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400 blows

When you hear of the “French New Wave” movement, or hear references to the New Wave era, usually people are referring to one of two people. The French New Wave movement is in my opinion, the most important stage in filmmaking
history. In a time where budget, as well as human rights were nonexistent, filmmakers such as Jean-Luc Goddard and Francois Truffaut looked past the obstacles and made some of the most influential films of all time.
Francois Truffaut was born on February 6th, 1932 in Paris, France. By the time he reached the age of seven, he was visiting the local cinemas up to four or five times a week. Francois was very smart, but was not a very good student. By the time he was fourteen, he left school for good to begin working. One night at a club, he met Andre Bazin, a French critic. Andre helped him understand the true meaning of cinema and began to educate Francois on the filmmaking process and history.
Andre allowed Francois to come along with him on various filmmaking shoots, errands, and premiers, and finally, in 1954, Francois Truffaut released his first sort film, an original piece of work unlike anything being circulated around France at the
time, a short film that would launch his filmmaking career into an influential level.On November 16th, 1959, Francois Truffaut released in my opinion, his most influential film of all time, “Les Quatre Cents Coups”, or “The 400 Blows.” This film is
about a French boy in his early teens named Antoine. Antoine is having trouble in his studies, as well as at home. Antoine is upset because his teacher singled him out from the entire class and punished him for his criticism and views. His mother is
always fighting with her husband, causing tension and awkwardness at home. As Antoine sleeps one night, he slides down deep into his sleeping bag and secretly sees his mother having an affair. His mother made him sleep on a small cot near the back door of the apartment, where he has a perfect view of the doorway, as well as the stairs. After seeing this, Antoine disregards his mother’s teachings and begins to start a life of mischief, blaming his teacher and his mother for his misfortunes. Antoine is always caught after every crime he commits, often because of his friend Rene. Antoine eventually steals a typewriter from his stepfather’s work, plotting to pawn it for a few dollars. On his way to drop off the typewriter, Antoine, as well as Rene are caught and apprehended by the police.
Antoine is sentenced to do minor time in a juvenile detention center, but is soon released. His mother labels him incorrigible and unmanageable and sends him to a work camp by the sea. Antoine has never seen the sea, and doesn’t like the
fact of going back to his mother as much as she doesn’t, so he eventually accepts the offer to work by the sea. While Antoine works, he begins to talk to a psychiatrist, telling him his true problems with his mother and family. He tells the doctor that he
was actually raised by his grandmother, and that his mother never wanted a child at all. His grandmother told him that his mother wanted an abortion, and always regretted the fact of not getting one. One day, Antoine gets the courage to push past the guards and escape the work camp. He breaks free and begins to sprint towards the sea. As he reaches the
sea, he slowly walks into the sand, turning around and staring into the camera as he
stands on the beach for the very first time.This film is both influential and memorable because of the style that it was
written in, as well as directed. Francois Truffaut shows many facets if his own life in this film, setting the tone for Paris, as well as all of France for the next decade. Francois Truffaut’s lack of budget and professional equipment gave hope to other aspiring filmmakers and artists, and the people’s positive reaction to their work launched a new wave of artists and filmmakers throughout France, as well as the world.

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Fantastic Mr. Fox

The official Review.



This movie was "Quote,Unquote... FANTASTIC!"

Oh, how swell it was to see a Wes Anderson movie in theaters, it's been far too long. I'm very thankful to have seen this movie, because I went to see it on it's original release date, but saw that the selective release didn't include ONE Nevada theater! I was pretty unimpressed, but excited when I heard it was getting a re-release on Thanksgiving. The first thing that really impressed me with this film, is it's sheer originality. Every single thing in this film was made by scratch, and I mean everything. Wes is somewhat of a perfectionist, and it really shows in this film. Each piece of clothing, furniture, and coffee mug was hand fashioned and painted to match the scene. What's really impressive, is that the clay models of the Boggis, Bunce, and Bean were incredibly tiny. I mean like really tiny. The amount of skill and patience that must have gone into this process amazes me. As for the Fox, I read that dozens and dozens of different foxes were made to fit the exact position and expression of the scene, also equally amazing. If you watch Wes Anderson movies, you know that he is a stickler for style, hence the vintage blazers in "Rushmore", the hand-crafted custom Luis Vuitton and Marc Jacob's bags in "The Darjeeling Limited", and of coarse, the Adidas ensembles in "The Royal Tenenbaums." Well, in this movie, he puts just as much effort into his character's costumes, giving them personality, emotion, and wit. The fact that he put so much time and effort into this, already makes it Fantastic in my eyes.
Anyways, Mr. Fox, his wife, and his family decide to move underneath a humungous tree on a beautiful hill. The only problem is, on the other side of the hill resides the three best farmers in the land, each with their delicious specialties locked safely inside their storage silos. The problem with Mr. Fox is, he used to be a world-class chicken smuggler, food snatcher, you name it. Once upon a time, Mr. Fox got himself into an unsolvable situation, a stainless-steel fox-trap surrounded by very angry farmers, but thanks to his quick-wit, he soon realized what foxes do best.. They DIG! After their extremely narrow escape, Mr. Fox swears to his wife that he would never put her in such a predicament again. Ever.
Well now that the Foxes have moved right next-door to the most succulent alcoholic apple-cider in town, Mr. Fox begins to itch for a new heist.

