‘The Screen Test Game’ allows players to make movies
Has anyone ever glanced your way and said, “You ought to be in pictures”? If yes, now you can do more than dream about it.
“The Screen Test Game” ($29, 610-636-1451), developed by Exton, Pa., resident Gary Halpern, is designed to allow teams of players to quickly create scenes that can then be shot with a video camera. The game comes with numerous sets of cards, some blank and others preprinted. The plot cards and dialogue cards are printed to guide players, but other cards, such as those for locations and props, are blank, so participants can let their imaginations run wild.
The game also includes a clapboard, a director’s stop watch (used to be sure players don’t take longer than 15 minutes to rehearse), a wax pencil, awards cards (for naming the best scenes and actors) and detailed instructions.
“I learned that it was very important to keep the game simple, so everyone could understand how to play,” said Halpern, who designed it to be played by children and adults. “In a nutshell, the game is about breaking into teams, being given some elements and then making short scenes to be videotaped.”
According to Halpern, those tapes of friends and loved ones delivering dialogue, creating characters and acting out dramatic or comedic scenes become family heirlooms that people will enjoy watching years from now.
“The beauty is that the game becomes a legacy,” he said. “I started developing this in the 1990s, and now we have a family history of every game.”
Halpern, who wanted to be a filmmaker and named Woody Allen, Mel Brooks and Groucho Marx as his favorite screen talents, felt he needed expert movie advice during the development stage, and he approached Bill Wine, film critic for radio station KYW-AM.
“What I love as a movie person is that ‘The Screen Test Game’ provides a blueprint to create an entertaining game,” Wine said. “It takes artistic and educational elements and makes them something people can have fun with and build an evening around.
“It especially allows people to explore their ability to improvise.”
“The Screen Test Game” should provide movie fans with some Hollywood-style summer fun.
Director on ‘Anger’
In a cinematic world filled with neat and tidy films, writer-director Mike Binder (“Indian Summer”) takes a different approach with “The Upside of Anger” (New Line; $27.99, DVD), which arrived in stores earlier this week.
The 46-year-old filmmaker creates a romantically, psychologically and emotionally messy environment in which love can practically be a lethal weapon.
In the R-rated picture, Joan Allen (“Yes”) plays a middle-aged woman who has an alcohol-fueled meltdown after her husband leaves her and their four young-adult daughters and runs off with his secretary. Kevin Costner co-stars as a family friend who takes a romantic interest in the depressed wife, and Keri Russell (TV’s “Felicity’), Erika Christensen (“Traffic”), Alicia Witt (TV’s “Cybill”) and Evan Rachel Wood (“Thirteen”) play the daughters.
For Binder, looking to his past helped him to create the rage felt by Allen’s character.
“I had a lot of anger when my parents were divorced,” said Binder, who has been married for 16 years and has an 11-year-old daughter and a 10-year-old son. “I still have anger about life and the world.
“What’s interesting is that sometimes you’re angry about something without knowing the whole story. Then you find out all of the facts and know you were just all consumed by the anger.
“I hope the film makes people think about their relationship with anger.”
Binder will also be represented in video stores this summer by “The Mind of the Married Man: The Complete First Season” (HBO; $39.99, DVD; Aug. 30). The insightful cable series, which Binder stars in and created, looks at life from the viewpoints of three husbands, each with sexual and romantic hang-ups. The boxed set will also feature commentary by Binder and more than 20 minutes of deleted scenes.
Coming Soon!
The following titles either have been or soon will be released to video stores.
If your local outlet doesn’t stock them, the tape and disc offerings can be mail ordered by calling (800) 523-0823 or going to the Web site www.moviesunlimited.com or www.amazon.com, unless otherwise noted.
Movies
– “After Image” (Miramax; $29.99, DVD; Aug. 2) with singer-turned-actor John Mellencamp and Louise Fletcher (“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”) in an R-rated psychological thriller about a crime photographer who meets a woman with the ability to see murders before they happen.
