Welp, here it is in all it's glory, and official Audience Award winner from the College Movie Festival.
My first "official" DP credit. And let me clarify, all I did was DP. Definitely an interesting experience. Not exactly the content I'm usually interested in, but for a Die Hard homage, I think it fits in pretty well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cARTZP5bbuA
(watch it in HD!)
Showing posts with label film. Show all posts
Showing posts with label film. Show all posts
Friday, April 30, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
The Red Shoes
One of the most beautiful movies I've seen, from the score to the screenplay to the production...
The whole film is as if it were an elaborate ballet production, the screen acting as the stage. The Red Shoes was so far ahead of its time.
"One day when I'm old, I want some lovely young girl to say to me, "Tell me, where in your long life, Mr. Caster, were you most happy?" And I shall say, 'Well, my dear, I never knew the exact place. It was somewhere on the Mediterranean. I was with Victoria Page." "What?" she will say. "Do you mean the famous dancer?" I will nod. "Yes, my dear, I do. Then she was quite young, comparatively unspoiled. We were, I remember, very much in love."
Friday, February 19, 2010
TODAY IS THE DAY
I forget how much of a Scorsese nerd I really am until he releases a new movie. That man made me love film. I remember watching Goodfellas and Taxi Driver and realizing just how powerful film was as an artistic medium.
Shutter Island. Today. I am seeing it. YEEESSSSS.
this guy edits together the best director tributes...
http://bennettmedia.blogspot.com/2008/10/films-of-martin-scorsese.html
Friday, January 30, 2009
Waking Life
Waking Life is a boring test of patience in many scenes (mostly in the beginning). But then you're suddenly hit with its brilliance. Most scenes are lectures on life and existentialism and they're hard to get through. But you're rewarded with piece of mind. It takes you out of day to day life and places you in a dream.
The entire film is following one character as he treks through his subconscious dream life. The rotoscoping animation was beautiful but sometimes left me a little weary. Sometimes I wished I could watch the film un-animated. But for the most part, it works.
Of Linklater's work, this is more along the lines of a Slacker 2. Waking Life improves on the concepts of Slacker in that the ideas are expressed more clearly.
I still don't quite know how I feel about the film as a whole. It definitely makes you think. But I feel like there was just A LOT of talking. I was tempted to skip ahead on the DVD, but thankfully it picks up speed towards the middle.
Here are two of the best scenes...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1n19SF5IqE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtuYWyjk4ZI&feature=related
Linklater remains one of my favorite directors because of projects like these. Even if they don't end up being my favorite films, they're still so innovative and experimental.
The entire film is following one character as he treks through his subconscious dream life. The rotoscoping animation was beautiful but sometimes left me a little weary. Sometimes I wished I could watch the film un-animated. But for the most part, it works.
Of Linklater's work, this is more along the lines of a Slacker 2. Waking Life improves on the concepts of Slacker in that the ideas are expressed more clearly.
I still don't quite know how I feel about the film as a whole. It definitely makes you think. But I feel like there was just A LOT of talking. I was tempted to skip ahead on the DVD, but thankfully it picks up speed towards the middle.
Here are two of the best scenes...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1n19SF5IqE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtuYWyjk4ZI&feature=related
Linklater remains one of my favorite directors because of projects like these. Even if they don't end up being my favorite films, they're still so innovative and experimental.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Notes on a Scandal
The acting...GOD the acting. It was SO good. Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett, and Bill Nighy are incredible in Notes on a Scandal. The film itself is great, and deserves all the acclaim it received last year, but the acting is really what makes the film great. The direction is very typical of a stage director directing film, very minimal. Richard Eyre takes a very strong piece of writing, finds great actors, and lets them go wild without dazzling with too much detail in direction. I've found that it works pretty well. Because these directors put so much emphasis on the story and acting, the films are dramatic triumphs.
Mega-Bitch Barbara Covett, played masterfully by Judi Dench is one of the most original characters I've ever seen. She the perfect villain, menacing, while at the same time human and forgivable. There's a softness to her character, Barbara, that never quite lets you dislike her. That is, until you witness her plotting her next scheme against Sheba. I don't want to take away from the screenwriter, but the character is only as good as she is because of the subtle brilliance of Dench's acting. I was blown away. This is the first time I think I've ever seen Blanchett, one of my favorite actresses, out-acted by her co-actor (Dench).
I have to be a little indulgent here and talk about one of her scenes. It's the part where Richard and Sheba are fighting about the affair, Barbara sits above watching from the stairs as her internal voice releshes in the scenario she's created. Not only are all three of the actors in top form, but the scene is a perfect culmination of the film (and it wasn't the climax, persay). It had me all at once scared for Sheba, sorry for Richard, and ladened with Barabara's sick enjoyment. It was wonderful.