lemmie finish this later im failing my final in music theory

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A Serious Man...

... The official Review




So, the new Coen Brothers movie is finally here. This movie got a selective release deal, which struck me as very odd. I had to drive all the way to Alta and Rampart to see this, like 45 minutes away. The movie was pretty good, definitely better than their last movie ( Burn After Reading ), which was in every theatre around the city. I like the Coen Brothers, but I don't think that they are quite as good as they think they are. I really enjoyed some of their movies, in fact, Barton Fink has one of my favorite endings of all time, but lately, their movies just don't strike me the same. I enjoyed "O Brother, Where Art Though?", but after that, I feel like they sort-of fell off. ( In my opinion )
They are widely known as some of the best filmmakers of our time, but is it deserved? Ok, ok, they did Fargo, I loved it. They did Big Lebowski, I loved it. And like I said before, their classics are also great, but legendary?
I doubt it.
Their movies are very entertaining, but they lack that feeling that I get on the back of my spine when you see something that seems totally REAL. The closest to this that I have seen in a Coen Brothers movie was when William H. Macy came home from the grocery store in Fargo and saw the signs of foul play in his hallway. He hired the men, and expected his wife to be gone, but when he saw the broken glass and blood on the floor, his acting went to the next level. My favorite Cohen scene.
Anyways, the movie opens up with a scene that definitely doesn't fit in with the rest of the movie. An old Jewish man stumbles into his cabin from an apparent blizzard. He informs his uninterested wife about his journey on the way home. The wheel on his wagon fell off, and a mysterious man helped him. After a quick conversation, the unnamed helper tells the man that he is an old friend of his wife, so of coarse, the man invites the unnamed helper to his home for a nice warm bowl of soup. As he says the man's name, her face goes pale. She informs him that this man died three years ago. When he knocks on the door, the husband sits him down at the table. Before the man is there for a few minutes, the wife stabs him in the chest with an Awl, ( a chisel sort-of tool used in woodworking ) He sits there for a second, seemingly unharmed. When the wife makes a point of this, he informs her that he IS indeed hurt, and blood begins to spill down his shirt. He tells the couple that he knows when he is not welcome, tips his hat, and walks out into the cold.
The rest of the movie takes place in 1967 in a small town in Minnesota. The main actor ( Michael Stuhlbarg ) actually did a really good job. He reminded me of Juaquin Phoenix, maybe mixed with William H. Macy. Richard Kind plays his brother Arthur, and he was pretty impressive himself. It seems to me that the Coen Brothers are famous for their jarring scenes that are supposed to send chills down their spine. Before I even saw Fargo, all I heard about was the scene where this guy throws somebody in the wood-chipper. Is that the highlight of the movie? Far from it. A valuable scene? Perhaps. But nonetheless, the scene that gets talked about the most. Same as in No Country For Old Men ( Overrated ). The scene that people talk about the most is when Javier Bardem blows the guy's head open with an air compressor. Cool scene, and I guess it was kind-of valuable to the character's development... but still. Don't they want to be more than one-scene wonders?
Anyways, the reason that I bring this up is because in my opinion, they let this go their heads. This movie kind-of reminded me of "The Informant". It had that bland, dry look to it, and seemed very real. Not boring, but some people could take it that way. I like when movies are like that, very documentary-style. So if this movie would have stayed like that, I would have been pretty impressed, but it seems like their sudden, jarring scenes have become their trademark. I don't think their ego would allow them to make a movie without a "Woodchipper" scene. They throw these ridiculous "Dream Sequences" throughout the movie that stick out like a thousand sore-thumbs. This movie was very multi-faceted, with many different plot lines. I love that. The first plot line is obviously the man getting stabbed in the heart in the beginning of the movie, ( we never hear from any of them again ), and the second plot line is when Michael Stuhlbarg discovers that his wife wants to leave him. Michael always tries to do what's right, even when it hurts him, and I admire that. Everyone tells him to go see the Rabbi. He does, but his wife's new lover is a highly respected man in the temple, and the Rabbi doesn't seem to see things his way. This is a man who literally did NOTHING wrong. His wife was 100% in the wrong, and you can see that when you take a look at her facial expressions and attitude. She leaves him for a pompous socialite named Sy Ableman. There is something about Sy that just makes you want to hate him. Good directing. Anyways, nobody seems to understand what he is going through. It's like trying to share your views of McCain at an Obama rally. It's not happening. He yells at his son for constantly smoking joints and listening to Jefferson Airplane. His son looses his MP3 player in class because he was paying more attention to "Don't you want somebody to love" than his arithmetic. The Rabbi takes his MP3 player and walks back to the front of the class. ( He attends a Hebrew school ) What the Rabbi doesn't know, is Danny's money is stashed in the case of the MP3 player, and he needs that money to pay his weed dealer.
The movie is broken into thirds, a new third begins every time he goes to see one of the three senior Rabbis at his temple. Michael Stuhlbarg plays a math teacher, and one of his students ( David Kang as Clive Park ) doesn't seem to be doing very well. Michael Stuhlbarg's character is forced to fail Clive after his final tests scores were too low. Clive attempts to bribe Michael with an envelope filled with hundred dollar bills. Michael doesn't accept the bribe, but Clive leaves before he can give the money back. Confused about what to do, he sticks the envelope in his desk drawer. After he accepts the fact that his wife is leaving him, he spots a beautiful lady sunbathing in the nude next-door. He eventually gains the courage to knock on her door, and she immediately invites him in. At this point, Michael Stuhlbarg's character is pretty confused about life, and is ready fpor just about anything new. They sit on her couch and she lights a joint. As they smoke, she plays "Don't you want somebody to love" by jefferson Airplane.
