It's been a particularly good summer at the cinema (aside from poor audiences, who simply can't stop talking during films), with several new pictures from auteurs that make going to the movies such a pleasure. The best of the best included Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk (look for my upcoming review); the aforementioned Detroit; the Safdie Brothers' Good Time (Robert Pattinson is on fire, starring in two of the year's best films - the other being The Lost City of Z); David Lowery's A Ghost Story, a profound meditation on the nature of time, with a wonderful Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara; Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled, which won her the Best Director prize at Cannes; Wind River, another winner from Taylor Sheridan, this time directing in addition to writing, and with a killer performance from Jeremy Renner; Ingrid Goes West, 2017's answer to The King of Comedy and the perfect use of Aubrey Plaza; Patti Cake$, a real surprise (after not connecting with the first twenty or so minutes, I did a huge 180 turn and was won over); Edgar Wright's Baby Driver, full of energy and music; Michael Showalter's The Big Sick, with a perfectly cast Ray Romano and Holly Hunter; the Netflix release of Bong Joon Ho's very entertaining Okja; and Ana Lily Amipour's batty and wild The Bad Batch. All in all, a pretty great bunch of films. And that's not even discussing the spring highlights, chief among them James Gray's exquisite The Lost City of Z (the best film of the year and one hell of an adventure - my full review is on its way, but for now, read this Vulture piece on Gray) and Terrence Malick's Song to Song, which I thought was even stronger than his Knight of Cups (2016) and To the Wonder (2013), both of which I loved.

But I haven't gotten to the two biggest surprises, for me, of the summer - Steven Soderbergh's Logan Lucky and Dave McCary's Brigsby Bear, both movies I now adore. I'll be posting full reviews of both in the near future, but let me just say that Logan Lucky, in particular, is an absolute pleasure. In fact, I think my favorite performance and movie character of 2017 so far is Daniel Craig as Joe Bang.

There are lots of movies I can't wait to see this fall, including new films from Paul Thomas Anderson, Steven Spielberg, Lynne Ramsay, Clint Eastwood and Woody Allen. Here are trailers for three films in particular I know I'll love - Alexander Payne's Downsizing, Richard Linklater's Last Flag Flying and Noah Baumbach's The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected).

The awards season this past year was a crazy one, but a lot of worthy films won well-deserved accolades in the process. I was overjoyed that Casey Affleck and Kenneth Lonergan both won Academy Awards for their monumental work on Manchester by the Sea, and Emma Stone and Viola Davis won Oscars for outstanding performances, as well (for La La Land and Fences, respectively). And although I would have personally picked Manchester by the Sea for Best Picture, Moonlight is a spectacular choice (the infamous botched announcement overshadowed the importance of the film's win - although I will continue to defend Warren Beatty, who had nothing to do with it so far as I can tell).

The major omission by nearly all awards bodies was the exclusion of Martin Scorsese's Silence, a film that deserved so much more. It was nominated for one Oscar - a well-deserved nomination for Best Cinematography - but should have easily received nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Andrew Garfield, who was actually nominated for a different film, Hacksaw Ridge), Best Supporting Actor (Liam Neeson), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing and Best Production Design. Glenn Kenny's piece on the strong simplicity of Silence is worth reading, as are many other articles on Scorsese and his process.

Until next time - and remember, as always, to shut the hell up during movies.

Screening You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory, A First Feature Screenplay and Summer Movies

On Thursday, May 29th, I screened my senior thesis film You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory for the first time, alongside the new movies from two other incredibly talented filmmakers and friends, Morgan Ingari and Catie Stickels. The event, which we held in one of Tisch's larger screening rooms, was outstanding. I was thrilled to have cast members Mike Wesolowski, Mary Goggin, Matthew Vitticore and Zachary Gamble attend the premiere.

I don't believe I've shared either of the two trailers for You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory on this blog. Thank you so much to Benjamin Dewey and Bobb Barito for their brilliant color and sound on both trailers. Here they are:

You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory Trailer from Jack Kyser on Vimeo.

You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory Trailer #2 from Jack Kyser on Vimeo.

In the weeks leading up to the screening, I met with colorist and visual effects artist Benjamin Dewey for several final color and visual effects meetings. The movie received a masterful sound design by Bobb Barito in April, and after a few days of sound mixing and ADR re-recording, we recorded a great original score for the film by my classmate Ari Selinger in early May.

