It's official: Tempest Pictures has teamed with social entertainment company EQAL (Level 26, CBS's Harper's Globe, The Kind Life With Alicia Silverstone) to produce the next season of their flagship web series LonelyGirl15, tentatively entitled: LG15: Outbreak.

Tempest Pictures' owner Gregory Austin McConnell submitted a short treatment with a pilot presentation, and was selected on October 30th as the next season's Executive Producer.

The entire crew from Tempest will be working from December to March on the new web series, and we'll be shooting in several locations around Missouri.

We will be updating our Twitter account with information concerning principal photography as the time approaches. Make sure to follow along. (We plan on tweeting flash alerts if we do spare shooting around town, so if you find we're close, feel free to drive on over and meet some of the team.)

The large majority of the show's lineup has been cast, but we'll put up a casting call if necessary.

We're obviously very excited about this project, and we hope you will all enjoy the show as it comes to life.

LG15: Outbreak will hit the web on January 11th, and continue for eight weeks.

Sorry for the lack of updates this past week. We hit a snag with some site errors and we had to sort through the code manually until we found the problem. Good news is, we're back! Tempest Tuesday is tomorrow, and we'll take the opportunity to recount the exact details of the bug we encountered.

You may want to reset your cookies to the site, although we're pretty certain the problem was just with content creation.

Check back tomorrow when we give out all the info concerning our showing at the Silk City Flick Fest in Manchester, and some more details concerning our current projects.

It's (late) Tuesday...which means another weekly report. We've been quite busy this past week, which means new goodies for our readers. Besides some Tempest-specific news, we have some nuggets of info concerning other folks in the Missouri area, too.

Our poll this week, although much divided, seems to be showing us one overall theme: you guys want more stuff. We're looking to deliver on that suggestion throughout the rest of this month. Leave us a comment on this update if you have any suggestions.

This week, you got treated to a special preview of the young-adult book adaptation of 'Fallen Angels', and review has been positive thus far. Scroll down the news feed and give it a click if you haven't already, and let us know what you think. The book should hit stores next month, and we'll slap a link on the sidebar when it's up for purchase.

We also learned some exciting news that 'Syringe' was accepted to the Silk City Flick Fest. The festival is in October, and we have something fun we're drumming up for you guys that we'll announce later next week. We can't say for sure how we'll do at the festival, but we're overjoyed that even a year after its release, 'Syringe' can still keep up with the best of them!

Friday, we took on the new film 'Gamer', and it scored a 'C-'. You can read the full review on our 'Friday Flick' section. We've already got the next one picked out, and we'll update our twitter feed with the spoiler later this week, so keep an eye out.

Current Projects News: Even though 'We're Still Writing', we've been working on some other projects this past week. Not to give anything away, but we've spent the past couple of days blowing up cars. Sorry...that's all we'll give you for now.
While preparing for the release of the 'Fallen Angels' books, Austin has also been hard at work fixing his official site up, and the ETA will be around Friday.

General News: Last week we plugged the Moxie, and missourifilm.org is now reporting that starting today, the Missouri State Film Series will begin running again. Full info can be found here. Also, missourifilm.org is advertising a Missouri Filmmaker Networking Event taking place tomorrow, with directions listed here.

This-Week-Sneak-Peak: We've got a few goodies including another installment of 'Cool Stuff We Like', a Friday Flick, and maybe a few surprises down the road.

Have a good week.

FRIDAY FLICK: 'GAMER'

Starring: Gerard Butler, Michael C. Hall

Directed/Written by Mark Neveldine and Brain Taylor

Review by Timothy Black

This Friday, Tempest Pictures has selected the new Gerard Butler flick 'Gamer' as our victim. It's an action movie that was released just a few days ago, and we've got all you need to know concerning the flick. If you don't feel like reading, then just scroll to the bottom and get the final word, as well as the rating. Or, you could be nice and read the review I slaved over for hours. Your choice.

The Plot:

Gamer is a high-concept action thriller set in a near future when gaming and entertainment have evolved into a terrifying new hybrid. Humans control other humans in mass-scale, multi-player online games: people play people...for keeps. Mind-control technology is widespread, and at the heart of the controversial game is its creator, reclusive billionaire Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall). His latest brainchild, the first-person shooter game "Slayers," allows millions to act out their most savage fantasies online in front of a global audience, using real prisoners as avatars with whom they fight to the death.

Kable (300's Gerard Butler) is the superstar and cult hero of the ultraviolent "Slayers." Kable is controlled by Simon, a young gamer with rock star status who continue to defy all odds by guiding Kable to victory each week. Taken from his family, imprisoned and forced to fight against his will, the modern day gladiator must survive long enough to escape the game to free his family, regain his identity and to save mankind from castle's ruthless technology.

Gamer stars Gerard Butler (300, The Ugly Truth), Michael C. Hall ("Dexter"), Amber Valletta (Transporter 2), John Leguizamo (Righteous Kill, Assault on Precinct 13) and Kyra Sedgwick ("The Closer").