Mega-Bitch Barbara Covett, played masterfully by Judi Dench is one of the most original characters I've ever seen. She the perfect villain, menacing, while at the same time human and forgivable. There's a softness to her character, Barbara, that never quite lets you dislike her. That is, until you witness her plotting her next scheme against Sheba. I don't want to take away from the screenwriter, but the character is only as good as she is because of the subtle brilliance of Dench's acting. I was blown away. This is the first time I think I've ever seen Blanchett, one of my favorite actresses, out-acted by her co-actor (Dench).
I have to be a little indulgent here and talk about one of her scenes. It's the part where Richard and Sheba are fighting about the affair, Barbara sits above watching from the stairs as her internal voice releshes in the scenario she's created. Not only are all three of the actors in top form, but the scene is a perfect culmination of the film (and it wasn't the climax, persay). It had me all at once scared for Sheba, sorry for Richard, and ladened with Barabara's sick enjoyment. It was wonderful.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Ughhhhh I love film and a review of Before Sunset and Panic Room
I know I love film to the extent that I do when it's rare for me to find a movie I really hate. Sometimes I feel like every other film I watch I love, 10/10, perfect. I can see through it and understand what the director was going for, even if the film itself is by no means perfect. I build it up too much in my head, the second viewing of the film a disappointment because it doesn't live up to expectation.
I just love the moving image (and still image for that matter) with such a passion that I can find something, one thing about a film that I take away with me.
I do, however, have a critical eye. I watched Panic Room last night and was horribly disappointed. I really find it hard to believe that a film connoisseur like David Fincher directed it. I mean I guess you have to give it props from a technical stand point. There was some incredible cinematography and special effects. But at its base, one of the worst scripts I've ever seen failed to hold the film together. I really don't even want to talk about it. It was stupid.
Now Before Sunset on the other hand, was incredible. Simply put, it was two people with a romantic past walking and talking for 80 minutes. But it completely worked. It was so raw and believable that you were sucked into their lives for the films duration. To be able to keep the audiences attention for 80 minutes while only walking and talking is a feat and both Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy do so masterfully. Director, Richard Linklater does a great job of standing on the side letting the actors do their thing. I was just so impressed by the pacing of the film. It's a big risk for the film to have its climax near its ending, especially with the given circumstances. There's no time for the viewer to anticipate what will be said next because they are constantly talking. That's what makes the climax and pacing work so well.
Not only that, but the improvised script is a beautiful testament to "love". It's a realistic story you can't help relating to. The film stays with you in the hours (and most likely days) after the initial viewing. I loved it.
I just love the moving image (and still image for that matter) with such a passion that I can find something, one thing about a film that I take away with me.
I do, however, have a critical eye. I watched Panic Room last night and was horribly disappointed. I really find it hard to believe that a film connoisseur like David Fincher directed it. I mean I guess you have to give it props from a technical stand point. There was some incredible cinematography and special effects. But at its base, one of the worst scripts I've ever seen failed to hold the film together. I really don't even want to talk about it. It was stupid.
Now Before Sunset on the other hand, was incredible. Simply put, it was two people with a romantic past walking and talking for 80 minutes. But it completely worked. It was so raw and believable that you were sucked into their lives for the films duration. To be able to keep the audiences attention for 80 minutes while only walking and talking is a feat and both Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy do so masterfully. Director, Richard Linklater does a great job of standing on the side letting the actors do their thing. I was just so impressed by the pacing of the film. It's a big risk for the film to have its climax near its ending, especially with the given circumstances. There's no time for the viewer to anticipate what will be said next because they are constantly talking. That's what makes the climax and pacing work so well.
Not only that, but the improvised script is a beautiful testament to "love". It's a realistic story you can't help relating to. The film stays with you in the hours (and most likely days) after the initial viewing. I loved it.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Film and Frost/Nixon
I have about 70+ pages of movie reviews that I have written over the past year and a half. I haven't sat down to write one in about 6 months. I guess I just kept putting it off as more and more movies piled up on the "to review" list. I also lost a lot of faith in myself as a writer. But I'd like to try again. I miss doing it. And I think it really made me a stronger writer in the long run.
