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REVIEWS OF LIVE ALLIGATOR WRESTLING - One Act Play Written by Doug Cooney and directed by Roz Potenza, the play is the semi-autobiographical account of Owen and Pearl Godwin, the husband and wife team that founded the popular Gatorland tourist attraction in Florida. It is one of three one-acts as part of The Floridians at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Safety Harbor, FL. Local Talent Founder, Pete Bauer, plays the lead Owen in the play St. Petersburg Times - Review - Reviewed by Marty Clear, February 2005. Published on the St. Pete Times Website The Weekly Planet - Review - Reviewed by Mark E. Leib, February 2005. Published on the The Weekly Planet Website REVIEWS OF THE BOX- Feature Film Written and Directed by Pete Bauer. Fate plays a hand as a child accidentally brings home a box of genetically engineered contagion into her stormy home life. Microcinema Scene - Review - Reviewed by Gary M Lumpp, Mar. 2004. Published on the Microcinema Scene Website REwind Video - Review - Reviewed by Wally Fong, Feb. 2004. Published on the REwind Video Website REVIEWS OF JUSTICE - Short Film Written and Directed by Pete Bauer. Stolen secrets, $250,000 in cash, a resume and a pipe-bomb fill four briefcases of four people. In a single day, their lives intertwine and their fates are decided by Justice. Saints & Sinners 2 Film Fest - Review - Reviewed by Nolan B. Canova, Dec. 2002. Published on the Nolan's Pop Culture Review Website Justice Is Served - Reviewed by C.C. Chapman, Feb. 2001. Published on the REwind Video Website Justice For All - Reviewed by Jon Ashby, May 2001. Published on the REwind Video Website
© Copyright 2005 St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved LIVE ALLIGATOR WRESTLING - The Weekly Planet Review It's the thought that counts The three plays of The Floridians 2005 lack fresh ideas. BY MARK E. LEIB I'll admit it: I look for the occasional idea in a work of drama. By "idea" I don't necessarily mean something earth-shattering. I'm satisfied with a slightly new perspective, a mildly original sentiment, an angle on things that, however limited, is still provocative. Some plays, I've discovered, supply ideas in abundance: Sam Shepard's Buried Child has much to say about original sin in America; Caryl Churchill's Cloud 9 challenges conventional concepts of gender and race; and David Mamet in Speed-the-Plow has an opinion to share about the difficulties of virtue in a world ruled by money. Other plays, like the short one-acts of David Ives, are less ambitious but still pleasing. They offer modest ideas about first dates (Sure Thing) or serial partner-changing (Seven Menus) or how to succeed on those days when everything goes wrong (The Philadelphia). In these cases, as in plays of greater breadth, I leave the theater knowing something I didn't when I walked in. And though I don't rank an Ives with a Shepard or Churchill, in every case I feel gratitude: Thanks to the playwright, I've actually seen something new. Sitting quietly in my seat, I've moved closer to the truth. I offer these thoughts as an explanation of why I'm mostly unimpressed by The Floridians 2005, the latest offering of one-acts by the LiveArts Peninsula Foundation at the Murray Theatre of Ruth Eckerd Hall. LiveArts' mission is to turn Florida life into live drama, and these three plays, set in Key West, Orlando's Gatorland and a local forest, certainly do that. But in the best of them - Doug Cooney's comically lyrical Live Alligator Wrestling - the playwright doesn't seem to have any original ideas about his subject; and the play with the most ideas, David F. Smith's Wallace Stevens at Key West, is also the most unconvincing. Then there's Jeff Whipple's The Cutting Edge of Amenities, with its predictable characters, uninteresting dialogue, and, again, paucity of real thought. It's good that LiveArts exists, proving that you don't have to live in New York or London to be worthy of artistic portraiture. But whether set in Paris or Pahokee, plays should stimulate, should matter, should be worth our time and ticket money. The Floridians 2005 only really satisfies one out of three times. It's not a winning percentage. The best of the one-acts is, as I've said, Live Alligator Wrestling. In this beautifully written play, author Doug Cooney tells the story of Owen and "Miss Pearl" Godwin, the founders of central Florida's Gatorland. With a gentle touch and an ear for the ridiculous detail, Cooney shows us two lovers who start with a trench in their backyard and eventually create a cockamamie theme park dedicated to the proposition that "Florida is crawling with two things. Reptiles. And tourists." Cooney's dialogue is deliciously funny, and his respect for the love bonding Owen and Miss Pearl is palpable in every scene. The dialog is superb, and so is the acting of Susan Alexander as Miss Pearl and Pete Bauer as Owen. Alexander is one of the Bay area's brightest lights, and it's a pleasure to see her on stage again after a long absence. Her Miss Pearl is gentle but strong, a lovely soul who