The Ugly:

We're taking the Good, Bad, and Ugly backwards today...because that's really the flow of the entire movie.

The first five minutes of the film are just that...ugly. 'Walk out of the theater' ugly. The opening sequence throws you right in the middle of a game of 'Slayers' in action, and we're treated (for the millionth time this century) to a full-on barrage of needlessly shaky-cam, and lightning fast cuts. If you can tell what's going on in the first five minutes, my hat's off to you. Because I couldn't figure it out. The cinematographer apparently decided it would be cool to toss the camera into the air repeatedly during huge explosions and gunfire. Repeat after me please: THIS DOES NOT MAKE A MOVIE INTENSE. IT MAKES A MOVIE TERRIBLE. If you want an example of good 'battle scene' camerawork, check out 'Saving Private Ryan'. You can at least tell who is who and what they're doing. With 'Gamer', you'll need to slow the camera down to 1/3rd the speed and ZOOM OUT to figure out what's going on.

If you can hold on through the terrible opening scene, then things start to get a little better...if you care by that point.

Other noteworthy nuggets of 'ugly': Ludacris. But let's be honest...who didn't see that one coming? Oh yeah, Milo Ventimiglia manages to make a quick cameo in which his fans will immediately lose all respect for him.

The Bad:

After the painful first few moments, the movie gets a bit better, and starts to establish itself as a solid B-Movie, with a few unfortunate issues.

Let's get this straight right off the bat: this is NOT a Gerard Butler flick. Any ladies out there thinking they'll be able to see 'the next Johnny Depp' in a really heart-wrenching role are going to walk out of the theater in the first 5 minutes. Butler has next to NO LINES for the first half of the movie. Unless you like seeing him brood and stare off screen, or shoot guns...you aren't going to be blown away by his performance.

In fact, the entire first half really pales in comparison to the latter half, leaving the viewer to think that the problem was in the writing. It felt at moments as if I was watching a scene when I wanted to be elsewhere in the story. While the audience is stuck with Butler in Ludacris-Land, we wish we could be checking in with Society, or the bad guys...but we're forced to sit in on a scene that has its lines ripped directly from every mind-controlling/post-modern/near-future/sci-fi/minority report film that came before it. Yawn.
Oh, wait...I forgot...it's NOT a copycat routine, because they throw in a lot of cursing. Y'know...because it's the future. And everyone curses like a drunken sailor in the future. Cause society has changed...cause it's 30 years from now...get it?

Besides suffering pacing problems, 'Gamer' also runs a fine line on content, as it begins to demonize and make fun of its target audience. Think about it: who is going to go watch this movie? Gamers. So why would you portray gamers as overweight perverts who eat constantly. A lot of folks I talked with thought the movie went off track in that respect. Honestly...in a film that has its TARGET AUDIENCE as the TITLE, there's no reason to bite the hand that feeds.

I'm not a 'realism' nag by any means...so I'm not going to mention the obviously over-the-top plot and action sequences, because it doesn't matter to me...but seriously: why would Kable go to the final face off without a gun? I still can't rap my mind around that. He spends 45 minutes blowing stuff up with automatic assault rifles, and he decides to fight the 'final boss' (no pun intended) with fists of fury? Ah...I'll overlook it.

The Good:

Alright...don't get me wrong: if you can make it through the below-average first half, the rest of the film actually becomes extremely watchable.

The best casting decision by FAR was Michael C. Hall. This guy is seriously one of the most underrated actors in the business. Hall just WORKS as Ken Castle, and the best scenes in the flick are the ones that center around him. Even down to his most minute mannerisms, Hall turns what could very easily be an annoying character into celluloid gold. If we could have spent less time with 'Luda' and more time with 'Dexter', the film would have been much a lot more palatable.

Right about the time Kastle goes to find his wife, the film takes a turn for the best. Each scene is certainly watchable, and oftentimes very entertaining. The biggest problem is that most audience members have lost their interest in the film by then.

The biggest thing that sticks out to me is this: if this film is labeled as a 'Video Gamer' movie, then it's only mildly impressive. BUT...if this film is labeled as a 'Social Commentary' movie, then it takes gold.

This is a hilarious take on what the planet would be like if the 'Facebook Culture' ruled the world for the past 30 years, with no red-haired conservatives standing in the way. Let's be honest: the 'conversations' that take place in this movie could be ripped from any internet message board on the planet...and seeing them acted out in real life is quite entertaining at times. I just wish 'Gamer' could figure out what kind of movie it wants to be.

FINAL SCORE: 70% (C-)

Bottom Line: If you can make it through the first half unharmed, then the film starts to make up ground in the final 30 minutes. The only problem is that it can't make the ground up fast enough. By the time the movie is over, you aren't left thinking about the story: you're left thinking about the movie, and how it could have been better...and when that happens, you know something didn't work.
Unfortunately for a lot of Butler fans out there, 'Gamer' was certainly a lot of madness, but it was not a lot of Sparta.

