Movieline Online

220 Heyn Ave. Saginaw, MI 48602 989.607.2777 gdwalton@chartermi.net Greg Walton QUALIFICATIONS A team leader and creative production specialist, my professional experience crosses several mediums – cable, broadcast, radio and print – with a history of innovative ideas and outstanding results. Currently working in the commercial advertising industry with strong skills as a writer, videographer and non-linear editor. EDUCATION 1995-1998 MFA Film Production, University of Utah 1989-1993 BA Telecommunications, Michigan State University EMPLOYMENT 2000- Present Creative Services Manager, Charter Media Writer/Videographer/Editor supervising a staff of six other producers. Responsible for creative execution of local advertising campaigns. Utilizing digital video equipment and Avid editing software along with various post-production tools (AfterEffects, Boris Red, Photoshop). 1999-2000 Copywriter, Serino Coyne Advertising Designed creative print, radio and television campaigns for 90% of the t...

Dear Dr. Sir or Madam, It is with enthusiastic interest that I submit the following materials in consideration for the VISUAL MEDIA SPECIALIST position. Without belaboring the facts spelled out in the attached resume, I’d like to highlight some of my professional qualifications. Coming into the video profession just as the digital revolution hit, I’ve been fortunate enough to work with cutting edge non-linear editing hardware and software (Avid, Smoke, Final Cut Pro, ProTools) throughout my career. As a filmmaker and advertising producer, I’ve pushed the limits of the latest technology and continue to expand my knowledge of the trade. My career has taken me to the heart of Manhattan (both as a freelance editor and copywriter for one of the largest advertising firms in New York) to an active video production management position with Charter Media, the advertising division of the nation’s third largest cable operator. I currently head the area’s premiere production facility with a bevy o...

THE FLICK: If you didn’t grow up with The Warriors the whole thing might seem more than a little ridiculous. Never mind the hardcore 70’s vernacular (“Can you dig it?”) and screaming synthesizer score. What the hell kind of street gang paints their face like KISS and dresses up in leftover NY Yankees uniforms? Enjoying The Warriors means buying into director Walter Hill’s comic book mythological fantasy. But with no pre-film set-up (where are we...the past, the future or some alternate reality) it’s easy to see why audiences expecting a traditional action flick where left scratching their heads. Of course, the film has been appreciated by just as many fans and critics because those questions were left unanswered. But that didn’t stop Hill from jumping at the opportunity to correct (some might prefer “tamper with”) the original version, which was rushed into production to beat a number of other gang related movies headed for the screen. The Ultimate Director’s Cut adds very little (if a...

THE FLICK: Watching an actor as iconic as John Wayne finish out his career can be a painful thing. We’re not talking about some bit player from Omaha. This is John Wayne; a man who played essentially the same character in nearly 200 films over 5 decades and cemented himself into the national identity. So when that identity changed during the Vietnam era – from unquestioning patriotism to cynical mistrust – Wayne became a symbol of right-wing politics gone wrong. And very few members of the free love generation were able – or willing - to separate the actor from the man. Hence The Cowboys, probably Wayne’s best performance in the modern era (he would only make six more films) has slipped into a pile of half-forgotten Westerns the actor crammed into his fading career. His role as Wil Andersen doesn’t differ significantly from any of the other rough, tough cattlemen Duke has played over the years, but his approach to the material is shaded in nostalgia. Like Wayne himself, Wil Andersen is...

THE FLICK: Without getting too philosophical about it, today’s kids seem to have an ever narrowing window of “innocence;” a time when imagination is more important than cable TV, when friendship means something more than cliques and popularity, where all the trials and tragedies of life seem so far away you can almost believe they’ll never happen at all. Bridge to Terabithia deals with all these subjects in a very sensitive and uncynical way, telling the story of two misfit pre-teens who invent their own imaginary kingdom and spark a powerful friendship. Based on the book by Katherine Paterson, Terabithia has been marketed as an effects-laden spectacular along the lines of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. But the truth is, other than about 10-minutes of trolls, monster squirrels and warrior bugs, the story is an old school “after-school special.” Hence my conflicted feelings about a movie that has honorable of intentions but will likely dash the expectations of ADD kids looking fo...

