Thursday, July 30, 2009

Premiere Video



I recently re-discovered the greatness of Premiere Video off of Mockingbird and Central in Dallas. I found this groovy article on the local CW33 site, so mucho props to them as I am simply re-posting it. I encourage people who read this site to venture out of the Netflix/Blockbuster zone and experience a video store run by people who actually LOVE, and I mean LOVE movies. No corporate BS here, just love of film. I could spend the whole day in there, but alas I have a Job...

Premiere Video
A Dallas Institution Catering to Families and Film Buffs

Premiere Video, an unassuming independent video store on Mockingbird across from the train station, stands as a beacon and a hub for the fervent Dallas film community. Oh yeah, and you can rent just about anything you can think of there, too.

So how awesome is Premiere Video? Let's put it this way, the 2005 "Best Of" Dallas Observer issue named Premiere Video "The Best Video Store in the World, So Stop Asking" and retired the entire category in 2007. Given the rise of video home delivery services and video vending machines, how does Premiere - an old school "Mom and Pop" video store - continue to thrive after 25 years?

Chatting with Heather Hankamer, general manager and buyer for Premiere Video, she attributes the store's success and longevity to their diverse and loyal customer base. Their location places Premiere within easy distance to the students and academic crowd of SMU, as well as smack dab in the middle of the M Streets/Lakewood/Park Cities families and retirees. As Hankamer states, "we get a kind of mishmash of different customers, and that keeps us strong."

You're Here Renting Barfly Because No One Else Has It

Premiere has been able to stay successful by listening to the customer, catering to a clientele that might be looking for anything from the latest big Hollywood release to the most obscure documentary. One walk through the shop and their vast collection becomes obvious. In addition to your usual "New Releases," "Kids," and "Classics" sections, the store also features rows of documentary categories, British TV series, and an entire wall of foreign films.



Premiere's collection is unique due to a variety of factors. For one, unlike most video shops, Premiere still maintains a large VHS list. Not only does this allow Premiere to have rare titles not yet released on DVD, but there are still a lot of people who rent exclusively on VHS. Additionally, Premiere's relationship with local independent filmmakers and close ties to the AFI Dallas International Film Festival has resulted in gaining access to films that have never been distributed in the United States.

Hankamer does admit however, "the store isn't for everybody." While Premiere has an open and friendly atmosphere, it isn't a store that stocks 100 copies of the latest new release. Though they are sure to have the latest Hollywood movies, Hankamer explains, "The Dark Knight brings them in, but it's the specialty stuff that keeps them coming back."

Premiere's allegiance to keeping things local also gives the video store its distinction. A small crew of eight, including Premiere owner Sam Wade, run the shop, giving the Premiere folks an opportunity to know their customers. "What other job - in a retail environment - do you get to go to that you actually know your customer?" Hankamer asks. Indeed, Premiere's core top 100 customers tend to rent the majority of the movies.



In a further nod to their customer service, Premiere provides a video drop off box in the Bishop Arts District. The drop box was originally the suggestion of a longtime customer who was moving to Oak Cliff. After realizing a sizable percentage of their members lived in Oak Cliff, the drop box was a logical decision. And it had the benefit of increasing the store's visibility and their subscriber count.

One area where Premiere has resisted customer suggestion, indeed pleadings, is for a website. Google search "Premiere Video Dallas" and you will, at best, find a description of the store on citysearch or yelp. Why no website? Hankamer cites economics and inventory protection as the chief reasons for resisting a website. "Our goal has been to retain our inventory for our community and customers. If we put everything up there, we're afraid we'll attract collectors, and we don't want to have to implement a cash deposit policy for rare titles," Hankamer explains. By now, circa 2009, Premiere's "no website" status only fuels its "Mom and Pop" video store mystique.

And, What About that Mom and Pop Mystique?

Premiere Video (under the name Video Works) first opened its doors in 1985 by owner Sam Wade as part of a three-store franchise. At the time, it's hard to remember, the home rental industry was beginning to crest in awareness among the average person. This was an era before Blockbuster Video had arrived - but just barely. At that time, home video rental businesses rented VCRs as well as videos and the videos themselves cost upwards of $70.

Within the next five years, home video became as commonplace in the home as cable TV, and monster video chains like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video had squeezed out many of the small, independent video stores. In 1990, Wade left the Video Works franchise and renamed the Mockingbird store, Premiere Video.