The movie now has its own IMDB page, and if you're interested in seeing stills from the film, please click here! The first DVDs of the movie have been sent out to our IndieGoGo contributors. Of course, the only drawback to have so many wonderful contributors is that I can't send the DVDs out to everyone at once. But be on the lookout for the final film in the mail, contributors!

Also, check out the acting reel of a great actress, Mary Goggin, who stars in You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory. I'm so proud to have the film featured in her reel.

In June, I screened the film for my professor Yemane Demissie's summer Sight and Sound: Film class, where I received some truly wonderful notes. They seemed very taken with the idea behind the movie and the lead character Charlie's ideas about memory and having a witness.

One student remarked that the character of Charlie seemed like it was written for actor Mike Wesolowski. Another asked if I had written Charlie's bizarre Jack Nicholson impression specifically for Mike, as it seemed like such a specific idea, and was so well-suited to Mike's personality. In fact, that impression was in the script from the very beginning, but they're correct that Mike is so convincing as the character that the impression seems like something something we might have developed in a rehearsal.

Many others praised the casting, the directing of the two lead actors and the use of music in the movie (particularly when Charlie rocks out to Bob Dylan in his room). We also discussed the use of New York as a setting. Even though we live in the city, the students felt New York is rarely used as well as it is here. More than a few people remarked that the apartment scenes, in addition to feeling very 'New York-y,' helped illustrate the closeness of this mother and son, living together cramped in their tiny apartment. Another person said they loved the way the movie began with quiet, dark city streets, and then ended with big and bright Times Square.

Yemane asked the class how I was able to generate empathy for a character who superficially does not 'deserve' to be liked. One person remarked that the character's confessions generate empathy for him. Charlie is very aware of what he's doing wrong, but the fact that he confesses his mistakes to his mother helps the audience empathize with him. Another said that we also understand him through the mother - her acceptance of him, even when she's telling him to leave, helps us have patience with him.

Yemane also asked the class to discuss the bravery involved in writing a screenplay like this, a piece that delves so deeply into seemingly personal territory. He also commented on the film's depiction of awkwardness. Most movies show awkwardness in a degrading or comical way, Yemane said, but my movie aims to show us awkwardness in a genuine and forthright way.

I went on to discuss the casting and script-writing processes with the class. Near the end of the discussion, Yemane asked his teaching assistant to replay one of my favorite moments from the movie, when Charlie stands alone in his apartment hallway calling out after his mother. Yemane pointed toward this moment as a great example of using off-screen sound to capture a character's loneliness. We hear the mother turn on the television in the other room, slam the door and then all sound goes out completely. Three small things, all added in post-production. Of course, a large amount of the credit here belongs to Bobb Barito. Someone else commented that they thought the sound of Charlie's voice was excellent, as he seemed so much louder than everyone else, which added to the idea that he's alone and reaching out. I was honored to get such great feedback from Yemane and his students.

In late March, I held a wonderful first reading of my feature screenplay at NYU. I was over the moon about the notes I received from my peers - it was a mammoth 166-page draft, and everyone was so generous to come out and stay for what ended up being nearly a three-hour reading. I finished the first (admittedly not great) draft of my feature screenplay earlier this year, and I can only hope it gets shorter and better from here. I certainly have a lot of fantastic notes with which to work.

In April, I'm simultaneously excited and disappointed to say that my film Jake the Cinephile was under close consideration by the Cinéfondation Selection Committee of the 67th Cannes Film Festival. The film made it to the final round of consideration to the Cinéfondation, but was unfortunately not selected for the festival. Although it would have been incredible to screen the film at Cannes, I'm still very proud that my wonderful crew and I were able to make a movie that got pretty darn close.

Jake the Cinephile screened on Wednesday, April 16th at Anthology Film Archives in New York City as part of the NewFilmmakers New York series. It was not only a great crowd and a very receptive audience at NewFilmmakers New York, but it was by far the largest screen on which I've ever had one of my films screen. Before the screening, I joined the other filmmakers in my section at the front of the theater for a brief introduction to the movies. To view pictures from the screening, please click here.

