Premise: Mysterious creatures called ‘Mimics’ have laid siege to Earth. The storyline puts a Groundhog Day plot device into a futuristic alien invasion storyline as a young inexperienced private gets killed in action only to be reborn the day before to suffer the same fate. Eventually, he becomes a better warrior and that other circumstances are changing, which might be the key to altering the outcome.
Genre: Science Fiction
Writer: Dante Harper
Details: 4/1/10 – first draft – 118 pages
About: Warner Bros paid . . .
jkap Reviews: I.C.U.Logline: A Doctor finds herself taken hostage in a hospital and forced to follow orders of a murderous group out for revenge.
Christmas in Chicago.
JACK PEARCE walks his German shepherd. As he’s crossing the street, a BMW comes around the corner and hits him. The man goes sprawling. Just as the onlookers rush to help, the BMW reverses and runs him over, breaking his leg.
MT. SINAI MEDICAL CENTER – overcrowded and understaffed. We meet DR. CLAIRE HASKINS – 30.
ELLIE FISHER – . . .
jkap Reviews: Oil CowboysLogline: Four Americans steal a cargo ship holding 180 tons of oil which they hope to sell for $100 million bucks.
We open in Al-Basrah, Iraq. Ten MASKED GUNMEN lead by KHALED hijack two oil tankers. COLE DAUGHTRY – Army Staff Sergeant and his crew come to the rescue working with the Iraqi police.
Cole thwarts the hijacking and arrests Khaled. Fearing incarceration, Khaled tries to make a deal with Cole. Khaled knows where there’s 180 tons of oil worth more than . . .
Matthew Klekner Reviews: Safe HousePremise: The action-espionage-thriller tells the story of a YOUNG CIA agent who becomes the only survivor after a CIA safe house attack, and must help a dangerous prisoner avoid being killed as they escape to a second safe house, “outmaneuvering various forces that want them both dead.”
About: Universal purchased David Guggenheim’s spec SAFE HOUSE for $600k against $900k, winning out against two other movie studios in a bidding war. He’s the brother of two other Hollywood players and would seem . . .
Matthew Klekner Reviews: Win WinPremise: A rough-and-tumble runaway changes the lives of a suburban New Jersey family and turns around the luck of a high school wrestling team.
About: McCarthy is that rare working actor, director, and screenwriter. He was nominated for the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for his work on Pixar’s UP. McCarthy also directed the indies THE STATION AGENT and THE VISITOR, the latter of which got Richard Jenkins a Best Actor Oscar nomination. McCarthy also starred in the final season of HBO’s . . .
jkap Reviews: Minimum WageLOGLINE: A Corporate Exec, known for firing workers, is convicted of fraud and sentenced to spend a year working for minimum wage.
JIM SEAVER, 30′s. Corporate finance director of OMNICORP. He’s gotten the nickname “Seaver the Cleaver” because he slashes and burns companies to boost Omnicorp’s bottom line.
Everything’s going for Jim. He’s rich, has a gorgeous fiancee (PENNY) and obtains all the perks life has to offer.
In his office, we watch Jim on the phone, shutting down a factory in Mars, . . .
jkap Reviews: The Hand JobLogline: Coming of age tale of Brandy Clark, a 16-year old girl living in Boise, Idaho, determined to experience everything about sex before her 17th birthday.
For my money, this is the best script on this year’s Black List. A sex comedy from a female teenager’s point-of-view. And not a chaste, tame POV either. This is just as raunchy as its male counterparts and just as funny. The roles are reversed here as the female lead is the aggressor and the . . .
Robert Grant Reviews: Fashion BeastLogline: A young woman is plucked from obscurity to become the muse of the worlds greatest fashion designer.
The world is at war and staring down the barrel of a long nuclear winter with jobs, food and money all hard to come by. Fashion, with it’s obvious ostentation and sexual freedom, are frowned upon, even punished, and clothes are being torn from peoples bodies on the streets and burned for fear of radiation poisoning. With conscription about to . . .
jkap Reviews: The Thirteenth HourNick Quinn travels back in time in one-hour increments to stop his wife’s murder but finds his actions have disastrous consequences.
I don’t know about you but lately it seems every other script I read has a time-travel plot. SOURCE CODE, THE DAYS BEFORE, YEAR 12.
And why not? I mean don’t we all stare at our miserable pathetic lives and wish every single day for a chance to go back in time to undo all the godforsaken choices we’ve made……….or is . . .
jkap Reviews: Year 12Logline: Aliens have taken over Earth. This is year 12 of the occupation.
OPENING – we meet TYLER KIRKLAND, 35. Wakes up next to KRISTEN. They don’t know each other’s names. Just a casual one-night stand.
Tyler and Kristen look out the window of his apartment and we see New York City has been utterly destroyed a long time ago.
And that’s exactly how you grab your audience. WHAM! It’s startling. It’s sudden. It’s totally unexpected. Here, we’re thinking we might be in . . .