grudgingly comes to accept and encourage her husband's odd inspirations. As that husband, Bauer is seriously silly, seeing acres of gators where ordinary men just see a lawn to mow. He characteristically assumes that it should be no trouble at all finding an employee to wrestle this or that eight-footer. Roz Potenza's direction is luminous: she gives her actors free rein to charm us, and she can't be blamed if author Cooney, at key moments, has no special insights. Still, Live Alligator Wrestling brings the Godwins back to life; maybe that's enough to justify the excursion. Harder to justify are the other two plays. Jeff Whipple's The Cutting Edge of Amenities has a wonderful premise: condominium developer and realtor wander into a Florida forest in order to plan its demise when they're confronted by an enormous, angry, talking mosquito. The problem here is that the developer is a stereotype of a money man with no respect for nature, and the mosquito is a bore, repeatedly threatening the humans with all sorts of mayhem and refusing to die even when sprayed with Malathion. The only unpredictable character here is Sharon, the feminist realtor and would-be novelist who finds in the mosquito an ally against the lecherous Stan. But Whipple's dialogue is tiresome, and there's hardly a moment when these characters really surprise us. The script naturally affects the acting: Even a thespian as talented as Steven Clark Pachosa can't turn cartoonish Stan into a credible human, and Emilia Sargent as Sharon has to struggle for her three dimensions. As the insect, Carolyn Zaput is shrill and unconvincing - it's remarkable how quickly she ceases to be funny. If there's an original idea in this concoction, it's this: Even a 300-pound mosquito needs good lines. Without them - and without any new ideas to carry the action - Amenities remains a terrific premise poorly executed. Finally, Wallace Stevens at Key West by David F. Smith actually ventures some original thoughts - but they're not very persuasive. Smith shows us a Stevens who's being challenged by his Muse to finally write from the heart after years of writing from the head. He does; and the result is his celebrated The Idea of Order in Key West. But Smith treats this difficult poem as if it were truer, and more emotional, than the ones that preceded it, a claim which is by no means self-evident. Meanwhile, the acting is mixed: Pachosa is fine as middle-aged poet Stevens, but Genevieve Alleyne is a Muse with neither charisma nor complexity. Van Huff's direction is adequate if not inspired; the best this play has to offer is Pachosa reciting The Idea of Order from memory. The worst: a Muse who's confusingly bland. Oh well. Even with these failings, the LiveArts mission remains an important one. There's something splendid in its insistence that Florida life is worth dramatizing, that Gatorland is as worthy of a play as is Mount Rushmore or the Statue of Liberty. Which is another way of saying, I'm a LiveArts fan regardless of any one production's failings. And I have no doubt there will be better - and more thoughtful - Floridians in years to come. © Copyright 2005 The Weekly Planet. All rights reserved THE BOX - Microcinema Scene Review Review: "The Box" By Gary M. Lumpp Mar 5, 2004, 08:17 Running Time: Approximately two hours Writer/Director: Pete Bauer Featuring Samantha Grahn, John Hill, Pete Bauer, and a whole lot of coincidences. Available Format: DVD Available From: http://www.localtalentfilms.com/ After a botched break-in at a laboratory, a box containing a virus known as Lucifer finds its way into the hands of an innocent little girl who thinks she's found some treasure. This sets off a series of events that could lead to the devastation of a city in Local Talent's feature production entitled The Box. Pete Bauer wears a number of hats here - writer, director, producer, composer, and even star. He plays Dan, a newly-unemployed fellow looking for meaning in his life while trying to make his new wife (Grahn) and her daughter Jennifer (Dorothea Bauer) proud. He and his family are thrown into the middle of potential crisis as a madman's plans to steal the deadly virus failed miserably, and along the way Dan discovers what he thinks is his reason for being. The Box starts off with a bit of dialogue-heavy expositon, but it nicely paints a horrifying picture of what will happen if Lucifer is unleashed on the unsuspecting city. This leads into the break-in of the lab and a subsequent chase, which intercuts with Dan and his family arguing over Dan's recent quitting of his job. It's a gangbusters first twenty minutes, and some of the best filmmaking I've seen on the micro level. However, something odd happens. The tight thriller quickly turns into something more akin to a melodrama, as Dan's familial problems and his search for a job slowly grind things to a halt. It's not to say that things get boring or uninteresting - the characters are given a chance to grow, and the plot is developed quite nicely. But after such a slam-bang open it took some time to get used to the change of pace. To talk much