The Challenge So Far

So it's the first of February, and I am one month in to my challenge of 400 movies in a year. As it stands right now I am at 29 movies, not to bad for a month with 31 days. I will have to pick it up slightly if I am to make my goal.



As of right now the list of movies I have watched this month is:
1)50/50
2) Ides of March
3)Like Crazy

4) Bad Teacher
5) Drive Angry
6) Puncture
7) Killer Elite
8) The Change up
9) The Tree of Life
10) Warrior
11) Final Destination 5
12) The Guard
13) Real Steel
14)The Dark Knight **
15) Trust
16) Shoot em up **
17) Kung Fu Panda 2
18) Batman Begins **
19) The Thing (2011)
20) The Thing (1982) **
21) The Descendants
22) The Artist
23) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas**
24) War Horse
25) Shame
26) Sin City**
27) In Bruges **
28)II Love You Phillip Morris
29) The man who wasn't there

I will do my best to have a segments at the start of each month listing the movies I have watched that month. I plan to do a few movie marathons focusing on certain directors or movie genera, mostly important movies I have yet to see. I will post information on that ahead of time just in case someone out there is interested in doing the same.
 I hope the first month of the new year was great for everyone!
Until next time <3

Film Noir Enough?

One of the stills from a project i am working on for school. My make-shift attempt at film noir, didnt have really proper lighting but it looks alright.

Back at it?

Well the Oscar nominations were released a few days ago, and it dawned on me; it's been almost a year since I've done work on this blog. Well I think it's about time I changed that.

Well first off let me say (not that anyone will even read this, and if you are <3), that I have gone though some changes over the last year. First off, I am back in school, studying a make-shift film program at the University of Windsor. Sure it's not The American Film Institute, or one of the many universities located out in Southern Cali, but it will do the trick for now. Second, I am doing my best to actually getting my hands dirty with working on films. Mostly just helping fellow classmates and the such around campus, but hey everyone needs to start somewhere. Third, I am busily working away on my own projects, one of which I plan to start getting everything ready for in the next few days; that is, once if refine some final touches on some dialogue. Forth, ( and possibly most important) I've been watching movies, lots of movies.... like all the time. I have recently put myself on a task of watching 400 movies over the next 365 days, 400 might seem like a big number but it shouldn't prove too difficult, ( I even contemplated making it 800, but went with 400). Oh and I am also limiting myself to only seeing 80 movies that I have seen before, forcing myself to see movies I haven't seen before. 

So down to the nitty-gritty. Chances are that if your reading this you  probably have some interests in movies (how else did you find this blog I wonder? or why are you even reading this?) and have more than likely seen the Oscar nominations. Chances are if that is true, then you have probably read many articles on this year's "snubs". Well guess what, you about to read some more :).

I don't plan on going to in-depth for this (I have a assignment due at midnight that I should probably start soon), so I'll just do my best to keep it short and to the point. 

First off!!!!!!!!

The lack of love for Drive. This was my overall favourite movie this year. It was dark, intense, and with each and every scene the tension grew and grew. The fact that academy left it out for the nomination; i.e., Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor (Al Brooks, he was amazing) is a travesty.

Speaking of people left out, WHERE I ASK YOU!!! is Michael Fassbender? Shame, though the subject matter might be a bit much for some people, was a gripping and intense look in to the life of a sex addict. The man from Germany sure can act his ass-off, and it is a crying shame he was left out of the nominations this year.

Now, though I have not actually seen Extremely Loud and Incredibly close; yet, (though that will change in the next week, as I now have to see it thanks to this) the academy thought to grace it will a Best Picture nomination, (which kind of came out of left field, resulting in Drive not being nominated, IMO that is), which to me just seems odd. I will have more to say on this once I actually go out and see the movie, but for now ill raise my pitchfork in the air in disapproval until the cows come home. 

Lastly I would like to talk about Ryan Gosling. This was one of the best years for him as a actor, hell it would be considered an amazing year for any actor who could have put out two stellar movies, and one great one (the two being Drive and Ides of March, and the one being Crazy Stupid Love), if I made a top list of 2011, both of those movies would be on it (Drive of course being number 1)....(hey you reading this...have you seen Drive?.....is that a NO?, well I command you to go see it......ok well sadly it is not on DVD yet...umm...ok next Tuesday I command you to rent it, you got that!) Though I am sad he was not nominated, I can't be too mad since the academy seemed fit to give Gary Oldman a nomination ( His first ever, and it was a long time coming). 

