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.

The 83rd Academy Awards

Last night was the 83rd Academy Awards, and as a movie enthusiast I was clearly glued in front of the TV for the pre-show and the main event. With my ballot card in hand I set out to have a good time and maybe win some chocolate along the way. I felt the night as a whole went over quite well. Sure, the hosts were not the best they have ever been, but I though they did a sufficient job. Although Mr. Franco could have looked a little more in to it and a little less out of it (good thing he had Anne there to carry him through it).

From the day the nominations were released to the closing of last night, I had a feeling this would be a less then epic night at the Oscars. Not to say it was bad. I just had the feeling that there would be few upsets in the favoured winners for this year, and that there would be a good chance no one movie would be running away with an extreme amount of wins.


Out of the 21 categories I had actually seen majority of the movies for (I never get around to seeing all the shorts or documentaries), I was confident in all my pick except for who would walk home with best picture (where there was a good deal of debate). The consensus around my house was for Kings Speech, but I had to stick to my guns and ride my Social Network horse to the finish. Unfortunately I came out behind the rest in the end, but sometimes a guy has to go with his gut.

As you probably know already, the big acting honours of the night went to Colin Firth for this role as the stuttering king George VI; Natalie Portman for her role as a sheltered and naive ballerina who eventually spirals in to a vortex of delusion and paranoia; Melissa Leo as a mother of two boxers (one washed up and living in the past, and the other working his way up to be the future of his family); and finally to Christian Bale (aka Batman) for his role as the aforementioned washed up boxer. All were widely expected to win their respective awards, so it was business as usual there.
 

Courtesy of ABC.com

Courtesy of ABC.com

Inception and King's Speech were the overall big winners of the night, with both walking away with 4 Oscars. Inception was able to clean house in the technical categories, winning visual and sound awards as well as cinematography, while King's Speech took picture, leading actor, original screenplay and director. Personally, I was really rooting for Dave Fincher to take director. After a long list of AAA titles and no Oscar to show for it, I had really hoped that this would have been his year. Alas, the only luck he would have that night was bad luck, and Tom Hooper was the one who walked away with the honour of best director.

Courtesy of ABC.com

As I said before, the night was quite successful overall from where I was sitting, although I could have done without the singing by the grade school kids at the end. Sure it was a good rendition on “Somewhere over the Rainbow”, but I felt that was something more suited for a morning news show and not a way to wrap up the Academy Awards.

Oh well. Here is to waiting another year for this night to come back around, and to another year of new movies and a whole new list of movies that will fight for the title of Best Picture!