You can download 4:00 here: http://nickkohut.bandcamp.com/album/4-00
It’s free but please donate! No Delusion is my next EP. Currently I have 2 songs, “Eyes” and “Ate You Still On Faceplace,” the first done and the second still being finished up. I intend on releasing it (most likely 5 songs) within the next few weeks.
Other than that, I just finished up a short film featuring Yoseph Abdelsalam and Matt Smith called “College Zombie.” Look for that soon!
Q.T. has always been one of my top favorite directors. His work is so unique that I don’t need him to finish a film every year… although that would be heavenly. Unlike some directors, he’s a man who takes his time to perfect. Some people would argue that there is not much time between his first few films, but if he can deliver such as content as he did with Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and Jackie Brown — each only separated by 2 or 3 years — then imagine what masterpiece he can wrap up with ten years.
Seeing Inglourious Basterds at its midnight premiere was the height of my movie-going experiences. Seeing it two days later at a Sunday morning showing was just as good. Tarantino has made a film so close to Pulp Fiction’s ingenuity that I will be able to watch it again and again and again for the rest of my life.
My original list of favorite movies started a little something like this:
#1. Pulp Fiction
#2. The Dark Knight
… and so on with films such as The Godfather and Jaws. As of sometime around 3 a.m. Friday the 21st, my favorites list has updated:
#1. Inglourious Basterds
#2. Pulp Fiction
… and so on. Every Tarantino movie is probably within my top 20 or 15 movies, but for him to write and direct a film that tops my number one favorite in my personal opinion is amazing. Pulp Fiction has been a favorite of mine since before I even saw the whole thing. I was probably between ten and twelve years old when I decided that it was my hands-down favorite. It remained the leading inspiration in my own movies for almost a decade. And now he’s done it again, topped himself, and rejuvenated my assurance that there are still people out there who can make a damn good movie.
Brad Pitt is one of my favorite actors. That’s all I have to say about that. Just watch the movie and you’ll see what I mean. Subtleness is everything and the scene at the cinema where he and Eli Roth and Omar Doom are posing as Italian filmmakers emphasizes this like nothing else. Amazing. Hilarious. Powerful. Convincing.
I’m not gonna review the movie or anything like that, but I’m just gonna say: WOW! The audience at the midnight premiere gave a roaring applause every half hour.
Thank you Quentin Tarantino, you have made my year.
Just got back from over a week in the Caribbean. There’s a good two hours of footage to be cut into a documentary of the trip. I’m currently waiting on some money for a new external so that I actually have space to work on the project. It’s still to be titled, but more information, including on how long it will be and how it will be delivered to YouTube is soon to come.
I’ve been spending a lot of time outside recently. So I decided to drag my studio outside (currently not pictured are either of the terabyte externals I’m using at the moment – planning on purchasing a few pocket-size 500gb externals for college). I’ve also been working hard to wrap up Midst and the NK Films 2009 Part One Mix DVD. Andrew and I are still reviewing Midst to make sure it will be ready to be released. It will not be released on YouTube, due to its length, but a trailer will be. It will only be available on the Mix DVD which is going to go for $5. If you want all three of this year’s DVDs (Saturday Night Specials Collection One, It’s Cold, We’re Cold, and the Mix DVD), you can buy all three in a package deal for $12. Some other goodies may be thrown in as well.
It’s been a long time since my last post, but school got a bit busy for a second. Now that things are dying down, I have a lot more time on my hands to do things like this. I also have so much more time to film, which brings me to MIDST! This Sunday, hopefully, Andrew Clark, Sky Lynch, Matt Conway, and I will be filming the last scenes to be shot for Midst. It has been a great project and although it was a long process, I’m actually not sick of this one. While I’m away from Final Cut or the camera, I start to get paranoid that the film isn’t great and people are not going to get it, but when I watch it, I feel much more assured that it is a quality project. So I guess that’s a good thing. On Sunday, after final filming and editing, I’ll be screening Midst to several of the actors and contributors, and once it has final approval, I’ll be printing it directly to the NK Films 2009 First Half MIX DVD. It won’t appear on YouTube (at least for the time being), but a preview will. The Mix DVD is on sale for $5 and you can get a great deal by purchasing It’s Cold We’re Cold, The Saturday Night Specials First Collection, and the Mix DVD for a total of only $12 (save 3 bucks… I know, right? who wouldn’t?). Anyways, with Midst finished, I’ll be starting Contagion with Sky Lynch, and then the projects will just keep rolling by. By the way, the picture above is me behind the camera, filming Andrew Clark (below) as he treks through the woods in one of the various eclectic scenes from Midst.
Michael Mann is really pissing me off with his inability to use a digital camera. He really pulled it off well on Collateral, but when Miami Vice came, the only thing that kept my eyes on it was the few minutes here and there of well shot film. Mann opened the film with stunningly beautfiul visuals, but ended it with the ugliness equivalent to that of a camera phone’s picture. Now I appreciate film grain, in fact I believe that at certain points it is crucial, but when there is not a sufficient amount of lighting in a shot, a digital camera cannot handle capturing the picture as well as a film camera can. The values within the image get “shifty” and there is a lag on the movement of colors. When a film camera has insufficient light, the shot is just really dark; the camera doesn’t work harder than it’s abilities to brighten it. I cannot see how Mann can just let himself get away with utterly terrible picture quality. I hated Miami Vice — not just because of its mediocrity, but because of Mann’s shortcoming with digital technology. Now Mann is releasing Public Enemies and — after having viewed the trailer — I can see that he has done this once again. I’ve got one word for him: lighting. It’s as simple as a lightbulb and an outlet and he can’t put the two together for some reason. Now of course I saw some rather promising visuals, but the second half of the trailer held many shots that just looked terrible. I really hope this is not the beginning of a trend for Michael Mann.
Yesterday I competed in the PSF Competition at De Sales University. I took home the 1st Place Monologue and $5,000-a-year scholarship awards. I also got selected to showcase my monologue after the final round of competition.
Just recently got back from Mammoth Lakes, California after skiing four days on Mammoth Mountain. It was quite a trip and adventure and I am currently editing the 5 hours of footage I have into a 12-part episodic documentary. On YouTube, “It’s Cold, We’re Cold.” will be released in 12 episodes around ten minutes in length each, then I will be compiling all of those 12 episodes into one full-length film on DVD. The DVD will also include bonus footage not seen in the feature itself. Currently, episodes 1 thru 3 have been roughly edited.
Sonny Chiba in The Street Fighter trilogy. I am currently only in possession of two of the three films: The Street Fighter and Return of The Street Fighter; both of which I have watched and thouroughly enjoyed. If you are not interested in mid-70s martial arts films, then don’t watch it, but if you’re have a deep taste for such visual style and boldness then by all means do so. The film was orignally inspired by Enter the Dragon and stars Sonny Chiba, who is a master of action, drama, and comedy.
I plan on ordering the trilogy box set via Optimum Releasing, because they have a DVD PAL version available that features the original Japanese dub with English subtitles as well as a digitally remastered picture. The DVD set that I currently have is only in English (which really kills the film personally) and the picture quality represents that of an old VHS recorded television show.
