Tommy and Timmy

In this story of fulfillment, two men find friends in each other despite their very different lives.

HD Download .m4v (big file)
iPod/iPhone .m4v

Medium size .mp4 

Happy Independence Day!  Today we celebrate over 230 years of God’s blessing on our country.  We also celebrate the faith and determination of our forefathers.

So, here’s to the men who did what was considered wrong to do what they knew was right.  Ben Gates says it best.

Have a great day!

The Training Ground Puppet Troupe presents a music video of Big House (a song by Audio Adrenaline)!

Download the video:

Low Quality .mov - 6.2 MB

Low Quality .mp4 - 21.9 MB

HD Quality .m4v - 75.4 MB (This is a very large download.  Hi-speed internet strongly recommended).

Or, watch the movie on Youtube.

Ah, summer - the time when film hobbyists get out their old (or new) equipment and make movies.  I followed suit and returned to brickfilming with this short film titled “Cart.” 

Youtube

HD download

On May 20, 2008, the Training Ground drama team performed The People vs. Maxine Lowe, an epic courtroom drama. This is the teaser trailer for the movie of it.

High Quality .m4v

YouTube

Nicole Fantauzzo is the winner of the Prince Caspian review contest, with her review, which I thought did the best job of explaining why the film was so good even though it wasn’t exactly the book - and also discussed the plot lines in Prince Caspian without going into too much detail (such that someone who hasn’t seen the film can read this without fear of spoiling the fun of the film ).  I disagree with the reviewer in that I think the book Prince Caspian is worth reading (there are some wonderful Christian messages woven into it even if you don’t like the style), but I agree that the book had some major cinematic problems, and that the movie was able to overcome these admirably.  Below is the winning review:

Out of all the books in the Narnia series, Prince Caspian is definitely among the weaker ones.  The plot is slow, the characters are unrealistic and sometimes just plain confusing, and the pieces of dialogue are few and far between.  It’s cause for wonder then, that the movie of Prince Caspian can stand with the highly celebrated movie of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.  In fact, I would go as far as to say that Prince Caspian is better than LWW.  How is this possible?

As I mentioned above, one of the weaknesses of the book is that the plot is slow.  It starts off with the four Pevensie children waiting at a train station, and then they are magically transported to Narnia.  In Narnia, however, things have changed.  After a period of time, in which they eat apples and cavort around, the Pevensies figure out that it has been many years since they left.  Cue Trumpkin!  This red dwarf waltzes into the storyline, and proceeds to tell the children a very, very long story.  Now, sometimes storytelling is a good writing device, but it definitely isn’t here.  It only serves to slow down the story even further, if that’s possible.  The story is about a prince named Caspian who discovers that his uncle is plotting to kill him, subsequently runs away and meets up with some Narnians who decide to help him, how they all do a very bad job of making war on the uncle, and finally decide to blow the magical horn of Queen Susan to summon some help.  Quite frankly, this takes forever.  The movie remedies this by starting off with Caspian, and then switching between him and the Pevensies.   Not only does this eliminate the storytelling factor completely, but it starts the movie off with the bang of Caspian fleeing his pursuers.

Another big problem with the book is the characters.  As usual, C.S. Lewis doesn’t offer any insight into the minds of his characters.  There is no inner conflict with any of them, the only plot being the major one.  None of the Pevensies seem to have any trouble hopping from world to world, Peter has no problem dealing with the fact that Caspian gets to be king and not him, and Caspian adjusts to leading the war without any glitch whatsoever.  In the movie, inner turmoil abounds: Caspian is struggling with a desire for revenge, Edmund is tired of Peter refusing his help, Susan is in love with Caspian, Lucy’s fed up with everyone’s faithlessness, and Peter has zillions of issues.  He’s tired of being treated like a kid when he used to be a king, he’s afraid he won’t be able to defeat Caspian’s uncle Miraz without Aslan’s help, and he’s forever bickering with Caspian himself.  All these subplots made the movie much more interesting, and the actors portray them admirably.  In addition, it was noted in the book that Caspian was supposed to be the same age as Peter, about seventeen.  But every word that came out of his mouth made him out to be around nine!  The movie fixed this discrepancy as well.

The last problem with the book was the lack of dialogue.  The movie not only fixed this, but actually kept much of what little was in the book, such as Edmond’s line on which it ends: “I’ve left my new torch in Narnia!”  The dialogue in the movie is snappy and very, very funny.  Both the aforementioned Trumpkin and the belligerent mouse Reepicheek are huge sources of laughs.