Since then, Premiere has been able to wade (no pun intended) through the continuing evolution of the home rental industry. The introduction of DVDs, according to Hankamer, has been instrumental to Premiere's ability to thrive. The lower cost of DVDs gives the store an opportunity to experiment with lesser known titles. Unlike VHS films that were still expensive for more obscure titles, all DVDs were lower in cost. This enabled the staff there to fill their inventory with specialty titles.



One recent change in the industry that has hurt independent video stores the most is the "No Late Fees" campaign aggressively pursued by Blockbuster, Netflix and others like Red Box. The symbolic death of any late fee policy at these national retailers has helped recruit new members. Of course, it's only a game of semantics. It may no longer be called late fees, but $1 a day for every day you have the rental still translates into a $10 fee if you have the video for 10 days. According to Hankamer, the advent of no late fees was a "Big turning point for the industry, especially for the mom and pops because this new policy made it [video rentals] almost seem like a free thing in people's minds."

At Premiere, all videos rent for $4 and do charge for late returns. However, they don't receive too many complaints about this when signing up new customers. As one person wrote on yelp.com "It's four dollars to rent a vid [sic] which seems a little pricey, but isn't that comparable to b-buster? Plus, they're local, so spending a little extra to rent from premiere = good karma headed your way."(larua n. Dallas, tx, yelp.com) Another user notes that Premiere has "the best selection of indie films and music documentaries, no question. And very affordable. Give your Netflix account some rest and go support some locals!" (Nico M. Dallas, TX)

Premiere's fan base continues to grow and stay vital as the Dallas film community becomes stronger. At a time of contracting niche markets for books and local theaters, Premiere Video has seen the local film community take hold and thrive. Hankamer notes, "Dallas does have a strong film community. That's only been proven true by a very successful Angelika and Magnolia to be so close together yet still be able to compete. For years, it was just us and the Inwood."

For a glimpse of Dallas' film community and movie buffs, you're first stop has to be Premiere Video.
Copyright © 2009, KDAF-TV

REVIEW: Warlords



This is the first Jet Li movie I have really enjoyed in quite some time. The film is directed by Peter Chan and starring Jet Li, Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Xu Jinglei.

The film is set in the 1860s, during the Taiping Rebellion in the late Qing Dynasty in China. The story, based on an unresolved crime in 1870, tells of three sworn brothers (played by Jet Li, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro) who are forced to turn against one another due to the harsh realities of war and political intrigue.

This film is brutal. With only a 120 minute running time it packs a lot of history and battles. Some of which are truly amazing. The canon scenes are crazy ill. Jet Li is great, and really shows some serious acting hops way above of that of peer Jackie Chan. No offence JC... There is not a lot of martial arts fighting, but there is in spats. This movie worked for me on a dramatic level, an action level, and a historical level. So it clicked in my head as one of the better Hong Kong films I've seen in quite some time. In fact as a result of this film I am curious to get back into that old Hong Kong movie binge I used to have back in the college days.

This film has not yet been released in the states. Its been out in Asia and Europe i think since 07. Not sure what the hold up is. If your looking for an alternative to overly stylized films like Crouching Tiger and Hero, then this gritty action flick will leave you wanting more. The cinematography is also top notch. If you want to score a copy of it, try HKFLIX.COM. They have it in SD and HD. I want Jet and Jackie to stay in HK! No more bad US movies...


REVIEW: Moon


You really can't review Moon, without spoiling it. I'll say this I really enjoyed it, and thought Sam Rockwell was very good. The basic premise is very "2001". An astronaut is the only one on a moon base camp on a 3 year contract to retrieve energy from the sun. He has a computer robot buddy named Gerty that keeps him company. He is set to go home before an accident happens, and well things get a bit out of control. Like i said its hard to say much more without ruining it, but I found it to be good solid film, by Duncan Jones( David Bowie's son) If you liked 2001, you will really dig this. It is almost a companion piece if you will. Good double bill maybe...

Monday, July 27, 2009

North Texas Fresh Episode 1: Tryouts

North Texas Fresh Episode 1: Tryouts from Immotion Studios on Vimeo.



