As a huge Family Guy fan, I was ecstatic when I learned that Seth McFarlane was bringing his talent to the big screen. When Ted hit theaters this past July, I jumped at the chance to go. I had high expectations for the film and was not disappointed. I really enjoyed the movie and thought that it had the right amount of humor without taking away from a heartwarming storyline. I felt that outside of the fact that teddy bears cannot come to life, this film was very real and struck a cord with the universal human experience. Watching Mark Wahlberg's character struggle with growing up and choosing between his girlfriend and best friend was something many viewers could relate to. I appreciated McFarlane's writing and thought he did a good job of sneaking in a serious storyline behind all the jokes and gags. Although I found it hilarious, I did find some of the humor a little crude, but went in expecting to be made a little uncomfortable. It is that brash humor that I admire about McFarlane's work. He pushes the envelope to see how far he can go, and then pushes it even further. I like this because I believe humor is something to be appreciated and entertained by and those that get offended and angered by it should shut up, sit back, and enjoy what was created purely to entertain them. Here is the behind the scenes clip that I found pretty interesting. It shows how they used Seth's movements to make Ted seem as real to life as they could.
I'm really excited for this new project. The idea of using a story that was in the news and making a short film with it is interesting and has the opportunity to be so creative and dynamic because you can approach it at some many angles. My idea of using the story of the Empire State Building shooting can be spun in so many directions. I can write a story of the life of someone who survived the shooting or a bystander, a relative of the shooter, relative or someone who has died in the shooting, a cop who worked that day, so many places I can take this story. I like the other ideas shared in class too, I voted for the the story about the gun in the book, but I'm still debating about doing my own project. I know how difficult it can be to try and assemble a team and do a production, which is why I voted for the story about the gun and the book, which is the story I will most likely do. Im excited for this project and working with other people from the class. Should be fun!
A long, long time ago, in a boardroom far far away, George
Lucas had just sold the foundation for which his career is based off of, for
what seems like a small country to Disney. Four billion dollars, that’s how
much Mr. Lucas sold Lucas Films and all its properties, those include Star
Wars, Indiana Jones, among the more profitable ones. I could talk about what
this means for the future of a film franchise that was so ingrained in my
childhood, but no I want to talk about what George Lucas is doing with this
newfound mound of wealth. You would think that he would go off and buy an
island somewhere near Richard Branson’s, but no he’s giving it all back….to
education. Here is a quote from the man himself “I am dedicating the majority of my wealth
to improving education. It is the key to the survival of the human race,” Lucas
said in 2010. “We have to plan for our collective future — and the first step
begins with social, emotional, and intellectual tools we provide to our
children. As humans, our greatest tool for survival is our ability to think and
to adapt — as educators, storytellers, and communicators our responsibility is
to continue to do so.” A lot of
fans give him a lot of slack for “ruining” Star Wars but I see him now in a
brand new light, and heck maybe Disney won’t f***k this one up.
This is a movie (or rather a 'trilogy') that I've wanted to bring up for some time now. I've always been a fan of foreign films, particularly Asian horror. However, this movie not only takes the cake, but the whole damn bakery.
Oldboy is the 2nd in a series of South Korean films referred to as The Vengeance Trilogy. From the mind of director Chan-wook Park, The Vengeance Trilogy are a series of films all connected not by characters or plot, but by one central, menacing theme: vengeance.
The other two movies are called Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, the former of these two being the better one, in my opinion. However, this post will focus on the middle child of the triplets that I mentioned earlier, entitled Oldboy.
Oldboy is the story of a man named Oh Dae-su, on his quest to find the man who has, for some inexplicable reason, imprisoned him for the last 15 years of his life. When he's released, he is given money, a phone, and clothes. While searching for answers, Oh-Dae su starts to put his pieces together and figures out that his kidnapper has much bigger, complex, and painful plans in store for him.
Without giving anything away, I will assure all readers that Oldboy is a FANTASTIC movie and a complete and utter mind f***. It received an 8.4/10 on IMDB, and is what I consider to be the best movie I have ever seen.