I saw Frost/Nixon tonight. I had been wanting to see it since I'd heard about it but wasn't really expecting all that much. I thought it would be good. But what I wasn't ready for was the suspense-ridden character piece I ended up seeing. True, the film could be filed in with all of the other historic dramas about politics, but at the core, Frost/Nixon is a story of two unlikely people crossing paths and the impression they leave on one another. The two people are Richard M. Nixon and British TV personality, David Frost. Nixon and Frost are brought together by an interview; Frost hoping to expose Nixon's secrets while relaunching his TV career and Nixon trying to uphold whats left of his pubic image and ego. When in the same room, the two clash. Nixon has the upper hand in the beginning of the interviews, huffing out formulated sentence after formulated sentence, all Frost can do it sit back and anxiously try to throw in questions that will provoke Nixon into shedding light on Watergate.
Frank Langella is incredible as Nixon, completely inhabiting his character. He doesn't look much like Nixon but the caliber of his acting forces the audience to look past that. He turns the character of Nixon into a knifing, pathetic, yet human representation. It's a shame he's up for an Oscar the same year Sean Penn gave the performance of his career in "Milk", otherwise he would be locked in for Best Actor. Michael Sheen is just as impressive. His style of acting is the complete opposite of Langella's. It's a subtle realism that you don't appreciate until the credits role.
Ron Howard has always been ripped apart by critics for being too formulaic in his direction. I've always had a soft spot for him because of his directing credit on classics such as Cinderella Man and Apollo 13. But his films still leave you wanting more. He's not much of a risk taker. He appeases all of these claims with Frost/Nixon. The direction is actually one of the films greatest strengths. Fluid tracking shots and extreme depth of focus shots give scenes a crisp superficial feel. But then when it comes to scenes when Frost or Nixon are alone, static low lit shots effectively create a feeling of isolation. He handles the way the interview is shot masterfully, resorting to fast cuts and more DOF shots.
The film does have its weaknesses. The beginning is a bit slow, and more of Howards formulaic side kicks in. But once the interviews start, your stomach is in knots. It's incredible the amount of suspense the scenes carry.
The 2008 movie season has really been a year of historical dramas and stage plays. Films like Doubt and Frost/Nixon which were both originally on stage, have proven that many stage plays translate well to cinema-not the case for Mamma Mia which is bad both on stage and as a movie. Both Doubt and Frost/Nixon are also among the many historical dramas released this season; Milk, The Reader, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Valkyrie, Revolutionary Road, The Changeling, among many others.
It's a good year for movies.
I saw Frost/Nixon tonight. I had been wanting to see it since I'd heard about it but wasn't really expecting all that much. I thought it would be good. But what I wasn't ready for was the suspense-ridden character piece I ended up seeing. True, the film could be filed in with all of the other historic dramas about politics, but at the core, Frost/Nixon is a story of two unlikely people crossing paths and the impression they leave on one another. The two people are Richard M. Nixon and British TV personality, David Frost. Nixon and Frost are brought together by an interview; Frost hoping to expose Nixon's secrets while relaunching his TV career and Nixon trying to uphold whats left of his pubic image and ego. When in the same room, the two clash. Nixon has the upper hand in the beginning of the interviews, huffing out formulated sentence after formulated sentence, all Frost can do it sit back and anxiously try to throw in questions that will provoke Nixon into shedding light on Watergate.
Frank Langella is incredible as Nixon, completely inhabiting his character. He doesn't look much like Nixon but the caliber of his acting forces the audience to look past that. He turns the character of Nixon into a knifing, pathetic, yet human representation. It's a shame he's up for an Oscar the same year Sean Penn gave the performance of his career in "Milk", otherwise he would be locked in for Best Actor. Michael Sheen is just as impressive. His style of acting is the complete opposite of Langella's. It's a subtle realism that you don't appreciate until the credits role.
Ron Howard has always been ripped apart by critics for being too formulaic in his direction. I've always had a soft spot for him because of his directing credit on classics such as Cinderella Man and Apollo 13. But his films still leave you wanting more. He's not much of a risk taker. He appeases all of these claims with Frost/Nixon. The direction is actually one of the films greatest strengths. Fluid tracking shots and extreme depth of focus shots give scenes a crisp superficial feel. But then when it comes to scenes when Frost or Nixon are alone, static low lit shots effectively create a feeling of isolation. He handles the way the interview is shot masterfully, resorting to fast cuts and more DOF shots.
The film does have its weaknesses. The beginning is a bit slow, and more of Howards formulaic side kicks in. But once the interviews start, your stomach is in knots. It's incredible the amount of suspense the scenes carry.
The 2008 movie season has really been a year of historical dramas and stage plays. Films like Doubt and Frost/Nixon which were both originally on stage, have proven that many stage plays translate well to cinema-not the case for Mamma Mia which is bad both on stage and as a movie. Both Doubt and Frost/Nixon are also among the many historical dramas released this season; Milk, The Reader, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Valkyrie, Revolutionary Road, The Changeling, among many others.
It's a good year for movies.
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