CM Houghton Reviews: Comic ConLogline: To save their beloved neighborhood comic shop, a justice league of comic geeks must plan and execute a daring heist at Comic-Con.
Background: The script’s writers met while both attended Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Despite making the Black List, a list of ‘hot’ screenplays (not necessarily a best-of list), this film doesn’t look to be in any imminent danger of being produced. Although this project doesn’t have any recent news on it, the script was hot . . .
jkap Reviews: The Vatican TapesFor two thousand years, the Catholic Church has investigated cases of alleged demonic possession, taping their findings. These tapes are housed in the Vatican. Now, we get to a glimpse at what they’ve found.
Fresh on the heels of “THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT,” “CLOVERFIELD” and “PARANORMAL ACTIVITY,” we get a look at “actual” tapes of demonic possession.
We open in Poland. FATHER ANTONIO, 50′s has traveled here to investigate a case. He brings with him FATHER MATT, African-American, 30′s. Father Matt videotapes . . .
jkap Reviews: The GunslingerLogline: A Texas Ranger hunts down the killer who murdered his brother.
OPENING – We’re in a crime scene. A Texas Ranger named DANIEL HENSLEY is found murdered/tortured in a house. He’s tied to a chair and is practically decapitated.
Onto the scene comes SAM LEE HENSLEY – Daniel’s brother. Sam is the baddest of the bad. Martin Riggs, the Terminator and Clint Eastwood all rolled into one. Let’s just say he doesn’t take the news gladly.
Sam finds out the house belongs . . .
jkap Reviews: LegionI decided to read “LEGION” based on the trailer because in my humble opinion, the trailer simply…..KICKED ASS! C’mon, it’s hardcore. The evil granny! The angel sent to save us! The unlucky humans trapped in the diner! I’m buying. Throw in the hellacious action as God’s army battles over an unborn child while the fate of mankind as we know it hangs in the balance and I’m thinking, “We’ve got a cult classic on our hands here!” I mean really . . .
Kevin Jackson Reviews: The Girl with the Red Riding HoodThe Girl with the Red Riding Hood by David Leslie Johnson (a 120 page revised first draft) is a horror and romance Gothic reimagining of the classic fairy tale in which a young woman is confronted by a werewolf. This time a teenage love triangle is at its center.
SYNOPISIS
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We are in rural France in the year 1324. ISABELLE’S, 17, boyfriend, PETER, 21, confronts her about being engaged to be married to HENRI SMITH, 18. She thinks he is joking but . . .
The Vatican Tapes (79 pages) by Christopher Borrelli is a horror about a documented account of an exorcism. A priest flies into a rural American town to do an exorcism. After a long a trial-some effort, the girl/exorcist wins, killing the priest.
SYNOPISIS COMMENTARY
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In lieu of the synopsis I have some commentary.
The logline that caught my attention and made me want to read this was:
“In a highly secured vault deep within the walls of Vatican City, the Catholic Church holds . . .
CM Houghton Reviews: A Walk Among the TombstonesShort Summary: Based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Lawrence Block, unlicensed private detective Matthew Scudder is hired by a drug dealer, Kenny Kristo, to find the people who kidnapped and brutally murdered his wife, Carrie. She was returned to him literally in pieces and Kenny wants his revenge, but when the feds start sniffing around the case Matt decides to quit. Then the teenage daughter of another drug dealer gets kidnapped by the same . . .
Thomas Lawler Reviews: UnderageLOGLINE: A 20-something ladies man has a drunken one-night stand with a girl who turns out to be an underage high school student and is blackmailed into being her boyfriend.
KEY BACKGROUND INFO: Screenwriting team Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber (500 Days of Summer (their first spec script!) and The Pink Panther 2) have already sold Underage to Ivan Reitman’s Montecito Pictures (I Love You, Man). Named by Variety as one of 2008’s “10 Screenwriters to Watch.” . . .
Kevin Jackson Reviews: Wedding BannedWedding Banned, 115 pages, is written by Jack Amiel & Michael Begler. It’s a comedy about a long since divorced couple kidnapping their daughter on her wedding day to keep her from making the mistake of her life. The divorced parents rekindle their relationship as they elude cops and the angry groom.
Kevin Jackson Reviews: PoltergeistI invite you to read my first screenplay review for MyPDFScripts of Poltergeist, a 102 page, first draft, by Juliet Snowden & Stiles White. It is a fantasy/horror about a young family haunted by spirits in their home. The spirits kidnap their youngest daughter and the parents take a visit to another dimension to save her.
SYNOPISIS
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Present Day Suburbia, USA, BRYNN, 15, CASE, 9, and MELANIE HAYES, mom, are all asleep in their perspective bedrooms. Moving boxes are around the rooms, . . .
LOGLINE – A family experiences ghostly attacks in their new home.
