Brian Bentley

So I discovered last week that there was an interactive even going on where you could hold an actual Oscar statuette. It was running until 5:00 Saturday afternoon and I had decided to catch a 10:30 am standby flight and attend the interactive event with some friends from Second City. So I get up early, drive to the airport and check in, only to find out that I had misread the AA website and it was as 10:30 pm flight. I’m a genius.

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Review: “Reno 911!: Miami”
Run time: 1:24

Dammit. I really wanted to like this movie. I really did.

I’m a big fan of the show and I had high hopes for this, and that may have set the bar too high to start.

The movie feels like one long episode with a loose storyline based on bioterrorism, the only difference is that the swear words aren’t bleeped out like on Comedy Central and the gratuitous nude beach scenes, which I didn’t have that much of a problem with. There are also a handful of funny cameos including The Rock and Paul Reubens.

I’m giving this an extra half point for Patton Oswalt’s use of the word “douchnozzle”.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5

Those of you that know me know that I tend to “Forrest Gump” my way into certain situations. For those of you that don’t know me so well, I tend to find myself in the right place at the right time more often than not and it’s has lead to some cool stuff. This week was no different. I’m a member of a screenwriting mailing list written by Chris Soth, who wrote the Howie Long film “Firestorm”. His next project “Outrage” is currently being cast and Friday afternoon he sent out an email to the list letting anyone interested that they could audition if they were actors and felt so inclined. So I sent an email to Chris and he responded quickly and before you know it I’m on the phone with the casting director setting up an audition time for Saturday afternoon. This meant flying stand-by again, but not at 7:30 in the morning. That was a good thing since I had spent the majority f Friday with my mother who was having a cyst removed from her Thyroid (she’s ok and the cyst was smaller than expected).

My driver was heading out Saturday morning to Austin to pick her mother up for a wedding in San Antonio, but she was going to be driving my car. So I drove my driver to the airport (and she complains about mentions) for an 12:00 noon flight. I got there just under the wire and was able to go stand-by, but I had to burn 3 upgrades and go 1st class. Ok, I didn’t “have to”, but I did. Don’t judge me.

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For week 15’s entry (10 days from now), I’m going to post some of the questions I get asked a lot about traveling to LA and doing the Second City thing along with my answers. I’m also going to open up the comments section for people to post questions or you can email me or use the contact form.

Review: “Music and Lyrics”
Run time: 1:36

Hugh Grant has built a career as the sullen yet charming Englishman with a gift for wooing the ladies. Now you can add singing to his repertoire. Grant is Alex Fletcher, the lesser known keyboardist from a Wham!-esque 80’s pop band called, ironically, POP. Now washed up and touring state fairs as a one man show, he’s hired to write a song for Cora Corman the current hot female starlett. The trick is Flecther only has one week to come up with the tune, is given the title “Way Back Into Love” (it’s the title Corman’s favorite book), and isn’t the only artist competing for the songwriter’s spot. Did I mention Fletcher’s never written lyrics before? Oh, how will he ever make it…? Enter offbeat plant waterer Sophie Fisher (Drew Barrymore) who happens to utter out a few lines while Fletcher is trying to hammer something out to go with his beautiful melody, and the rest, they say, is a romantic comedy.

Grant and Barrymore have great chemistry on-screen. Her cheery persona balances out his wry, sarcasm. Brad Garrett has some good lines as Fletcher’s agent, but Kristen Johnson (formerly of 3rd Rock from the Sun) gets big laughs with as Sophie’s POP obsessed sister. Of course, we did see this on Valentine’s Day at Studio Movie Grill so we were obviously there to see this type of movie.

Rating: 3.25 out of 5

While getting ready to leave yesterday, my driver asked if I wanted her to drive me to the airport and pick me up tonight, but I said no because she has to get up early tomorrow and go to Corpus Christi for work. “But how will I ever get any mentions if I don’t drive you?”. Ha. Ha. I told her that if she picks me up Sunday that she’ll be too tired Monday for her trip. Lost that one. My driver got sick earlier this week and I told her she better not get me sick or I’d be po’d. Lost that one, too.

Week 13 was uneventful, but class was a great learning experience. Level 2 is all about character development and today was more of the same. Exercises to find a character’s facial expressions, posture, movements, voice and demeanor. Scenes to determine these variables quickly and then get the scene on it’s feet (exposition, finding the game of the scene, heightening the game) and doing it quickly. I really loved class today, but I would have loved it more if I didn’t feel like like crud. My next show is March 4 at 4:00.

Celebrity sightings at LAX today: Sigourney Weaver with a group of teenagers and Michael Irvin and family returning from the Pro Bowl in Hawaii.

Thanks to my driver for picking me up tonight and for bringing me a bottle of water and homemade peanut butter snacks even though she has to be up tomorrow at 5:30 am.

Miles Traveled: 2,470
Total Miles: 32,110

Have you ever said to yourself, “Man I wish I had more hours in a day”? Have you ever looked at your watch and realized you’ve been awake for over 24 hours and realized how completely asinine that notion is? That was Saturday for me, but with the caveat that I was working on a short film so it was so worth it. I was going to write this post in the vein of “24″, but I’ve propped myself up here at the desk to write this tonight and I’m not sure it would be funny. So here’s how it all went down:

Thursday night I got a frantic call from my friend Todd Deeken who needed to know if I was coming in this weekend and, if so, would I be available for a short film he’s shooting for the Steven Spielberg produced reality show “On The Lot”…and oh, by the way I couldn’t be in a union. I called him back and after a 20 minute strategy session, we had it all figured out: I was going to resign from AFTRA since it wasn’t doing anything for me, I would catch a 7:30 am flight Saturday morning, I would miss my poker game with Kevin Smith Saturday night, and I really wanted to be in this short.

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Review: “Smokin’ Aces”
Run time: 1:49

Buddy “Aces” Israel is a Vegas entertainer turned small-time mobster who has turned government informant. A $1 million hit has been put out on his head before he can testify and go into witness protection, but the contractors want his heart, too. The hit goes out and every freelance killer/psychopath wants in on the deal, and once word hits the street he’s holed up in the Presidential Suite of the Nomad Hotel in Reno, the race is on and the first one to smoke “Aces” gets the loot. It’s sort of like “Cannonball Run”, but for contract killers. Who gets the cash? Do the Feds get there in time to pull him out? Why did Affleck decide to grow that ’stache?

We went and I was almost positive Melinda was going to hate this movie, but about 2/3 of the way thorugh she leaned over and gave me the thumbs up. The cast is large and pretty impressive (in the order of remembrence, not importance): Jeremy Piven, Ray Liotta, Ryan Reynolds, Andy Garcia, Ben Affleck, Peter Berg, Alicia Keys, Common, and a funny cameo by Matthew Fox.

It’s not a date movie, but it is a fun time even if the ending seemed convoluted. No poker jokes here, just a solid 3.

Rating: 3 out of 5