This summer my company, Immotion Studios had the opportunity to meet with Jay Bowdy, the CEO of a new ABA basketball team in this area called The North Texas Fresh. They start their season in Fort Worth later this year. Right now they are just trying to get a team together by looking at local talent. I had several conversations with Jay about doing a documentary at some point, so on my vacation, I went out as a one man band with the HDCam and some mics, and filmed for most of the day at one of their tryouts. I'm not totally sure where this is all headed yet, but it was certainly a lot of fun melding my two loves of filmmaking and basketball. My ultimate goal is to do a documentary on a few players that might find there way to the NBA. If you know much about basketball, its a hard road to go from the minors to the majors. But many have done it, and I hope to capture the sweat and tears of those few players that do make it. So stayed tuned and we will see where this journey will take us...

Monday, July 20, 2009

Cheese Zone!

I WANT TO PRODUCE SPOTS LIKE THIS!!!!!!

Treevenge

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

REVIEW: Public Enemies



I have a bone to pick with director Michael Mann. Well maybe not a bone so much as a real conundrum. I love Michael Mann movies. Thief, Manhunter, and Heat are true classics in crime cinema history. Classics. And for me maybe that was too much to love up to. I have three topics I would like to cover here. 1. The movie itself 2. Mann and HD 3. Remake?

1. The Movie

Public Enemies is a movie of note because it stars Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. So people will go see it regardless. The story of bank robber John Dillinger most people know, so there is not a lot of suspense. The suspense comes in the action scenes in PE. Which are well done and shot quite well. They do not feel overly staged. The dramatic scenes however are flat as a board. You do not buy the love story between Depp and his sop called blackbird. They have no chemistry nor is there any offered. It just happens. OK. Christian Bale's character has an interesting mission to capture John Dillinger. But you learn absolutely zero about his life or interest in capturing Dillinger. Nada. He is getting slammed by some critics for providing a blank performance, which is BS because there is nothing given to us to even give a rats ass about him. He like the romance of Depp and Blackbird chick just is. Take it or leave it. So in a nutshell, great action scenes with little to no music, just guns and bullet hit sounds. That is great. The film is not really boring, but when you don't care about the characters there is no real interest in who lives or dies. The one saving grace of this film is actor Stephen Lang. One of my favorite character actors dating back to Mann's epic masterpiece NBC show, Crime Story, Lang gives a chilling performance as one of Bale's men tracking Depp down.



2. Mann and HD

For those who could care less about movie technology should leave now! WHAT IN THE WORLD IS MANN THINKING WITH HIS HD??? The movie has great scenes of epic beauty, then all of a sudden we are treated to a shot that looks like I shot it on my home video camera. It's very jarring. Public Enemies joins his own Collateral and the near incomprehensible feature film version of Miami Vice in the "bad HD" feature film list. And the fact that there are virtually tons of other HD movies among us that we never notice as being film or not is a bad deal for Mann. I think it boils down to Mann's insistence that night scenes be shot in really low light, which if you know much about filming in low light in HD, its a no no. I know with this and mostly Vice he is trying to push the edge of HD tech, but dude it's really noticeable and very distracting. Enough of that. The other thing that is not working for me is the use of shaky cam here. Mann used to be the master of the wide screen composition, and for a while now he has been the master of bad shaky cam while trying to sneak in his signature master shots. His style is now all over the map. Another distraction. Click HERE to read an article about the HD cam used on this film.


3. Remake?
If you know or love the Mann film, Heat. Look between the lines....think really hard. This is a remake of Heat to me. And Heat was in fact a remake of Mann's own TV Show, LA Takedown. So in essence he has now remade his own film twice now. This movie is like dating a hot model with little going on upstairs. And to quote Pacino in Heat. "Great Ass!"

This is a fun movie if you love historical crime cinema, and Depp does give a good performance as does everyone else, they just don't have much meat to chew on. Someone please give Mann a great crime script to make!!!!

Been There - Episode 2



I finished the second episode of Immotion Studio's web series, "Been There" for the client, Best Choice. This one stars Will, one of our designers at Immotion, and was a blast to make. The story was something that happened to yours truly. I am retired from on screen appearances so Will played the part of me. Although, I don't remember the beach part too clearly. Will did some great improv work to make the story even funnier. We had a lot of fun doing this on our new green screen studio upstairs. And my 2000 Isuzu Rodeo makes yet another appearance in one of my shorts. The short also features cameos by fellow Immotion employees Jonathan and Patti. Hope you all enjoy it, and look for Part 3 coming soon!

Click HERE to go to the video....