more about the plot would potentially reveal too many spoilers, so suffice to say that Dan's family is soon confronted with the Big Bad of the story and the pieces to the thriller puzzle fall into place. One slight drawback of the script is its reliance on coincidences. There's one coincidence after another, and after so many take place it's pretty obvious what the "big reveal" of the Big Bad is going to be. The desire to craft a tale that folds back onto itself over and over is admirable, but takes away a bit from the overall story. At two hours in length, The Box is jam packed full of story - maybe too much story. That's not to say I don't appreciate the amount of effort that went into crafting a screenplay with enough twists and turns to keep any fan of the mystery genre happy. It just feels as though some tightening of the pace (especially in the second half) could have helped keep the story moving along. For the most part the cast are up to the task of handling the amount of dialogue handed to them, especially Bauer. As the heart of the story he plays the "every man thrust into an incredible situation" very convincingly. Special kudos also go to Dorothea Bauer as the little girl - the director (dad?) does a good job of playing to her strengths and she seems right at home on the screen. Technically there's little fault to be found with this shot-on-video feature. The music and sound effects are top-notch, and the shooting and lighting are also solid throughout. There were only slight misses here and there, like how in some scenes the filmlook effect isn't consistent, and the 180 line is crossed here and there. But overall this is a very professional piece of moviemaking, and I see thing big things ahead for Local Talent. The Box might actually be too much of a good thing, but if you're looking for a thriller that relies on a solid script and plenty of coincidences, it's a good way to spend a couple of hours. Three and a half stars. THE BOX - REwind Video Review The Box By Wally Fong on Feb 6, 2004 A great effort but The Box is still square... A story of great coincidences that revolve around a struggling family and a brief case of missing genetically made deadly biotoxin. The Box delivers an ambitious mostly character driven story of Dan (Pete Bauer) a man who has just lost his job at a magazine selling firm and bets his last $100 at the track in the hope of hitting it rich so he doesn’t keep disappointing his new wife Louise (Samantha Grahn) and her daughter Jenny (Dorothea Bauer). The flipside of this story begins right at the top of the film where eb100349 or Lucifer the genetically altered strain of the Ebola virus was made. Within the first 15 minutes of the film the virus is described, what’s half life is, it’s dangerous tendencies are, how to keep it stored, and then is promptly stolen with all the scientist involved killed. Just like the synopsis of the film states: Fate plays a hand as a child accidentally brings home a box of genetically engineered contagion into her stormy home life. The film is shot beautifully with great exposition and framing. While I am a fan using dissolves while editing, there was far too much dissolving between shots and scenes. You need to have a point to use a dissolve i.e.: display the acceleration of time passing on screen or to hold the significance of the last shot for either and emotional or visual effect. I rather enjoyed the exploding lab rat scene just to drive to the point how dangerous eb100349 is. Dr. Gee (John Snell) while playing a purely a plot point driven character was amusing to watch as he laid on his high brow scientist routine with dry jokes. Right away I had a problem with the action throughout the whole movie. Whether it was a struggling scene, chase scene, cat and mouse, or an out right murder it all fell very flat in it’s presentation and didn’t have an explosive feel or sense of urgency or tension that most action scene depict. Just how long can you sit at a stop sign? Why in hell would you leave your post at work? How can you not notice a box “that has some weight to it” clinging to your camera bag until it most unlikely ends up at the bottom of the steps you’re walking down? While there are minor logic problems in the story they are more or less forgiven by the shear nativity of all the characters in the film even the main bad guy and his assassin. The score throughout the film was better than outstanding in my observation. Although I wished it had kicked in a little more often, when it was there it really flushed out a scene. The sound work on the other hand was too clean and sterile for film that for a good part off was shot outside. More ambient and organic fill tracks would have benefited the overall sound design. The script was compelling enough for me watch from beginning to end; I wanted to know what happens to Lucifer. Frequently jokes fall flat in the story and the writing was somewhat predictable. While The Box follows the theme of fate and it’s power just like his previous film “Justice” I find it very hard to swallow that people, objects, and events are always