While Oldboy definitely satiates my desire for graphic horror, gore in some places, and twisted plot lines, it goes above and beyond your typical thriller/horror flick. Oldboy connects the audience to the protagonist better than I've ever seen. The audience is just as much in the dark about what is going on in the story as Oh Dae-su is, and as a viewer, it draws you in like no other. The cinematography is utterly phenomenal, with a fight scene taking place in a hallway that is, in some reviews I've read, being dubbed as a "classic" fight scene (I'll post the link to it down at the bottom). Min-sik Choi is a fantastic Korean actor who puts on a beautiful performance as Oh Dae-su. Simply put, I cannot think of a single thing that is wrong with this movie. Every single aspect of it functions to tie together the story being told and, at the very end when the big reveal of the plot is made, leaves the viewer saying, "Holy crap, that was amazing".
I have watched this film about 3 times and enjoy it more and more every time I watch it. It is my favorite movie of all time and I recommend it to ANYONE who wants to see how a good thriller is made. Go on Netflix right now and watch Oldboy. You may have to look away and you may be uncomfortable at times, but I guarantee you will not regret watching this movie.
It's also got one of the best quotes from a poem ever. Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone.
Here's the trailer, and the fight scene I mentioned earlier. Thanks ya'll.
Anchorman is one of my absolute favorite movies. This movie came out in 2004, but still to this day my friends and I (and like everyone else our age, especially) quote this movie often. I must have seen this movie around 30 times, but I still crack up laughing every time. So when they announced a sequel last year I was so excited! But since then, Anchorman fans have gotten no more information. ANCHORMAN 2 WHEN ARE YOU COMING OUT?!?!?!? They have an initial release date as October 21, 2013, which they just came up with recently. I have also been able to find only a teaser trailer. So I will leave you with that to remind you of the greatness that is Anchorman and Ron Burgundy.
It seem like Ben Affleck is in a groove directing, going three for three on his first three films. Those films he directed in order are- Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and the newly released Argo. One of these films is special to me because it is filmed very close to where I live. That is The Town. I remember first seeing the trailer to this film and being so excited to see it. And then when I saw it, it did not disappoint.
This movie is a crime-drama and it tells the story of a bankrobber who is trying to leave the crew and get rid of his bad ways and move on with his life. There is a great balance of action and meaningful dialogue which is something I love. The movie is intense but it touches on emotions you don't usually feel in movies in this genre. Affleck makes the audience feel for Dougie (main character) and shows that people like him can be good. There is very high quality acting by everyone in the film. I think Ben Affleck is showing that not only can he be a successful actor but he is one of the best directors out there right now.
James Bond is more than a character, he is a film institution in his own right. "Skyfall," the 23rd movie of the franchise, third of the new reboot series," is approaching us. To prepare, my roommate and I watched "Casino Royale" and "Quantum of Solace," starring all around bad ass Daniel Craig, to prepare for this new film. During the movie, we talked about why we liked Bond, and we appreciate the serious talk and that, even though we love the hokey gadgets of years past, the world needs the realist tools and fight scenes.
We both loved "Casino Royale" and we both were bored with "Quantum of Solace." We talked about what makes one good and one bad.
"Quantum" is all action. There is a story and it would be a good one if the movie just gave us time to breath and take it in. It's about oil, water, corrupt governments, money, CIA coups, a secret organization and revenge, always a good motivator for movie character. By the time the movie was over, I felt only a little bit less empty than why I saw it in 2008 in theaters.
"Casino Royale" was more of a thriller than an action movie, and hopefully the new one will stick with that. It gave us a torture scene that made every male in the audience cringe in pain, attack Bond's favorite gadget.
The movies get rid of the crazy plans for world domination with the silly lairs and names and create a world where men want money more than anything else. Bond doesn't say all of his catch phrases and we haven't gotten Miss Moneypenny and Q, who both will be in "Skyfall." I think what Quantum was missing was a villain who actually was a character and not a generic action film villain. Javier Barden, who played "Anton Chigurh," one of the best movie villains, and he got the oscar for that performance in "No Country for Old Men" might be able to bring some personality to the next Bond film. Hopefully, I will feel shaken (with excitement) and not stirred (with anger) at "Skyfall."