We're happy to announce today that the extended and remastered cut of 'Syringe' has been selected to play at the first annual 'Silk City Flick Fest' in Manchester, Connecticut!
We're not too sure if we've got any fans that far east, but if you happen to be in that area, be sure to head out to the screening this October. We'll update this post with the full schedule as soon as it becomes available.
A few notes: unlike the SATO version, this cut of 'Syringe' includes a few extra scenes, and has been digitally remastered in high definition. We also put the ol' spit-n-shine on some of the frames, and ran a good deal of color correction on top of it.

Also, as per the rules of the festival, we've pulled the Youtube version offline for a while, and we'll put it back up after the competition ends in mid-October. We're also considering uploading this newer version to the official Youtube channel in time.

If anyone is interested in attending the festival, we're planning on giving away a few tickets in our first ever contest. Details will come soon.

As a special treat today, we're giving a free preview to the young-adult book adaptation of Fallen Angels. The book has been written by Gregory Austin McConnell, and it will be available for purchase online at Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and a few other locations in just a few more weeks. 'Welcome to Munich' is a direct adaptation of the Television Pilot that Tempest Pictures produced earlier this year, and the 'Fallen Angels' book series will cover the first 'season' of the show in its entirety.

There are a guaranteed 3 installments of the series thus far, and many more are in the works.

If you want to get a head start, use the link below to get your free .pdf copy of the first 4 chapters of Book 1. Don't want to wait for the full hard copy to be released? You can get the full book in its Kindle form by clicking here. It's currently flirting with the 'Top Ten' spot in the 'Social Issues' subgenre of the Young Adult Fiction section of Amazon, and we're looking to push it over the edge.

We'll keep you informed as this series progresses.

Right-click, save as to download the FREE PREVIEW of Fallen Angels - Book 1 - Welcome to Munich.

___

...It's Tuesday. You know the drill. Today we'll be running down the line of usual topics, and we'll attempt to stretch out an extremely slow news week to a full six paragraphs. Hey, don't blame us...blame Labor Day weekend.

Yes, things have been pretty quiet this week. We're assuming everyone decided to spend Labor Day going what Mondays are best for: sleeping. Nevertheless, we're still kicking here at Tempest. We put up a new community poll a few days ago, asking you all which genre we should tackle next, and as of this update, things look pretty evenly split. There are only a few days left to vote, so make sure you drop the ballot in time. Be sure to leave a comment on this update if you have a more detailed opinion for our next project.

We had a bit of a formatting problem with our Opinion Article last week, so we had to pull it from the site almost as soon as we put it up. (We didn't feel that many of our readers would appreciate having to decipher a mass amount of numbers, dashes, and strange symbols that we didn't even realize a keyboard was capable of producing.) We finally got the problem worked out, so you can look forward to it being re-posted this week, glitch free.
You may have also noticed the scroll-bar up top getting a few additions. As our site content grows, so will the number of options available when you visit the sites navigational bar.
If you haven't yet, click on our new Friday Flick, where Vince gives his opinion on The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard. As usual, you can get a sneak-peek at our next Friday Flick by following us on twitter. Don't have an account? It only takes a few minutes to sign up...or if you find you don't have 'minutes' to spare, you can just watch the tweet feed running in the site's sidebar (although be warned: it usually takes a while to update automatically).

Current Projects News: 'We're Still Writing' concerning the feature...and on another note, the young-adult book adaptation of 'Fallen Angels' will be coming out in just a few short weeks. It's written by Austin entirely, and there are three installments in the pipeline currently. It should be available via Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Borders shops. We'll have all the needed information when it comes time to give it a proper announcement.

General News: ...As sad as it might seem, there really isn't ANY news concerning Missouri independent film this week. Sorry! There aren't any community projects, events, or anything that we know about, or that we've been able to find out about online. If we're missing anything, tip us off and shoot us an email.

So, when in doubt, plug The Moxie! The Moxie is the coolest little theater in Springfield, and it's a definite hot spot for indie-film enthusiasts. Here's an excerpt from their site:

The Biggest Little Cinema in Springfield

The story of how The Moxie came to be is a long, convoluted tale filled with elements of intrigue, espionage, and a helpful time-traveling robot named Benzo. To make a long story short, The Moxie is an oasis of cinematic paradise within a barren desert of gaudy, faceless multiplexes. Our mission is to create a unique and inviting venue for the exhibition of smaller, lesser-known films that had traditionally been unattainable in the Springfield market. We try our hardest to make every showing at The Moxie an experience in and of itself, and while we can't guarantee that you'll love the movie, we're pretty darn sure you'll love The Moxie. That was pretty lame. Sorry.

You can learn more about the Moxie Cinema on their official site.

This-Week-Sneak-Peak: Will get that (properly formatted) opinion article up, a special Thursday treat...and our Friday Flick.

Drop us a comment if you're in the mood.