Additionally, here is an article from Broadway World about the New Filmmaker New York Short Film Series on April 16th with information about Jake the Cinephile.

In May, I had the honor of working on my friend Eliza McNitt's amazing short film for TEDMED as Assistant Director. The movie stars the incredible Adepero Oduye (12 Years A Slave, Pariah) and it's titled Play Is Not A Waste of Time. We had a great shoot on a soundstage in Brooklyn, and you can view the film online right here.

In June, I saw some excellent live stage performances, including Robert Wilson's surreal production of The Old Woman at BAM starring Willem Dafoe and Mikhail Baryshnikov, and a revival of Eugene Ionesco's The Killer at Theatre for a New Audience, which was one the most amazing stage productions I've seen in a long time. The extraordinary Michael Shannon starred in the production - it was my first time seeing him perform onstage, and he's just as electrifying as he is onscreen.

I also saw a performance of Alan Ayckbourn's A Small Family Business via National Theatre Live at NYU's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, which was a wonderful opportunity to revisit the world of Ayckbourn (I've performed a monologue from A Small Family Business frequently in the past, including for my college acting auditions and for my performance in Third North's Ultra Violet Live talent competition, where I won second place my freshman year). I attended the event with two dear friends, both of whom acted with me in Austin High School's 2007 UIL One-Act Play production of Ayckbourn's Round and Round the Garden. It's still my favorite play in which I've performed (I've been in it on two different occasions - in high school, I played Norman, and then five years later, at NYU, I played Reg).

If you're interested in watching Tisch New Theatre's 2012 production of Round and Round the Garden, the whole show is now online:

Speaking of plays, I don't think I ever mentioned that in March of 2013, I saw two amazing Broadway productions. It was incredibly exciting to see Tom Hanks in Nora Ephron's Lucky Guy. in which he gave an incredible performance. I met Hanks after the show, which was beyond cool. He told me to make the picture I took with him my "prof pic," and I'm inclined to agree with the great man. As you may remember, Hanks and Paul Greengrass gave us one heck of a movie last October (not to mention Hanks's extraordinary work in John Lee Hancock's Saving Mr. Banks as Walt Disney last year).

I also had the chance to meet Lucky Guy costar Christopher McDonald (1996's Happy Gilmore, 2000's Requiem for a Dream, 2005's Broken Flowers) after the performance.

The same weekend, I saw Lyle Kessler's Orphans on Broadway, starring Alec Baldwin, Ben Foster and Tom Strurridge. They all gave outstanding performances in this very powerful play, which seemed like something in which I'd love to perform some day (perhaps with my high school theatre director Billy Dragoo, who visited New York a few months ago with his wife Annie Dragoo, who was also one of my wonderful theatre directors). We've long talked about doing a play together, and something like Orphans (with a third young actor) would be incredible.

At the Tony Awards last year, I'm still not sure how Baldwin and Al Pacino weren't nominated for Orphans and the revival of Glengarry Glen Ross, respectively. But it was very cool to see Cicely Tyson thank Hallie Foote, Van Ramsey and Michael Wilson in her acceptance speech for Horton Foote's The Trip to Bountiful. And it was excellent to watch the Tony Awards get handed out in the same space in which I graduated two weeks before the ceremony (Radio City Music Hall).

I posted my reviews of Richard Linklater's Boyhood and Steve James's Life Itself earlier this month, but they aren't the only great pictures that have come out this year.

Clint Eastwood's Jersey Boys, released back in June, is another riveting Eastwood picture that deserves a lot more praise than it's receiving (not unlike Eastwood's other recent films, all of which I think are very under-appreciated - J. Edgar, Hereafter and Invictus). Richard Brody wrote a fascinating article about Jersey Boys, and it's one of the few pieces that actually tries to understand what Eastwood is doing with the material. Here's another good article on Eastwood from Variety about both Jersey Boys and Eastwood's upcoming American Sniper, as well as an interview with Eastwood. Eastwood has long been one of my favorite filmmakers and biggest influences, and I feel people aren't taking notice of his risks as a director after his indisputably masterful run of Mystic River (2003), Million Dollar Baby (2004) and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006).