Well that about sums up everything I wanted to say in this. I plan to keep this more updated as time goes on. I would just like to leave you with one more thing.....

GO SEE THE ARTIST!!!!!!!!!

<3

Burn After Reading

Burn After Reading is one of those movies where, upon reaching the end of the film, you ask yourself "what did I just watch"? The movie is ripe with conspiracy, paranoia, anger and very stupid people. It’s zany and off the wall, and is always throwing something new at the viewers. Like a very unusual chair that gives new meaning to the word “hardwood”.



Every character is looking for their own place in the world. Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) is just trying to get some money together to pay for some surgery that she hopes will make her more attractive to the men she meets up with through online dating services. A financial feat she hopes to accomplish with the help of a CD she received from her co-worker, Chad (Brad Pitt), with some "very sensitive sh*t" on it. This is one of the weirder roles I have seen Brad Pitt play. He's a physical fitness instructor at a gym who thinks he just struck gold with the aforementioned CD. He proceeds to go on a wild goose chase with Linda in an attempt to return/sell back the CD to its owner. When that does not go as planned, Linda and Chad try to bring the CD to the Russians instead. Why the Russians you ask? Because it is some "very sensitive sh*t".



Every character in this movie is really unique in their own way, but as a whole they all share something in common. They are all idiots... really big idiots. George Clooney  plays a paranoid treasury agent and U.S. Marshal who is convinced people are watching him. In his free time he manages to have affairs with both Tilda Swinton ( who plays the wife of John Malkovich) and Frances Mcdormand, on top of working on a "special project" in his basement.



Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) is a CIA analyst who just lost his job. His wife is cold and distant (and also cheating on him), and all he wants to do is finish the book he is writing. He is an alcoholic and a right big SOB. Through a series of unfortunate events, his book (in CD format) ends up in the hands of our good pals at the gym Linda and Chad.



This is one of those movies where you either love it or hate it. I for one loved it. It’s funny, weird, and quirky, and I wouldn’t expect anything less from the Coen brothers. I am a huge Coen brother fan. While this is not the best Coen brothers movie ever, even a bad Coen brothers movie is better than most films being released today, All in all, this film is a fun little trip down conspircy lane.

iPad 2 Announced

Apple announced the iPad 2 at a press conference today, and plan to have it in consumer hands not even a year after the release of the original model. I guess that is the world we live in these days. Technology stops for no man. Of course, it will cost you a pretty penny if you want to get your hands on the new model. At this point you may be sitting there asking yourself “Why should I buy a new iPad when mine is not even a year old?”. Well let me highlight some of the new features and you can make that decision for yourself.



To start off with, it’s its smaller, about 33% slimmer and 15% lighter than its predecessor. Though, this is not a big deal to me since the first Ipad wasn't all that big to begin with, nor was it a chore to carry around. It’s rocking a new processor, Apple’s new A5 processor to be exact. They are promising twice the speed as the last iPad when working with CPU processes, and nine times the speed for graphics. So basically, instead of taking 2 seconds to load something it will now take one!!! Also, for you iPad gamers out there get ready for some faster gaming. Let’s just hope your fingers can keep up.



First seen with the iPhone 4, the new Ipad will be rocking a front-facing camera for all your FaceTime needs. It will also come with a rear facing camera that will be able to capture 720p HD video.  This would be better if the iPad wasn't so awkward to capture video on. As it stands, I would much prefer a handheld camera or a phone for my quick video needs.



Since I live in Canada, the AT&T and Version property war (or so it seems from my perspective) doesn't mean squat to me. However, any Americans reading this will be happy to know that there will be models running on both networks out of the box.



The iPad 2 is coming loaded with Apple iOS 4.3, the latest version of apples mobile operating system. You should expect to see faster Safari (mobile internet) browsing, iTunes home sharing, enhancements to AirPlay (sadly i don't know what this is...), and the ability to use the iPad side switch to lock the screen rotation or mute audio (I wish I had a screen lock option on my iPhone 3G). You can turn your iPad 2 in to a personal hot spot and share your iPhone 4 cellular data over a Wi-Fi connection.