I love scary movies in general, but around this time of year it just feels appropriate. We all know that Roman Polanski is the master of dark, unsettling films that tend to linger in the back of your mind for a few days after you watch it. After watching Rosemary's Baby for the first time last Halloween, I decided to continue the tradition of creepy Polanski films and watched one of his classics, the psychological horror film Repulsion. Released in 1965 and starring Catherine Deneuve Repulsion follows the story of a young girl living with her sister in London who descends into madness, leading to a series of delusions and finally murder.
Deneuve's Carol is a painfully shy and withdrawn woman who has an increasingly severe paranoia/fear of sex and men. Carol's crippling fear is juxtaposed with her pure aesthetic and the perpetual ringing of church bells nearby. When her sister goes on vacation with her boyfriend, she is left her alone in their apartment accompanied only by her weakening mental state and the rotting carcass of a skinned rabbit intended to be dinner, that Carol just leaves to sit in the living room. Carol gradually goes insane, experiencing hallucinations of rape, men lurking in her apartment, and shape-shifting walls. She barricades herself in the apartment as a mechanism of protection and threatens the life of anyone who dares to disrupt her personal confinement.
The story is slow to develop- but that makes it all the more creepy. When you watch this movie, you really feel like you're witnessing the unraveling of someone's sanity first hand. Its almost as if Polanski intended that the audience be confined to the apartment with Carol, giving us this voyeuristic, suffocation of an experience. Despite being released over fifty years ago, the movie's horror factor still holds up. I definitely recommend watching this film.
Since yesterday was Halloween, I thought that I would be fun to watch American Horror Story, since it has that spooky vibe. As Ron Burgundy says "well that escalated quickly". That one episode turned into a marathon. This show is so interesting and suspenseful that you cannot merely watch one episode. This show features a bounty of talented and well known actors; Jessica Lange, Zachary Quinto, Dylan McDermott, Sarah Paulson, etc. It also has so many different story lines that you never become bored or exhausted from watching the same thing. I was disappointed that they left some storylines open at the end, but they had so much ground to cover that it only makes sense. This is one of the first shows on television of it's kind. People don't normally decide to pop on the couch and watch an hour of suspense when they could watch a feel good comedy show. But this show also has a bit of dark humor to it, I highly recommend it.
I thought it was interesting that Fox (producers of the show) had to handle a lawsuit about the infringement on someone's tattoos. A male model by the name of Rick Genest has his body fully tattooed to look like a skeleton. In a scene of American Horror Story one of the characters has his face tattooed to resemble a skeleton as well. The problem with this was that the character then shot up a high school. They were able to settle outside of court, but still this brings into question if Rick Genest even has the right to copyright a tattoo or whether if the show was
committing defamation, which could have ruined Genest's career.
After our film shoot last weekend, I realized how important it is know your footage, actors, and location before shooting a shot as detail heavy as our recreation shot. I also learned that it is extremely difficult to find actors if you are not organized and ambitious. Despite all of our efforts we could not find enough actors to do the original shot we chose and had to change our shot at the very last minute, creating a source of stress within the group. I also learned that it is important to know upcoming events and activities dealing with your location to prevent conflicts in scheduling. Because we filmed in the commons for our original shot, we were unable to shoot there for the recreation shot due to a community activity that was taking place on our scheduled shooting day. It was also very difficult to film around the public and to capture the natural state of people with a camera present.
For the actual film shoot, I was the Director of Photography and we decided to use the Sony FS-100. I have not really used the camera before and it was much easier to achieve the look of the original shot by using picture profiles. Using profile pictures, allowed me to view the shot through several types of settings and help me achieve the perfect look for our recreation shot. It was also a great challenge to frame the shot the same as the original. I found it to be very beneficial to study the location of the actors in relation to their environment. I used physical attributes of the location, such as lines on the wall and staircases, to frame the shot within the camera.