To me, the rule of thumb regarding remakes is: If you can’t improve upon the original, leave it alone. Unfortunately, the writers chose to disregard my rule. Not only does this script falls woefully short of the original, it doesn’t even come close to the terrible sequels that film spawned.
We’re in a brand new neighborhood. A designed community. The HAYES family lives here.
MELANIE HAYES – designer/matriarch
BRYNN – 15 – teenager . . .
Mike Breiburg Reviews: Hack/SlashAlmost two weeks ago, I read a brief review of the HACK/SLASH script over at Shock Till You Drop’s Twitterfeed:
@STYDNews:
Read the HACK/SLASH screenplay. True to the spirit of slasher films and the comic.
Which pretty much made it a must read for me. Slasher films? Comics? I had to check it out. The title alone was enough of a hook. A slasher film with the word slash in its title, it could be as post-modern as the title promises it . . .
Robert Grant Reviews: Akira Part OneLogline: In a post-apocalyptic city members of a bike gang get involved in a battle between the mysterious psychic forces that are connected to the initial destruction of the city, the military government, and rebel forces.
Akira is one of those anime that truly polarises people. On the one hand there are those that see it as a masterpiece of the genre and couldn’t countenance the idea of a remake, and on the other hand there are those, like me, . . .
jkap Reviews: Last StandEarlier this week, I went home excited to read a hot property that was about to blow up overnight, especially with everyone gushing over the premise. And once again, I fell victim to the Hollywood hype machine. Halfway through, I began to suspect that someone had given me the wrong script. There’s no way this spec could be generating that kind of heat.
And then came Monday’s announcement by The Hollywood Reporter trumpeting the fact that Lionsgate picked it up. . . .
jkap Reviews: FuckbuddiesLogline: A guy and a girl struggle to have an exclusively sexual relationship as they both come to realize they want much more.
Story’s about EMMA FRANKLIN and ADAM KURTZMAN. We open on them in bed as they discuss alternate terms for “fuck buddies.” We cut back to 1994 – summer camp in Northern Michigan. 12-yr old Adam spots 12-yr old Emma at a dance – there’s an immediate connection – they make out. Unfortunately, this romance is short-lived since camp . . .
jkap Reviews: KristyLogline: A female college sophomore finds herself trapped on a deserted campus as four mask-wearing strangers try to kill her.
OPENING – We’re on a small college campus. A security guard walks through the aftermath of bedlam: buildings broken into, a car is on fire, a light pole has fallen and…a dead body. We immediately CUT TO: 14 HOURS AGO
SET UP – JUSTINE WILLS (LEAD) 19-year old sophomore is in her dorm room with AARON, her 20-year old boyfriend. It’s Thanksgiving . . .
Vern Reviews: Hot Tub Time MachineThe T.A.R.D.I.S. The Omni. The Quantum Accelerator. A Flux-Capacitor enhanced DeLorean. A Phone Booth. The Time Tunnel. The Hot Tub. The Hot Tub? You read that right, Hot Tub.
Revolves around a group of frustrated friends who hit a hot tub at the ski resort where they partied as teens — and get transported back to 1987. Tired premise, but a unique idea for a time machine. And John Cusack is going to star.
Buddy Comedy Checklist:
The handsome leading man? Check
The unbelievably . . .
In short – it’s a mess. Sylvester Stallone’s follow up to the mean and lean actioner Rambo tries to be many things at once. A buddy movie, a political thriller about issues ripped straight from today’s headlines, and a throwback to the irreverent shoot ‘em ups of the 80′s. It doesn’t really work on any level.
The Expendables is about a group of mercenaries called, you guessed it, The Expendables, led by a gruff no-nonsense leader Barney Ross. After a . . .
Sheridan Reviews: Ghost Rider by David S. GoyerDays before the original version of pdfscreenplays imploded, I traversed to my mailbox to find a large envelope with no return address. Intrigued, I opened it, hoping its contents didn’t contain anthrax or some other form of congratulatory thank you in response to the site. Relieved I didn’t die or explode or hemorrhage upon tearing into its contents, I found that it simply held the 117 page April 11, 2001 first draft of Ghost Rider by David S. Goyer. . . .
PitchPatch Reviews: Kane & LynchKyle Ward. Strap on your kevlar. Because I’m gunning for you, motherfrakker.
Kane & Lynch was a fun, frantic, flawed game. I played it to completion (both endings). It was touted as the closest you’ll get to being in a Michael Mann movie, and on that level it delivered. That’s not something I give away easily. Heat’s bank robbery and botched getaway are stamped into my subconscious from many, many viewings with the surround cranked to eleven.
But Kane & Lynch (the . . .
Riosushi Reviews: RoundtableI think I’ve fallen profoundly in love with Brian K. Vaughan. I was never really big on his comic work, except for the brilliant Ex Machina, but this script is a real treat to read. He writes exactly how I tend to write, only better. I’m just happy to see that you CAN get away with all those lovely asides and still have a wonderful script. I’ve always thought that asides help to engage the reader with the story and . . .