 Apple also introduced two new apps: iMovie and GarageBand to the new iPad. iMovie is for the junior film maker in all of us, where you can shoot and edit movies on your iPad and load them directly to YouTube or Facebook (or wherever people are putting videos these days). As for GarageBand, now you can be a one man band from the comfort of your living room. It turns your Ipad in to a miniature recording studio with an assortment of instruments at your finger tips.



The iPad 2 is boasting a 10 hour battery life and 30 hours of standby battery, built-in gyro for better position related gaming (hopefully less screen flipping when i don't want it to as well), and HDMI Video Mirroring that will allow users to mirror their Ipad to a HDTV using an optical adaptor ( this is something I am kind of excited for). Oh and they will be available in both black and white.

I know that the real question you are all asking yourself is “When can I get my hands on this wonderful new piece of hardware?”. Well if you live in Canada, it won’t be will until the end of this month, with a release date set for March 25th. As for you lucky Americans, you will be able to get your hands on it as early as next Friday. The pricing is similar to that set for the original model, with both Wi-Fi and 3g options. For a base model you are looking at $499, while you’ll be forking out $829 for the top end “everything but the kitchen sink” model.



Now that you have the juicy details, let me offer my short, non-professional opinion on this new product. The iPad 2 has some neat new features, but for those of us who were uninterested in the original product last year, or are perfectly happy with their first gen iPad, I think it is safe to sit this one out and see what next year brings. From what I can see, the iPad 2 offers some nice improvements over the original model, but it’s not revolutionary. While the boost in graphics could lend to better games finding their way on the system, it will take awhile for developers to really make use of that extra power, since I am sure they will want to optimize their games to work on older iPads as well. However if you were planning on picking up an iPad anyhow, your purchase will now have more bang for the buck! Or, for the bargain shoppers out there, you will get a chance to score a first gen Ipad at clearance price... Maybe.

Donald Glover to host mtvU's Woodie Awards

Today came an announcement that Donald Glover would be hosting mtvU's Woodie awards, where college students award up-and-coming artists a piece of wood for their work.

"I'm really excited to be hosting The Woodies, (insert joke about the award sounding like a penis)," Glover said in a statement.

I think this is really great for Glover. He has gotten a lot of attention on the web since the hit NBC show "Community" has taken off, and there were even talks about him being Spiderman last year. I know I was excited at the prospect of him being cast in the role of the web-slinger, and I died a little inside when I found out Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) was going to take the reins instead.

The Woodie Awards will be on March 16th from the South by South West festival in Austin Texas.

The Lives of Others

  You sit in your home, alone or possibly with friends/family, you are safe, you are free to talk about what you want and who you want without the fear of repercussion from authorities. You can laugh, you can tell any kind of joke you want, you can criticize your leaders, you can write what you want with out anyone telling you no, or re-writing your work. Most of us live in a free country, and it can be easy to forget that some people do not have this luxury.






The Lives of Others is one of those Oscar winning movies that few people have seen or even heard of. If you are one of the many unacquainted with the film, you are missing out on one of the best movies out in 2006. Yes, in a year with such movies as The Departed, The Queen, Babel, Blood Diamond, and The last king of Scotland, a small foreign movie about a captain in the German secret police who is tasked with listening in on other people's conversations is in ranks right up there.


Set in East Germany, 5 years before the destruction of the Berlin Wall, the story follows Gerd Wiesler as he is tasked with eavesdropping on the discussions of an accomplished playwright George Dreyman (Sebastian Koch) and his lead actress lover Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck), under the orders of a greedy Minister who has eyes for Christina. With no life of his own, no family, friends, or wife, Wiesler starts to form an emotional bond with his targets. Slowly, his emotions override his training and duty, and he begins to cover up the activities of the couple.

I loved this movie, this is one of those movies where someone can tell you 100 times to go see, but until you actually go out of your way and see it, their words are just words. Ulrich Muhe was outstanding as the emotionless robot who eventually remembers what it means to be human and care for people. His facial expressions show a depth of emotion that few Hollywood actors can match. If you have never seen or heard of this movie before, do yourself a favor and seek it out. Don't let the subtitles scare you off. This is an excellent movie that everyone should see.