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Reviews
Match.con (2016)
Surprisinglyfuny film
When the film's actress Teri Marlowe in the lead role of hottie Tammy, worries about ever finding her perfect mate, she takes the viewer through the pratfalls and misadventures of computer profile dating. The pattern of lies begins with her first "date", Michael Q. Schmidt as the chubby "Steve", a character who is caught out in the lie he perpetrated of being thin in order to get dates. This is followed by David Schroeder as the quite old "Mr. Young" who lies about his age and financial status in order to date a hottie. The course and tone are now set and the viewer watches the repeated poor dates set up for the hopeful Tammy by the aptly named "Match.CON" dating service.
It is not proper that the twists and turns be further described, but suffice it to say that viewers will find more than a few chuckles and guffaws in what transpires.
BB Hollywood Reports gives it a 10.
40 Ate (2012)
Zombies rule!
I've seen amazing character actor 'Michael Q. Schmidt' (qv) getting into more and more off-the-wall and strangely delightful projects... but I was quite pleased to see him in the latest project from San Diego's Quixana Studios in the lead role of a Zombie Film Director fighting the odds and undead-nature to create film about and with fellow zombies FOR the 48-Hour Film Project. Hence the title's cute nods to the festival itself, the number of fully made-up zombies acting in the film-within-a-film, and the disgusting flesh-eating habits of the zombies themselves.
In understanding the requisites for entering the 48-Hour Festival, and in a bit of judicious questioning of a few key film personnel when I attended the festival screenings of June 27th, it seems that staffers from Quixana received their character, prop, line of dialog and genre assignment at 7:00 PM on June 1, 2012, retreated to their studio facilities, and spent the next 7 or 8 hours creating a script based upon those requisites. With no-doubt little sleep, they then called upon their collective of acting talents and began shooting the film before the sun had risen on June 2. This required their skilled team of make- up artists and costumers to create and outfit over 40 uniquely different zombies before the cameras first rolled. Lead by chief director 'Victor Ciccarelli' (qv) and his team of directors, these "zombies" (as well as a few humans-as-food and humans-as-pets) shot their film in less than 17 hours after having been first given their assignment. When a local San Diego news agency called Ciccarelli at 11:30 AM on June 2, and asked permission to tape some of his production processes as part of an overall report on the many films being created that weekend for the festival. They were shocked and surprised when Ciccarelli told them "gee, we'd love to have you come by, but we just wrapped our last scene."
Again, amazing. I wish to applaud both the speedy creation of a world where zombies are the dominate species and humans have been relegated to the roles of being food or pets, and how that world was made to intersect with our own through a mockumentary about this group of zombies struggling to make a film to screen in our present day. An in- depth article elsewhere on Quixana's efficiency as a production company is certainly worth consideration.
I predict that now removed from the time restraint of having to present a very short film in a very short time-frame, Quixana may take additional shot-footage and bring a slightly longer and more fleshed-out director's cut to future horror fests. Looking forward to it.
40 Ate, indeed. Well done. - Barney Brewer
America (2011)
Motivation is a funny thing
Watching Michael Q. Schmidt doing his "stretchies" and then laboring along a jogging path underscores our nation's concern with obesity, diet, and exercise. We see his struggles and at some level ourselves feel that tug of gravity... and while looking on, we may even think to ourselves that maybe its time for a little time at the gym. Then the camera pulls back and shows the beautiful Natalie Fabry as motivation for Michael's overdue exercise. If each of us, man or woman, could find such similar delightful motivation for ourselves, this would be a far healthier world.
My hat is off to jogger Michael Q. Schmidt for letting it shake like jelly and to the women upon which his attention is centered... and I applaud director Mark Kindred for his delightfully illuminating short film.
Larger Than Life: A Cinematic Portrait of Michael Q. Schmidt (2005)
How anyone can share so openly for art is amazing.
This proves to be both a simple yet intricate message... from the heart and soul of the art-model himself as he shares what his being able to contribute to art does for his spirit. It's a terrific film with a proud insight into self acceptance and creativity.
We start by meeting Michael... a regular guy simply getting ready for his day... and listen to his informative voice-over as he gives the background of the events in his life that led to our sharing in it on that occasion. We see his home and get a sense of just how normal this fellow is. Then we are brought into an art studio and watch the artists and art students file in and set themselves up in preparation.
Michael enters, takes the model stand, and shares dozens of intricate poses in a montage of creativity... with artists drawing in pencil and charcoal or painting in oil or acrylic, while Michael's voice-over shares how his life is itself enriched by his being able to enrich the lives of others.
Well done! Writer/director Sho Thyme and cinematographer Andrew Russo did a masterful job in its creation. If this film has any flaw at all, it's that it is too short. I want to learn more about this fellow. - BB
Fever Night aka Band of Satanic Outsiders (2009)
What lurks in the woods is echoed in our souls
The writer/director team of Jordan Harris and Andrew Schrader have created a surprising well made film for one with such a small budget, rivaling or excelling over projects that spent far more money... which only goes to show that talent is talent, no matter the bankroll.
The three wannabee Satanists... Elliot, Warren, and Terry (as portrayed by young actors Peter Tullio, Philip Marlatt, and Melanie Wilson)... give a believably real performance when they embark on a road trip that leads to hell itself. The locations, lighting, and soundtrack, all add to a growing sense of disorientation and suspense reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project (1999), but then steps further into darkness with the addition of psychedelic effects that become a horror film on acid. Terry becomes injured and the two men separate to seek help... each encountering manifestations of evil. Warren's encounter is particularly disturbing in the vein of Deliverance (1972) when he stumbles upon a campsite where he finds nubile seductress Jenny (delightfuly portrayed by Vanity Meers). Any young man's fantasy seems about to be realized until the dream is dashed when Daddy Ned (brought to disturbing life by Michael Q. Schmidt) returns to the campsite to interrupt the two in a manner that changes fantasy to aberrant nightmare. Elliot's own encounter begins with Terry's unconscious body appearing and disappearing in a mysterious manner that cries out that something wicked has indeed been unleashed in the woods, and culminates in the film's finale when he meets the dark Master personally.
BB Hollywood Reports gives this one a 10 out of 10. But don't watch it alone.
M.I.A: Born Free (2010)
Bravery comes in many guises
When we see the hoard of SWAT members descending on a run-down hotel in Los Angeles, we can only suppose that some criminal or terrorist mastermind has been located. Or is it a search for smut? We respect the bravery of actors Michael Q. Schmidt and Carol Kraft as the naked and rather ardent lovers so rudely interrupted by the SWAT team... their amorous play brought to a halt as Michael is dragged by his hair from the lover's bed. We watch as the police smash into another room and begin beating a man simply because he dared to voice displeasure at their invasive affront. Then the police find their quarry... a thin and dour red-headed man hiding in a shower stall... and we can only think that he was either so dangerous that SWAT's extreme force was necessary... or perhaps they were simply a little bit too enthusiastic in their search. As they drag him away, we see the nude lovers trying to comfort each other.
When the prisoner is slammed into a jail transportation bus, we receive the reveal that it is filled only with red-headed young men, and we begin to sense that something is very wrong with the picture. They redheads sit sullenly or frightened as the bus rumbles out of town and finally arrives at a desert prison camp.
To tell any more would tell too much... but after watching the video for yourselves, the message becomes clear: Personal privacy and freedom is fragile... and if we do not wake up and take a stand against oppression elsewhere in the world, it will not be too long before oppression will be kicking in our own doors.
Will it catch us naked and vulnerable?