Michael sees the second Rabbi, but has no luck. He needs to see the top Rabbi at the temple, Rabbi Marshak, but it's nearly impossible to get an appointment. Rabbi Marshak only talks to other Rabbis, and sometimes when a boy completes his Bar Mitzah, he's been known to enlighten the child with a few words of wisdom.
Anyways, even Michael's lawyers seem to be on his wife's side, and things are definitely looking grim. Michael is such a nice guy, that he leaves his own house to live in the Jolly Roger hotel with his brother Arthur. The next day, Michael is driving to work at the same time Sy is driving to the golf course. The camera follows them both as they simultaneously make crucial mistakes while driving. Sy attempts to make a risky left-turn into the golf-course, while Michael thinks he sees Clive Park riding his bicycle down the street, and attempts to yell at him. The editing leads you to believe that they are about to run into each-other, but they are actually on opposite ends of town. While Michael ends up in a small three-car fender-bender, St Ableman dies on impact. Michael wonders if things will go back to normal now, but soon realizes that that's nearly impossible. All of the townspeople rave about Sy Ableman at the funeral, even though not much is heard over Michael's future-ex-wife's incoherent sobs.
Michael is approached by her lawyers and is bullied into accepting the charges for Sy's funeral. "Who else is supposed to pay it?!" She taunts him, and he reluctantly agrees.
Michael's son Danny attempts to sneak into the Rabbi's drawer after school hours, but had no luck recovering his lost MP3 player, and he's getting a little tired of sprinting full-speed towards his front door whenever he sees his creditor.
Danny's Bar Mitzah is coming up soon, and both parents try to be civil for the sake of tradition. Danny and his friends smoke about three joints before the ceremony, and Danny's cloudy point-of-view was a pretty interesting segment.
After the ceremony, Danny is led to the hallway where Rabbi Marshak resigns. When Danny approaches his desk, the Rabbi stares him right in the eye and begins reciting lyrics from the same Jefferson Airplane song. He slides Danny's MP3 player forward and dismisses him. Danny gets back to school and finds that the money is till hidden within the case. Right before he can get the dealer's attention, an alarm goes off and the class is rushed outside due to a tornado warning. As the Rabbi struggles to find the key that unlocks the cellar, Danny approaches the bully from behind. "Hey, I've got your money" he says, but no response. He walks even close to the bully, but he seems tapped where he stands. Danny attempts to call out his name once more before the bully slowly turns around, revealing a humungous black tornado heading right towards them, too close to dodge.
The movie ends.
Hmmmm..... very interesting. I'll give you a second to take it all in.
Ok, ok, so here's MY take on it. In the beginning of the movie, Michael was scorning his son for smoking pot and listening to Jefferson Airplane, but about an hour later, what is he doing? The exact same thing. During this scene in the movie, you can actually see excitement and happiness in Michael Stuhlbarg's character, unlike every other scene in the movie. The scene really reminded me of "The Graduate", the lady looked strikingly similar, and there were too many coincidences for it NOT to be an homage piece. Anyways, Michael never got to see the third Rabbi, but Danny did. And what did he tell Danny? Nothing, he just recited the lyrics and slid his MP3 player forward. Well what does it tell us? That instead of asking his friends and coo-workers what he should do, he should simply look towards his childhood? To the simplicity of life when things were actually fun? I think so. I think Michael was looking in all the wrong places for his answer. ( Not to offend the Rabbis, their advice was very true, in some ways, but the Rabbi's weren't just Rabbi's, they played characters that were loyal to Sy, not Michael, and gave their advice accordingly. )
So what's the deal with the story in the beginning? Hmmm... now that's a tough one. Is there even a link? Or are the Coen Brothers too well-known for "Artsy" movies, that can't produce something without at least one scene that nobody can decipher? Both could be correct. I enjoyed the movie, it was entertaining, but like I said before, these shocking nightmares became sort of an eyesore to watch. The first one consisted of Sy Ableman slamming Michael's head against the wall over and over telling him "I fucked your wife Larry, I fucked your wife". Very out-of place. Michael wakes up in a cold sweat and things go back to normal. Next time, Larry ( Michael Stuhlbarg ) takes his brother Arthur to the edge of the lakes and helps him prepare his canoe. Before he departs, he gives Arthur the envelope full of money, and tells him to start a new life. Before Arthur can even fully finish thanking him, he gets shot right through the head by a high-powered hunting rifle. Michael turns around and sees his next-door neighbor ( Whom he never really liked ) reloading his weapon with his son. His young son raises the rifle towards Michael as his father points at him and says, "Look son, another Jew, get him!" As the rifle fires, Michael wakes up from the dream. There were a few more of these, I can't seem to remember now, but they really didn't fit in at all, and if you watch the trailer, they really focus on these scenes. Like I said, I think they feel as if the movie was incomplete without these scenes, I however, feel as if the movie was incomplete with them.
A Serious Man - Worth watching. Worth driving an hour to see it? It's debatable. Definately better than their last two movies, but nothing compared to "The Man Who Wasn't There" or "Barton Fink"
7/10