THE FLICK: “You got your monster-movie in my human-rights film! “No, you got your human-rights film in my monster-movie!” I’m not sure if it’s worth arguing about, but Primeval definitely has itself an identity crisis. We don’t get many big budget creature features any more (the Sci-Fi Channel seems to scoop them up, cut their budgets down to a percentage, and cast Dean Cain in the lead), so there must have been some pressure to make the film about more than just a giant crocodile on the loose eating up Africans and a traveling trio of journalists. Primeval tries to turn it’s croc into a metaphor – something about “making our own monsters” – but loses momentum by shifting the focus away from the chomping and gulping to score points for humanity. Inspired by the true story of Gustave, a legendary predator that stalked African waterways and was responsible for untold deaths, Primeval sends its three fictional journalists (Dominic Purcell of Prison Break, Orlando Jones from the 7UP ads, a...

THE FLICK: The name Emmanuelle has become synonymous with “sex.” And just like Kleenex or Frisbee, there’s a lot of value in defending that brand recognition. So a movie written and directed by the “real” Emmanuelle was an understandable hot property on the heels of the Sylvia Kristel adaptation in 1974. Of course what the public didn’t know was the “real” Emmanuelle didn’t exist. Emmanuelle Arsan was a Thai actress, featured briefly in Steve McQueen’s The Sand Pepples. Her husband, Louis Jacques, was the actual author behind the novel, writing under his wife’s name to protect his politically sensitive career. However, when the opportunity arose to write and direct Laure, his own erotic odyssey co-starring his wife, Jacques and Hollywood jumped at the chance. It’s easy to claim the goal the erotica film genre is to string together one titillating sequence after another with as little filler between nude scenes as possible. That’s certainly what producer Ovidio G Assonistis had in mind....

THE FLICK: Watching an actor as iconic as John Wayne finish out his career can be a painful thing. We’re not talking about some bit player from Omaha. This is John Wayne; a man who played essentially the same character in nearly 200 films over 5 decades and cemented himself into the national identity. When that identity changed during the Vietnam era – from unquestioning patriotism to cynical mistrust – Wayne became a figure of right-wing politics gone wrong. And very few members of the new generation were able – or willing - to separate the actor from the man. Hence The Cowboys, probably Wayne’s best performance in the modern era (he would only make six more films) has slipped into a pile of half-forgotten Westerns the actor crammed into his fading career.

THE FLICK: Plenty of films have been crowned the “Greatest Western of All-Time!” At any given point in history you’ll find The Searchers, Stagecoach, or High Noon at the top of the list. Meanwhile, Howard Hawk’s Rio Bravo, which also has it’s avid supporters (director John Carpenter, whose films have all been a variation on Hawksian themes, even contributes a commentary on this DVD), always seems to linger in that second tier of classic cowboy adventures. Perhaps because Hawks’ own Red River (1948), which gave star John Wayne his most ambitious role to date, ranks so highly that any other Western suffers by comparison. Whatever your preference, Rio Bravo still is a landmark film for a number of reason. As with Red River, it provided a career resurgence for Wayne, marking his transition from rough ‘n tumble action-hero to a middle-age movie star whose stare spoke a thousand words. The script established a template for innumerable action pics to come, trapping its heroes in an isolated s...

THE FLICK: As Hollywood digs further in the pantheon of comic-book heroes mining for cinematic success, Hellboy seem the most unlikely of choices. Not for lack of creativity, mind you. The eccentrically inventive story combines Nazis, demons, secret government agencies and doomed love triangles to great effect. But it’s precisely this hodge-podge of ingredients that should have made any adaptation of Mike Mignola’s witty sardonic hero nigh impossible. Should have. But I don’t think anyone was counting on director Guillermo Del Toro’s masterful balancing act of humor, horror, action and actual character development...especially when your character is a 9-foot tall red-skinned devil-child with sawed off horns and a pointed tail. When all is said and done, Hellboy makes for an invigorating experience – unpredictable, unusual and all the more exceptional because none of this cult comic book BS should work on the big screen...but it does. Kicking off during WWII with a raid on demon-conjuri...

During their hey-day in the 60’s, spaghetti westerns got no respect. And that might still be the case today if it weren’t for one director: Sergio Leone. The most obvious reason for the success of his “Man With No Name” trilogy is the presence of Clint Eastwood. But it was Leone’s work behind the camera that made Eastwood a star...not the other way around. The stylized violence and copious close-ups of squinting eyes established the formula quite well in Fistful of Dollars, but it’s also Leone’s weakest entry. For A Few Dollars More is a much more enjoyable film, adding Lee Van Cleef as a worthy adversary for Eastwood’s wandering anti-hero. And with The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Leone stretched the genre to fit more grandiose ideas than anyone ever thought possible. Ego may have been the motivating factor (Leone always saw himself as a David Lean-type director whose skills went unrecognized), but the result is irrefutably one of the best westerns ever made. The final film in the set,...