– “Cypher” (Miramax; $29.99, DVD; Aug. 2) with Lucy Liu (“Kill Bill, Vol. 1”) and Jeremy Northam (“Emma”) in an R-rated thriller about an industrial spy whose methods cause him to undergo brainwashing tortures.
– “Downfall” (Sony; $29.99, DVD; Aug. 2) with Bruno Ganz in an R-rated German import that chronicles the last 12 hours of Hitler’s life.
– “Ghostbusters Two-Disc DVD Gift Set” (Sony; $19.99; Aug. 2) with Bill Murray (“Stripes”) and Dan Aykroyd (“The Blues Brothers”) in a special boxed-set with digitally remastered versions of the PG-rated “Ghostbusters” (1984) and “Ghostbusters 2” (1989). The extras include deleted scenes, two animated “Ghostbusters” episodes and three featurettes.
– “Guess Who” (Sony; $99.99, tape; $28.99, DVD and UMD; Aug. 2) with Bernie Mac (“Ocean’s Eleven”) and Ashton Kutcher (“A Lot Like Love”) in a PG-13 picture that puts a twist on “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” (1967).
– “Momentum” (Dimension; $29.99, DVD; Aug. 2) with Teri Hatcher (TV’s “Desperate Housewives”) and Louis Gossett Jr. (“An Officer and a Gentleman”) in an R-rated supernatural thriller about a professor whose telekinetic abilities cause him to be approached by the FBI for a dangerous assignment.
– “When Billie Beat Bobby” (Miramax; $29.99, DVD; Aug. 2) with Holly Hunter (“The Piano”) and Ron Silver (“Ali”) playing Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in an unrated TV movie on their 1973 “battle of the sexes” tennis match.
Television
– “Cleopatra 2525: The Complete Series” (Universal; $49.99, DVD; now available) with Gina Torres (“The Matrix Reloaded”) in a three-disc set with all 28 episodes of the action-comedy series about a cryogenically frozen exotic dancer awakened in the 26th century.
– “The Cosby Show: Season 1” (Urbanworks; $49.99, DVD; Aug. 2) with Bill Cosby, Phylicia Rashad, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Tempestt Bledsoe, Lisa Bonet and Sabrina Le Beauf. The four-disc set contains all 24 episodes from the debut season of the sitcom favorite about a doctor and attorney and their energetic children. The extras include a 12-page memorabilia booklet, a 90-minute NBC 2003 reunion special (“The Cosby Show: A Look Back”), bloopers, outtakes and select cast auditions.
– “Earth 2: The Complete Series” (Universal; $49.99, DVD; now available) with Antonio Sabato Jr. (TV’s “General Hospital”) and Rebecca Gayheart (“Urban Legend”) in a four-disc set with all 21 episodes of the series about explorers seeking a new civilization on an Earth-like planet.
– “Sliders: The Third Complete Season” (Universal; $59.99, DVD; now available) with Jerry O’Connell (“Jerry Maguire”) and John Rhys-Davies (“Raiders of the Lost Ark”) in a four-disc set with all 25 episodes from the third year of the adventure series about scientists who can travel to parallel universes.
– “The X-Files Mythology: Black Oil” (Fox; $39.99, DVD; Aug. 2) with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson in a four-disc set with 15 episodes revolving around the black liquid that appeared intermittently throughout the series.
Instructional
– Four titles – “Salsa! Dancing – Step By Step,” “Intermediate 1,” “Advanced 1” and “Latin Nightlife” (Dance Freak; $19.99 each, DVD; www.dancefreak.com; now available) – in the Latin dance series by Al and Edie Espinoza.
Children
– “Berenstain Bears: Bears Out and About” (Sony; $9.99, tape; $14.99, DVD; Aug. 2) with six animated adventures that encourage youngsters to be physically active.
– “The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss: The Gink, The Cat and Other Furry Friends” (Sony; $9.99, DVD; Aug. 2) with the puppets from the Jim Henson Company combining with computer animation to tell a tale about how differences make everyone special.