Trick R' Treat

The official review...




This movie definitely didn't live up to all its hype. I originally waned to see this movie because Alex Pardee ( Artist ) recommended it, and I believe he even helped with some of the illustrations. Michael Dougherty ( writer, director ) also wrote X-men 2... Which I guess was ok. At least the Nightcrawler scene in the beginning was awesome. Well, that reminded me of this movie. I say this because it had one good part. When Anna Paquin's character gets lost in the woods, she is greeted by a mysterious man. He's been killing the whole night, but what he doesn't know, is that Anna Paquin's not your everyday little red riding hood. She stabs herself in the chest with her own finger, then drags her finger all the way down to her crotch. She then grabs her own skin in plentiful handfuls and proceeds to strip it off of her body. As she tosses the pile of skin to the ground, the rest of the girls in her party begin to do the same thing. An ominous Marilyn Manson tune begins to play as the girls literally shed their skin, lit by only the candles in the woods. Nice.

But besides that, it was pretty corny. The kid was kind-of creepy, and the main actor wasn't half-bad. But still, I drove to Wal-mart at 12am to grab this opening day... At least I got some good donuts while I was there.
Trick R' Treat - Another X-men 2, Complete with Rogue and one good scene.
3/10

Where The Wild Things Are...

... The Official Review.