In conclusion, while the book of Prince Caspian isn’t really worth reading, this movie is a must-see!  It’s funny, it’s quick paced, it’s action-packed, and it’s overall an enjoyable experience – all two and a half hours of it!

You can download this review here.  If you enjoyed this review, you can also read another (very detailed, but cool) review by Daniel Shafer.

And, go see Prince Caspian.

UPDATE (5/25/08):  Today is the last day to submit your review for Prince Caspian!  I’ll be judging the reviews (I’ve received multiple ones) tomorrow, so get yours in today if you can.  It’s not hard–just write down your thoughts on the film–and 400 words isn’t much, really, once you get started.  Have fun with it.
UPDATE (5/20/08): I haven’t received any reviews yet, so I’m extending the deadline to Sunday, May 25. This will allow for another weekend to watch the movie and review it. Here’s the original entry/rules, updated with the new end date.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian OPENS TODAY, Friday, May 16!!! After months (possibly years) of anticipation, it’s finally here…and I’d like to hear your thoughts on it. For this contest, I’d like you to write a review of Prince Caspian that reflects your decisive opinion on the film (and possibly relates that opinion to your opinion of the book). Official rules:

- Write an in-depth review (400 words or more) of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.
- Send your review (to nathan@mancini.name) as an attachment, preferably a Word document (other text documents are ok, though). Don’t put your name on the document/review.
- I will read the reviews and decide which one is the best written, the most interesting, and the most thoughtful (There is only one prize, so hopefully there will be a clear winner). I will then go back and see who sent that particular review and send them the prize.
- The winner will receive (as the prize) a song called The Door in the Air, a beautiful 8-minute compilation of musical themes from Prince Caspian (by composer Harry Gregson-Williams). Also, the winner’s review will be posted on the front page of Tommy and Timmy.
- Contest ends Sunday, May 25. The winner will be announced soon after.

Additional Notes:

- Please note that your review doesn’t have to be positive. You may write about how you didn’t like the film, as long as you back your decision up with evidence from the film and/or the book.
- I would prefer that those who submit reviews have read the book and therefore have a knowledge of the film’s source material, but this is not a prerequisite provided you feel you still have a grasp on the story of Prince Caspian.
- If you win, your review will be posted as it is, so do correct grammar and spelling as much as possible.
- Enjoy writing your thoughts. Movies are generally meant for entertainment, and Prince Caspian is no exception. Even if you thought is was only “ok,” analyzing it can still be fun. I’ve certainly enjoyed discussing my thoughts on Prince Caspian so far even I know the movie won’t be perfect (but it will be good, I’m sure)!

Now, if you haven’t yet, go see the movie.

Amid a rush of TV spots and featurettes for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian comes the coolest trailer of them all so far - the theatrical trailer. It’s actually shorter than the teaser, but it is completely packed with visual effects shots that will blow you away! Watch it.

Trailer download page at IGN (click Trailer 3)
Youtube

See you at the theater!

After the 2007 release of the Insomnia Festival entry Pigeon Pizza comes Billiard Baseball, an entry for a similar contest, one for Christian filmmakers. This time, however, we took a leap of faith (or perhaps a leap of inexperience) and did a live-action film. Some of the required elements of the film included Cheerios, a baseball, mismatched socks, a 720 degree camera pan, and two pieces of dialogue (”Stop these shenanigans” and “That better not be what I think it is”).

So here it is, a 3-minute film transcending the ordinary boundaries of two sports (billiards and baseball). The movie stars Peter Holmsten, Michael Traughber, and myself, with assistance from Mikey McOrmond and camera work (and a cameo appearance) by Daniel Shafer.

Youtube link

UPDATE 1:  Contest results have been posted on the Christian Filmmakers’ website. We placed 41st out of 70 entries. I’m a bit disappointed (since the winning entries weren’t too much better than ours), but we had tons of fun making the film, and that’s of course what matters.

UPDATE 2:  Here is a link to our Billiard Baseball blooper reel.  Rated G for Goofiness.  I’d recommend right clicking on it and selecting Save Target As (or a similar option) to download the video.  Don’t watch it in your web browser, as it’ll take a while to load.

Yup, Jones got an iPod.

He mostly listens to Indy artists. [/joke]

[full size image link]