Video Game practice pays off!

 

If you don't spend enough time playing video games, you will lose out on some of life's best moments. Yes, I understand the irony in that statement.

I went to a Real Salt Lake soccer game last Thursday, and after the game the X96 radio station van was there with a bunch of people hanging around the back of the van playing Guitar Hero.

They announced a contest for video game players, so I signed up. I ended up winning and the station gave me this guitar autographed by My Chemical Romance.

So my team came away with a win, and I walked away with a very cool prize. That's a great night.

What does that have to do with filmmaking? Absolutely nothing, but it's cool, and this is my blog. So there.

You're so Butch

I took my family to the Utah Family Film Festival this weekend. Didn't even know it was going on until my wife heard Chunga talking about it on the radio.

We saw Ryan Little's new film Outlaw Trail, which was absolutely charming. It's the story of Roy Parker, a teenage boy in the 1950's that lives with the family embarassment that his uncle Leroy Parker was better known to the world as the outlaw Butch Cassidy. While the world believes Butch and Sundance were killed in Bolivia, Roy is convinced his uncle survived, came home, and tried to turn his life around to become an honest guy. When Roy catches a couple of thugs stealing artifacts from an archaeological dig, he is led on the adventure of his life to try and recover Butch's treasure and clear the family name.

The story has a definite Indiana Jones feel to it, with some great moments, and a lot of use of dynamite. The script is not as strong as Ryan Little's last picture Saints and Soldiers, but it was plenty of fun.

There were some familiar faces for those of us that see films shot in Utah, like Rick Macy and Steve Anderson, plus some great performances from the rest of the cast, especially Dan Byrd, who was fantastic as Roy's nervous friend Jess.