As far as the directing was concerned, it worked the best to provide our actors with countdowns for their actions and used verbal cues to move the actors forward in the shot. Using a countdown was very beneficial to our actors. In the end we got a shot that was almost identical to the first shot, concerning the physical and facial expressions of our actors. It was also very important that we used similar wardrobe choices and actors with similar physical features.
Overall, I am really impressed with myself and my groups's ability to overcome the difficulties we faced during this project. I wished that our shot was much longer than it ended up being but I think we did an excellent job on our recreation shot. This was a very challenging experience but was a great learning experience and tons of fun.
I added a new film to my favorites list yesterday that I thought I'd share with you all!
It's a little bit relevant to our next project because it is loosely based on a true story. It is extremely saddening to me if at least most of the events in the story had actually occurred in real life. It has been speculated that it was based on a story about two australian's who were hanged for drug trafficking heroine. In the movie there are three characters who while on vacation are caught with a good amount of hash. Two of the character's in question had already gone back home but one stayed behind to work on an animal saving opportunity dealing with gorillas. They catch him and through him in prison and he is sentenced to hang, never having mentioned his two other friends until it becomes clear that there is nothing else he can do to save himself from sure death. He releases their names to his lawyers. One of them goes back to the USA to find his two friends who might be able to help him get away.
The film is extremely emotional and very human. Each character is believable and is relatable. It's important to understand that things like this can happen and when traveling the world one must realize you can't just do what you do at home normally. Whether or not this happens to be true.
The film stars Vince Vaughn and Jauquin Phoenix. Both of their performances are spectacular. I would certainly see this film again. I also encourage others to watch it.
It reminded me very much of Midnight Express where an american man is caught with drugs trying to smuggle them across the sea to the US. He then is sent to a turkish prison where he is poorly treated and sometimes tortured. The chances of him getting out are very slim and are often shut down even though his family tries very hard to help him through the american embassy. The punishment is debatably unfair. I think that movie may also be based on a true story.
So a word to the wise; if you're going to a foreign country, you probably should at least know their policies and laws and also you probably should refrain from the use or carrying of illegal substances.
I added Return to Paradise to my favorites list at #92 out of now 123 films!
In the spirit of election season, I thought I would post about a movie that I really really enjoy. Iron Jawed Angels is a film about Women's suffrage. I watched this film last election season when I was a junior in high school. I remember thinking that the film was very well shot and that the cinematography was very unique. As a woman, this film was very inspirational and informative. Many people are aware of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, but not many people know about Alice Paul who was one of the most influential figures in the Women's Suffrage Movement. The title comes from a Massachusetts Representative who in 1917 opposed the creation of a committee to deal with women's suffrage. He thought the creation of a committee would be yielding to "the nagging of iron-jawed angels"(wikipedia).
The film is about two young women named Alice Paul (played by Hilary Swank) and Lucy Burns who broke away from the National American Women's Suffrage Association (NAWSA) to find their own party, the National Women's Party. The women participate in many protests and get arrested for their actions which are seen by other suffragettes as too forceful and brash. Alice Paul and several other women are sent to a workhouse for a 60-day term for the result of their protesting. There Alice and several other women go on a hunger strike. At one point in the movie Alice is force fed eggs and milk to keep her alive. This is one of the hardest scenes to watch. It looks so painful when they stick a metal device in her mouth to make sure her mouth and throat stay open long enough to get food inside her.
The film was nominated in five categories at the 2004 Emmys including outstanding cinematography which I think it should have won for. I found the movie on Youtube and attached a clip of the first scene which I think is a wonderful sample of its unique cinematography. I really like the shot of the girl on the swing and then the cut to the P.O.V. shot looking up at the tree. It is very interesting and captivating.
It's that time of year where you can bust out the candy corn, curl up in your (either expensive or homemade) costume, and watch some horror films. I don't know whether it was Whoopie Goldberg's fantastic intro to the film in MonsterFest 2000: The Classics Come Alive (it's a thing, look it up), the behind the scenes look, or me just being a ten year old, but Creature from the Black Lagoon has always been one of my favorite Halloween films of all time. Let's dive in, shall we?