"Let The Wild Rumpus Start!"
This movie was absolutely fantastic. I'm definitely glad I got to see it. Spike Jonze and David Eggers really did a great job capturing precious childhood moments. Their character development was awesome. There were so many things that they slipped in there that reminded me of my childhood, I actually looked around me in the theater to see if other people were as excited as I was. The movie started off really good, and it had a very meaningful setup. I really connected with Max's background, and felt like they really showed what it was like living in such an environment. Max had an older sister who was too cool to hang out with her little brother, the boys came to pick her up and shoved Max in the snow, I definitely know how that feels. Max was in search of an audience, and living in a single-parent household can make that hard. His mother seemed to care more about not embarrassing her boyfriend than giving Max the attention he deserved. When kids, especially boys, feel like nobody is paying attention to them, it usually means big trouble is up ahead. More than just Max's situation, I connected with Max himself. He seemed just like me when I was that age, and there were SO many good examples of this. I made such a long list of great moments in this movie, I think the people behind me were sick of me having my phone out. But anyways, it's the little things that count, like Max sticking two heads on one lego-man. Max jumping from stacks of books to pillows, trying not to burn his feet off in the hot lava, and his view of his mother on the phone as he laid upside-down on the floor underneath her desk. So many parts of this movie reminded me of my childhood, and that's one of the most important goals of a good movie, to relate to it's audience. To appeal to an emotion that somebody has previously felt. This movie was made from a book from our childhood, and Spike did much more than bring us back to that, he brought us back to that ERA. Which isn't an easy task. When we get older, we forget how scary some things used to be as kids, and this is another reason why I enjoyed this movie so much. As Max sits in class, his teacher explains to the class how the Sun is going to eventually burn out one day, and then explode. While other kids fight off sleep and boredom, Max sits enthralled in the teacher's conversation, petrified actually. That kind of stuff really IS scary, and now that we're all older, science is just science, and we don't even really think about it, we just accept it as a part of life. Max on the other hand, is a constant thinker, wondering why the Sun has to burn out one day, and what will we do after that? The kid who played Max was awesome, as well as the rest of the cast. I recognized James Gandolfini's voice almost immediately, ( he's getting a lot better, see Romance and Cigarettes if you don't believe me) Otger voices included Forrest Whitaker, Chris Cooper, Catherine O'Hara, and Paul Dano.
The movie was written so well. I really loved the dialogue the most. There were so many quotable lines, it was hard to write them all down. Taken out of context, I guess they are not as meaningful, but they sure knew the exact place to say them in the film. The dialogue really felt real, even though it still held onto a childlike feel. "Don't go... I'll eat you up I love you so.."
I like the way it was filmed too, which is weird because it's almost exactly the opposite of my style. The constant over-the-shoulder and unbalanced camerawork gave the movie a very realistic feel, and the creatures fit right into the movie, no sore-thumbs here. There was a part towards the end that i really connected with: Max is the type of kid to enlist himslef in countless projects, kind-of like I used to do. He likes to build forts, which was one of my favorite past-times as well. He spends hours and hours making the perfect lair, but when his sister's friend smashes it, you see Max the most upset he gets in the entire movie...(yes, even more upset than when he is running for his life)
When you build things, it's not even really about you, you just want to show people what you've done. That you've created something all on your own. Unlike his sister, Max realizes and understand how much work goes into these projects, and was completely fascinated when his favorite monster Carol shows him his secret scale-model of his version of a Utopian city. Carol carved numerous buildings, all complete with windows and doors, he built a functional canal system that flowed through the streets, and he also carved little sculptures of himself and his (hopeful) love K.W., enjoying all of the activities and fun times that he hoped to spend with her. When Carol realizes that Max can't make these things happen, he gets angry and destroys his lifelong project. When Max stumbles across the wreckage, you can tell that it effects Max almost more than it did Carol. Max understood how long it took Carol to complete his project, and he knew how it felt to spend a ridiculous amount of time on something that nobody will ever see. ( Like this blog and all the other things I do ) Max kneels down and makes a heart out of twigs with Carol's initials in it. Stricken by the guilt of not being able to solve everyone's problems, Max sails back home for good. The movie was actually really depressing.. but was it depressing because it was a sad movie? Or was it depressing because so many instances are so easily relatable to our own lives? If you're somewhat in the same age group as I am, there are some really small, subliminal things in this movie that will pull at your heartstrings, for no apparent reason. It gives you almost a sense of nostalgia, which is my favorite word in the dictionary.
I strongly recommend this movie to people of all ages, there is definitely something here that everybody should see.
Where The Wild Things Are: A wonderful film, almost like a timepiece dedicated to the children of the late-eighties. Thank you Spike Jonze.
8.5/10

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Paranormal Activity....

The Official Review:



Ok, so this was by far the worst movie I've seen in a long, long time. I mean really. It was absolutely boring, the filmmaking was atrocious, and the very WORST part... was definitely the acting. I wanted to line these two up and slap them both in one fell swoop. ( See Moe of Three Stooges )

Anyways, Don't waste your time. I'm not going into any more detail than that.
Paranormal Activity 1/10

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs...