Doug Liman's Edge of Tomorrow is still the most fun and thrilling movie of the summer, with a real movie star giving a great performance in the lead. Remember when we got legitimately incredible summer movies like Minority Report (2002), Collateral (2004) and War of the Worlds (2005)? Tom Cruise is back to the rescue with Edge of Tomorrow. It's the only blockbuster of the summer (besides Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) that can claim to be a great movie.

Kelly Reichardt's Night Moves has more tension in any one of its scenes than most other thrillers have in their entire running length (there are now two masterful films titled Night Moves, after Arthur Penn's 1975 thriller starring Gene Hackman). Plus, the movie features another great performance from the brilliant Peter Sarsgaard. And I love that Jon Favreau's well-received Chef uses Austin as an actual location. Guero's, Franklin Barbecue and the 360 Bridge all make appearances, and that seems in keeping with the movie's low-key and inviting warmth. I'm thrilled it's become such a popular film.

I saw James Gray's masterpiece The Immigrant back in October at the New York Film Festival, though the movie was not released theatrically until May. It will undoubtedly be near the top of my end-of-the-year top ten list - it's one of the most extraordinary American films in many years. I saw the film again at a pre-screening at BAM, followed by a Q&A with Gray, and for a third time earlier this week, and the picture never fails to move me to tears. I think something about the movie's morals - perhaps Eva's sense of morality and struggle with whether or not she deserves happiness - touches me deeply.

Here's a beautiful piece from Ain't Them Bodies Saints director David Lowery on remembering The Immigrant, plus an interview with James Gray from Film Comment. Plus, the fantastic news that the brilliant Joaquin Phoenix will be starring in Woody Allen's next film. On a more tragic note, the outstanding Ric Menello, who co-wrote The Immigrant and Gray's masterful Two Lovers (2009), passed away last year.

David Gordon Green's Joe overflows with memorable characters and energy in every single scene, almost like a Robert Altman film. It's everything I love about Gordon Green's Prince Avalanche from last year, Jeff Nichols's Mud and Mike Figgis's Leaving Las Vegas (1995) rolled into one great film, with a masterful performance by Nicolas Cage. Here's an astonishing article from the Austin Chronicle about Gary Poulter, one of the stars of Joe, who tragically passed away shortly after shooting the movie.

Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin, which I saw back in April, is out-of-this-world and unlike any movie I've ever seen. It's fantastic to see new movies like Under the Skin and Pawel Pawlikowski's Ida (also one of the best movies of the year) that know how to use silence. Bong Joon-ho's Snowpiercer is the summer action movie audiences deserve, and John Carney's Begin Again charmed me the same way his Once did seven years ago, with the always-outstanding Mark Ruffalo doing great work. Paul Haggis's Third Person trusts its audience to let it takes it time. With more movies for adults like it, we'll have better audiences.

It's not a new movie, but I saw William Friedkin's Sorcerer (1977) at Film Forum last month, and that picture is a sight to behold. I'm so glad this movie is being rediscovered, because it's a masterpiece.

Boyhood remains the greatest cinematic achievement of the year - Linklater is on fire. I saw his Before Midnight last year at the Angelika Film Center with Aziz Ansari sitting behind me. I don't know what was more beautiful - the film, or him. I saw that film three times theatrically, and it's astounding what Linklater achieves (as I'm about to embark on shooting a new movie that takes place entirely in a hotel room, I am particularly inspired by the second half of Before Midnight, which has ingenious blocking and use of space in a hotel room occupied by Jesse and Celine). Finally, here's a beautiful message from Jesse and Celine, courtesy of the Alamo Drafthouse.

There have been a number of great artists who have passed away this year, including Eli Wallach, one of the great film actors (from 1966's The Good, The Bad and The Ugly to 2010's The Ghost Writer); Gordon Willis, the cinematographer of many of the greatest films ever made (including 1972's The Godfather and 1979's Manhattan); actor Bob Hoskins, who was so brilliant in Mermaids (1990), Nixon (1995), Hollywoodland (2006), Michael (1996) and Brazil (1985) - and there are still so many of his performances I need to see; the great filmmaker Paul Mazursky (1978's An Unmarried Woman, 1986's Down and Out in Beverly Hills); singer Jerry Vale, who appeared in Goodfellas (1990) and Casino (1995); and film critic Jay Carr.

Until my next blog post, where I hope to continue playing catch-up on the past year-and-a-half!