Though made in 1954, this film was one of the first ever 3-D movies (I know, fantastic right)? Creature from the Black Lagoon also incorporated underwater scenes, another marvel for the 1950's. I guess one of the reasons I love this film so much is because there is a forbidden love story amid the "horror". Also, this movie was a huge step forward for the collective art department of our industry. The creature's suit was very primitive (from an art department stand point); the actor could barely see, sit, or keep from overheating but was progressive none the less. Another reason this movie is superb is because this movie has made such an impact on the industry; it basically has been name dropped or referenced since it's release (i.e. The Seven Year Itch, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Simpsons). I highly recommend this film both from a cinema and an entertainment standpoint. Happy sailing!
Hello everybody, since class on Wednesday I've been shooting with the Sony fs100 and have been experimenting with some different picture profiles. There are a lot of great resources on the web and simply by trying out different profiles you can easily get a good grasp over how different settings effect different things. This allows you to take profiles you find online and use them as starting points to acquire your own desired image.
Some good sites I've found regarding picture profiles:
We looked at this site a little bit in class. It has a lot of great information and features a variety of profiles that are optimized to get the most out of the fs100's sensor.
Frank is a cinematographer, on his blog he has various links to different profiles as well as example photographs for each one. I've found this to be a good place for references as with it's many examples you can get going in the right direction and then "tweak" the profile yourself to achieve your desired image.
As a host of the movie review show The Screening Room, on ICTV, I have to watch about three movies a week and write reviews. This last week, one of the movies we watched was Smashed, directed by James Ponsoldt. The film first appeared at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and won the U.S Dramatic Special Jury Prize for Excellence in Independent Film Producing. The film was picked up by Sony Pictures in August and was released October 2012.
The film tells of the story of Kate, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Charlie, Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad. Kate and Charlie are married and both share the love of alcohol. Kate's alcoholism spirals out of control and her job as an elementary school teacher is threatened. Kate then decides to work on her sobriety and asks Charlie to do the same. Kate meets her sponsor, played by Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer. The move showcases Kate's struggle to maintain her sobriety, her marriage, and the relationship she once had with Charlie that was based on their alcoholism.
This is by far one of the best films I have seen in a very long time. The reason why I love this film is because of how emotionally raw the characters and story are. Ponsoldt did an excellent job of portraying the story of two alcoholics without all the fluff and sugar coating. Aaron Paul and Mary Elizabeth Winstead have great chemistry throughout the film and build an emotionally complex performance for audiences. I found myself fully involved in Kate's struggle. This a is a film of intense emotional investment. The characters are bold, the story is very real, and the performances are excellent. Alcoholism is not a subject that is taken lightly and is often shown in a very comedic light in films. I enjoyed the realness feel this film had. The film has high and low points and offers audiences an emotional variety. Overall, a really awesome film that everyone should see. Check out the trailer below.
The last film I added to my favorites list came in at number 55 out of a total of 121 films!! Warning This film is a tear-jerker!! The film I speak of is The Pianist!
I had kept seeing it suggested to me on my Netflix account but never really thought too hard about biting the bate. My most recent method in watching films everyday has been to look up the directors of each of my favorite films on IMDB and look for other films they've directed on Netflix. Obviously, I couldn't find all of them. My other method is to look for films on Netflix that are suggested to me by friends and staff members at Ithaca. Sometimes I'll even eves dorp on other people talking about a film and try to find that one too. Needless to say, the "director method" as I like to call it, took me a very long time considering I have 121 films on my list currently!!
The Pianist was directed by Roman Polanski, who also directed Chinatown (#41/121). The writing was very well done and art direction was incredible, directing was wonderful and Adrian Brody did one heck of an act!
I suggest if you don't mind balling your eyes out a little it's a great story and certainly something everyone should experience because it's good to understand what happened from a certain perspective. It's really great! Sorry this post was a little later than usual but I've been a busy little film making student these days! Hope all is well with everyone out there!