The official review:




So I was really excited to see this movie, and I guess it was ok. I used to read the book like everyday when I was young, and by read, I definitely mean look at the pictures. So how do you rate a movie that was based on a book if the book was like 80% pictures? Well, I suppose you rate it on how those pictures transfer to the screen. I figured that the movie would be animated, by why couldn't they at least TRY to use a similar style? I mean, computer-generated graphics? Really? I think we could have gone traditional on this one guys, don't you think?
I really wanted to see this one in 3-D, but that Damn Toy Story 1-2 came out the day I went to see this one, so I had to watch this in lame-old 2-D while Buzz and Woody hogged up my good Theatre. Anyways, the movie was pretty entertaining. I felt for the character, and there were some really cool parts in it. The first thing that I liked about the movie, is right when it opens, it says "Directed By : A whole bunch of people." I thought that was funny because there really is a lot of work that goes into an animated feature, especially one of this proportion. It was nice of them to admit it. They put lots of people before their own names, ( The actual directors, Chris Miller and Phil Lord), including casting people, animators, and writers. Very Humble. Anyways, the main character is a young inventor named Flint Lockwwod, played by Bill Hader. Flint is destined to impress his Father, as well as the rest of the town with his inventions. However, whenever Flint tries to invent something new, something always goes terribly wrong. He's invented many machines, but this new one is his masterpiece. All you do is take one tiny drop of water and insert into Flint's machine, and POW! A nice, juicy hamburger. After a couple of tests, Flint is confident enough to unveil the machine to the city. Even though Flint thought this one was going to work, the machine backfired and flew high into the sky.
Little did they know, there was a huge storm brewing, and the machine got swept right into the main storm-cloud. Instead of one droplet of water, now the machine takes every little drop of water stored inside of the entire cloud, raining hamburgers across the whole city. When the citizens saw this, they were so impressed with Flint, that they made him the Mayor's personal assistant and meal-coordinator. They loved him, but at a price. In order to keep his fame high, Flint had to change the settings of the machine via remote-control every time the mayor's appetite changed. He looked the other way when the machine said "Overload", and now it's up to him to save the city. Flint falls in love with the lovely weather girl Sam Sparks along the way, and now they must team up to save the newly-named town of "Chew-and-swallow".
I really like the Sam Sparks character. She's really smart, cooky, and fun, I really enjoyed watching her on the screen. No surprise, she was played by one of my favorites in new-Hollywood, Anna Faris. Arrrghhhh!! Why do I love her so? She is just so darn funny to me, I love her personality, and she definitely brings a lot of energy to any project she involves herself in. She was fantastic in this role. "Sam Spade" kind-of reminds me of "Sam Spade" from "The Maltese Falcon". She has that quick intellect and fast problem-solving attitude, but with Anna Faris' spin on it. Great.
Anyways, that's what I really wanted to talk about, the cast. This movie had a pretty sweet cast, and since I just finished up that "Voice-Acting" class I was taking last quarter, I can really appreciate the different types of voices they utilized for the film. I mean, they got Mr. T for G@d's sake! His part was amazing by the way. Seriously. Plus, they used one of all-time favorite's...... Bruce Cambell. He's great, in everything. Andy Samberg's in this one too, so it just has a great voice cast overall.
Sam and Flint end up saving the day and falling in love, and it's really a cool story. It ran a little bit long, or at least it felt like it, but it was pretty good overall. The thing that saved it for me was the rare-but-awesome references to the original book by Ron and Judi Barrett. There were actually quite a few of them in there. They had the split-pea soup fog, the meatball tornados, the PB&J boats, and my ultimate favorite, the giant pancake on-top of the school. ( See Above )
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Pretty cool.. could have done the book more justice though. Lucky you had that pancake shot. 5/10

The Informant..

.... The official review.