so neatly intertwined. Scenes such as the one with Louise and Jenny talking about living and life in reference to boxes and Dans' list of 10 things to achieve in life stood out for me as unique within the story other scenes made me groan and out right and laugh. One example of this is when “Uncle Steve” Jenny’s uncle also happens to be surprise the main bad guy in the film Mr. Anderson. With a name like Mr. Anderson and the Morpheus like Matrix speech he gives about nothing being coincidences and fate made me laugh out loud, the irony whether it was intentional or not was not lost on me. Issues like this is what ruined the end of the film for me. While Dan’s sudden 007 antics towards the end of the film did produce a couple of tense moments, the way events played out were too textbook neat and dispelled the feeling that Dan was in genuine danger. Textbook or not the sentimental happy ending of the film made me smile, smirk, and groan at the same time. In the black in the white world that Pete Bauer has created for this film, the moral of the story rings loud and clear. Wally Fong JUSTICE REVIEW - Nolan's Pop Culture Review Saints & Sinners 2 Film Fest - Review
Review from our screening at the Saints & Sinners 2 Film Fest from Nolan's Pop Culture Review which said:
JUSTICE REVIEW - REwind Video
I have to admit that after watching the trailer I was not overly intrigued by the movie’s plot. It looked like something I had seen a million times before and didn’t seem to bring any fresh angles to it. Boy was I wrong! What impressed me most about this film is that there is no dialogue in it. This can easily hurt a film if it’s not done right. But, thankfully Pete took the time to choose the right music for the moment and keep the movie moving so that I stayed interested. A couple of times the music became a little too dramatic for what was going on, but it never became distracting which would have been the death of this movie.
The acting for the most part is very good. You believe in the characters and start picking ones to route for and against. The fact that everyone was either an adult or a child also gave this film a fresh look. No offense to those of you out there, but it’s nice to see some non teenagers or 20-somethings for once in a film.
In conclusion I would recommend this film to anyone who is a fan of amateur movies. It delivers a simple story that is done well enough to keep you entertained. Heck, my wife is not a fan of amateur movies at all and she was hooked on watching this one until the end so that says a lot! Just ask any of Foo! I honestly believe that we will see this film getting some RMA nominations this year. When it comes up for sale, I suggest you order a copy! Catch ya on the flipside. CC Chapman, Random Foo Pictures
JUSTICE REVIEW - REwind Video For a while I thought that I might be out of line reviewing a movie while the RMA screenings are in progress. I intentionally avoided it last year. After all, I am on the panel, and though I'm only one out of several viewers, my review might send ideas out regarding how a movie is being received. But I did promise a review of Pete Bauer's 'Justice', and I keep my word. Besides, the movie is what it is regardless of my writing it here. And what is it exactly? It's excellent.
It's a tightly written script by Pete Bauer, who does a fine job of tipping the scales of justice out of whack, and letting them nicely come back to rest. What makes this movie particularly effective is that the setup and result of each character's storyline is a result of each character's personal flaws and strengths. If a person is a prick, it comes full circle, if they overcome a difficult situation, they are rewarded. This is the essential balance that makes the specific events in the script flow in a very entertaining way.
© Pete Bauer 2000-2005
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I love checking out amateur movies. I’m especially fond of checking out ones from groups that I have never seen anything from before. That’s why when Pete Bauer from Local Talent Productions offered to send me a sneak preview copy of “Justice” to review I jumped at the chance.
“Justice” is a classic story of switcheroo centered around a black laptop computer bag. In the mix are corporate secrets, $250,000, a bomb and a resume. Weird combination your thinking? Trust me it all makes sense. Bags change hands multiple times and the movie keeps you guessing until the end on what will happen.
The other thing on the negative side is that I felt it was a bit long. At the end I caught myself wishing that it would be over already so that I could see how it ended. I mean I knew what was going to happen so why not speed it up and get to it? If about 10-15 minutes were cut from this film I think it would greatly improve it.
It also became quite obvious to me that Pete has a great eye for the camera. His selection of shots was very nice and he mixed them up creatively. One particular scene at the playground stands out as a very powerful scene. I can’t get into details about it, but major kudos on the editing of the scene!