I watched Hour of the Wolf this past week on Arturo's recommended movie list. This movie was very interesting and unlike anything I had seen before. It is a Swedish film directed by Ingmar Bergman and it follows the story of an artist who is struggling with his past and night demons he has while he sleeps. One of the aspects of the film that I find so interesting is that it is told in a series of diary entries. So after each scene, there is a fade to black, and between each scene we do not know what happens. There are flashbacks yet the story stays in order.
The film mixes a lot of suspense and horror and it really touches on emotions that many other movies do not. I was very confused with Johan, the main character, because he was always scared but I did not know why. And he was violent at times yet I do not know his motivations to be violent. It is a movie that I think I would need to watch multiple times to fully understand but I enjoyed watching it.
Last week I finally checked off a film that's been on my "to watch" list for a while now: Werner Herzog's documentary, Into The Abyss. The film explores our nation's most controversial institution, the death penalty. It is told through the stories of two men who were convicted of murder ten years prior, one of whom was actually sentenced to death in Huntsville, Texas (America's most "successful" execution facility) by the end of the film.
Through the duration of the film Herzog interviews all of the subjects himself- we often hear him off screen asking questions. He interviews almost everyone involved in and affected by the crime- the victims' families, the murderers, the policeman who worked on the case, the families of the murderers, the man who served as the head chief of executions, right down to the woman who met and married one of the convicted criminals after he was sentenced to a life in prison. This way the viewer is able to see the opinions of people involved on all sides of the story. The film proved to be less about the actual crime and more about how it affected peoples' lives. It is clear that Herzog entered the project with no judgements, and seeks to relate to and understand each person he interviews. It is very interesting to see how each subject rationalizes the crime and their respective situations.
Perhaps the thing I liked most about the film is that it does not seem very biased as documentaries often are. Its obvious that Herzog opposes the death penalty, but he doesn't try to force that belief on anyone else through the film. He merely gathers the information he can through interviewing these people involved in the crime and presents it without comment. He lets the viewer formulate his own opinion on the controversial subject. This film very well done, and certainly thought provoking. It is currently streaming on Netflix, I would recommend checking it out.
In my screenwriting class we watched a film titled "The Chinese Wall". The film is about a woman dining in a chinese restaurant alone on her birthday. The film is mainly told from the narration of her internal monologue. This is usually a big no-no when writing for the screen, but works really well for this film. I wasn't into the film at first, finding the subtitles tiring and the action on screen not very captivating. About half-way through the film, I began to get involved in the story. It is very interesting and relatable. The woman begins to people watch and make stories and assumptions about the people around her. It is later revealed that she was wrong about everyone, and the ending is heart warming. I found this film interesting because of it's successful use of narration. I also really liked the story and found it relatable since I often find myself people watching and wondering what their stories are. It is human nature to try and figure out what people's personalities and stories are. This leads us to come to false conclusions when we don't have a sufficient amount of information about them. I posted the clip below if you are interested in watching this film.
This past weekend I watched Derek Cianfrance's "Blue Valentine," a romantic drama starring Ryan Gosling ("Drive") as Dean and Michelle Williams ("Dawson's Creek") as Cindy. The two meet at a nursing home where Dean is delivering furniture and Cindy is visiting her grandmother. After a second encounter, Dean proves himself to be a charming goofball to the seemingly innocent Cindy. However, they soon rush into their relationship and six years later their relationship falls apart dramatically.
The movie jumps back and forth between the beginning of their relationship and its end 6 years later, when Cindy is a nurse, Dean is a balding drunk painter, and they have a daughter named Frankie. The two leads give great performances, both of which required great range to show the highs and lows of the characters' romance. Gosling, especially, is able to show his character's transformation from goofball to a loving, yet ignorant husband.
I really enjoyed this film, although watching these two fall out of love was depressing, and in two pivotal scenes, very uncomfortable. I thought the script was great and that the dialogue was realistic. Grizzly Bear, a band that I am not too familiar with, did the soundtrack which fit the movie well. I think that Cianfrance is a good director, and I am looking forward to his future films.