Steven Soderbergh's latest film. Wow, he's been doing a lot lately, right? Like five movies in one year! Well, this movie definately had a different style to it. This was definitely a small budget film, but it definitely didn't look like it. No excess money was spent on special effects and gunshots, and there were no big finales or explosions, but the movie was great. I think that's what Steven Soderbergh was going for in this. It's like he just picked up a camera, and shot it. Maybe in a few days. It's like he had a story in his head and just wanted to get it out. Could he have spent more time and made it better? I'm sure of it, but for what? This guy thinks up an idea and it's in theaters a month later, it's insane. He's one of the only filmmakers who's still interested in himself. He doesn't care if people will like it or not, ( The Girlfriend Experience ), He just wants to shoot his movie.
Anyways, in the movie, Matt Damon is a compulsive liar. He works for a company called ADM, and assures us that the upper-level executives are involved in illegal price-fixing scams. Destined to make it to the top of ADM, he notifies the president of the company of the foul play. Instead of firing the no-gooders and promoting Matt Damon ( Mark Whitacre ), he immediately notifies the F.B.I, making things a little more complicated. It's great because you really don't know if he's telling the truth or not. The movie gives no backstory or hint towards either direction at first. Mark Whitacre seems like a pretty honest guy, and even when you think he's lying, he often redeems himself, getting the audience back on his side. Steven Soderbergh makes you feel for Mark. He makes it seem as if Mark is wrongfully accused everywhere he goes. That he's just an honest man who's commonly misunderstood. Wrong. The movie takes a dramatic turn when you find out just what's true and what isn't. Like I said before, there are almost no special effects, and it seems as if it's something an amateur filmmaker could shoot. ( not in a bad way, it just seems do-able, which gives kids like me a great boost of confidence! )
Anyways, the movie is really entertaining, and it's a HUGE boost for Matt Damon. He was spectacular in this movie. Steven Soderbergh has always been a favorite of mine, becuase he does such a great job of tackling so many differnet genres. In order to be a great director, you have to speak from what you know, and he definately puts a good ammount of personal insight and taste into his films, a must-see for Matt Damon fans, definately.

The Informant - It almost seems like a student-film version of Steven Soderbergh and Matt Damon. I love it. It has a style that seems bland, yet interesting at the same time. It keeps you interested, and guessing as well. Definately worth catching.

7 / 10

New videos up!

Hey, check these two videos out if you have a spare moment. I know they're not long, but I've been trying a few new techniques with my new lens and steadycam, and wanted to see how they looked. I'm trying to learn a few different lighting styles, and think these two turned out pretty good! Let me know what you think!

Ponyo !

Hayao Miyazaki's done it again. I absolutely love this movie.



I've been a fan of Hayao Miyazaki's films for a long time, and my favorite would have to be "Castle in the Sky"... Until I saw this. Now I'd have to say that it's a pretty even tie. Although Ponyo was geared a little towards younger audience, it definately worked for audiences of all ages. The story of Ponyo closely resembles that of "The Little Mermaid", except with Miyazaki's style added into the mixture. Ponyo tells the story of a young fish named Brünnhilde, who is a very special little fish. Her mother was a huge elemtal spirit, who watches over the ocean. Her father is a little less understanding, and wants to keep Brünnhilde from discovering the outside world. One day, when he was busy mixing potions and creating experiments, little Brünnhilde managed to snaeak away to discover a new part of the ocean. Little to her knowledge, she was swimming in an area that fisherman drag their nets. Brünnhilde barely escapes the fisherman's net, but ends up trapped inside of a bottle. A 5-year old boy named Sosuke rescues her, and breaks the bottle with a rock. He dubbes her "Ponyo".
Ponyo knows that her father would be very upset at the fact that his daughter is out running around with humans, so she discuises herself as a young girl to throw him off her trail. Sosuke doesn't need to keep her in a bucket anymore, and they set off on their adventure together. In Sosuke's hometown, a violent storm is brewing due to Ponyo's father's rage. He unleashes magical beasts and monsters and orders them to bring his Brünnhilde back to him. The monsters search evreywhere for Ponyo, and are upset that they can't find her. They take their wrath out on the ocean, causing huge tital waves and monsoons, which means bad luck for Sosuke's father, who is a deep-sea fisherman.
Sosuke's mom leaves to drive to the retirement home, ( where she works ) but got caught in the flood, and is now stranded without passage to her son. Sosuke's father is still out, with no sign of a quick return. Ponyo and Sosuke are now alone to roam the flooded rooftops. Ponyo uses her magic to enlarge Sosuke's toy boat, and they set off to find Sosuke's mom.
Overall, it was a spectacular movie. It's hard to explain, but certain scenes in Miyazaki's films just give you a certain warmth that others don't. The stillframe posted above was taken from one of my favorite scenes in the movie. Naturally, Ponyo is a goldfish, and looks like a goldfish. ( Despite her human head ) But after she met Sosuke, she turned herself inot a human to make him happy. Sosuke saved her from the bottle, so Ponyo is forever greatful, and apparently very much in love. Her father successfully takes Ponyo back, and turns her back inot a fish. Upset, and missing Sosuke, she summons her brothers and sisters from the ocean and breaks free from his clutches. She swims towards the surface as fast as she can and literally leaps five feet out of the water. Sosuke is above, looking into the water, wondering where his Ponyo was gone. He takes a step back as she leaps from the water, she flies towards him, kisses him in mid-air, and turns back into a human before she hits the ground.

PONYO - See it.
8/10

District 9...

... The official review.



Ok, Ok, well, overall I'd say that it sucked. I mean, c'mon guys. The rule is simple, and it hasn't changed, practical effects out-weigh visual effects any day. Ok, sure, the movie has "top-of-the-line" visual effects, but for how long? Whenever a new blockbuster comes out, they swear up and down about how great the special effects look, but the fact is, a few years down the road it looks gritty and out-dated. When The Hulk came out in 2004, they thought the effects were great, now, it's almost unbearable. A few years later they released The Incredible Hulk, starring Edward Norton, well in THIS movie, they claimed that the visual effects were much more lifelike and believable, watch it now, and prepare to be unimpressed.
Technology dates films, simples as that. I mean, look at Alien. Ridley Scott took the time, effort, and money to actually build these creatures. This is back in 1979 when Special Effects were still special. If you have ever read "Fangoria", you would know how much time goes into these models. I mean the Aliens, the facehuggers, every litle slippery, slimy piece of goo they actually made, which made the movie timeless. 30 years later these effects still look believable and lifelike, and since the movie was made in the late '70's, it's obviously dated now, BUT the effects and film itself age together. Sure it looks old, they had old cameras, actors, lighting, and other stuff that has improved since then as well, but the effects don't stand alone like in District 9. The whole set in Alien looks integrated, the hallways, actors, and Aliens all fit in.
Back to District 9. Well, the first time they showed the "Prawns", I could obviously tell that they were done crappy. I mean, cool, they look great! They just don't look anything like the rest of the movie. Scenes where these "Prawns" can be found searching through garbage in the dumb are almost laughable because the layers literally stick out like a sore thumb. Why couldn't they just have spent those millions on practical effects? No, ruining a movie would be much more fun. I don't know, I just don't get it. Why does everybody say the creatures look good? They look the same as they did in Men In Black ten years ago. Nothing has changed, in two years everybody will say the graphics look horrible compared to ___ ( Insert next crappy blockbuster)

Anyways, let's look at the movie BESIDES the graphics. Ok, so the plot was absolutely unbearable. I mean, I like science fiction, I'm actually a HUGE fan, but what have we come to? Hasn't this Neill Blomkamp character seen " Signs " yet? Doesn't he know the #1 rule of films like this? DON'T SHOW THE FREAKIN' CREATURES! Geez! Want to snatch up an extra 50 million viewers, and actually sell a few DVD's? Well then give our tiny incapable human brains something to imagine please, .... please? In Signs, showing the Aliens' feet, arms, etc. while they ran through corn fields and birthday parties was great, but don't put some rubbery nonsense in my face like that, and don't kill my boy Joaquin. Please. They looked like the " Putties " in Power Rangers.

Ugh.. I don't know, I just miss the good ol' days of Science Fiction when you could ask for a copy of " The Day The Earth Stood Still" without receiving a box with Keanu Reeves on the cover. District 9 is the same way, it's more of a marketing plan than a film. They have their hands on just about the right concoction to get America to fall into movies like this. You can usually tell when they put the best clips of the movie in the trailer, and then delete them from the film ( see picture above ) Well, what happens when you have something and then subtract it?
Nothing.

Nothing = District 9
2/10

Surfing the Web

So my website is looking pretty good! I've been working on it all week, and now it's finally done with it's first stage. I still have two links to connect, but the beta stage is finally done. Most links are fully functional, and all of the pages finally match! Believe me, I'm no web designer, but it definitely feels good to do something all by yourself, especially something that you're relatively new to. Be sure to check it out!

www.SeherCinema.com

Check out this video!!!

Things are looking up!!!

Well, it's been a while since i've logged in, and this is my first post in a while. That's good though because I have of great news! I got my Canon Xl2, as well as my tripod, steady-cam, and other goodies... AND I'm working on my very own website! It's actually up right now, but it's far from finished. Check it out if you like! www. SeherCinema.com So anyways, i'll be graduating from school here in a little bit, and I'm really excited to movie on with my career. I hope to get my Master's Degree next, and I really want a Master's of FIne Arts,probably majoring in Directing. possibly writing. Check out the images below of my equipment, I'm defiantly getting there!

Still in school..**SIGH**

Things are going well, I hope to get my camera soon, then I can really start doing some serious work. I want to get a Canon XL2, let's cross our fingers...

School '08

Well, it's 2008. I'm still in school, and things are going well. I made a Youtube account, and posted a few things on it. You should go and check it out!

www.Youtube.com/SeherCinema