Monday, October 31, 2011

October in Movies

Wow, another month has ended, and we only have two left. It's amazing how fast this year has gone...it still feels like yesterday that my world revolved around Inception and anything Christopher Nolan. Now my world revolves around...goodness knows what. At the moment I'm obsessed with Michael Fassbender. If anyone knows his number, can you give it to me so I can ask him to come to the ball with me? Awesome.

This month has been quite slow. There have been a lack of DVD releases, which is unfortunately the case next month too (but then again, the quality of the movies is better). Despite the fact that I had a two week break from school, I didn't really watch that many movies. In fact, everything has been a bit sketchy this month, and that will probably be the same next month as I have exams/study leave. And I have a puppy (my first dog) now, called Indy, who will be taking up most of my time :P Anyway...

Movies I'd never seen until the month of October...

Midnight in Paris
Hanna - Okay, so I watched this on this on three hours sleep, the cinema I watched it in didn't even have bloody drink holders and I had some ignorant teenage boys sitting behind me who exclaimed "This is the worst movie I've ever seen!" at the end of it. I liked it, but it was disappointing. The soundtrack is bloody amazing, though.
Insidious - One of the few horror movies I've actually ended up liking. I actually spent most of my time wondering whether I should turn out the lights, but I was too chicken!
Winnie the Pooh - I absolutely adored this cute little movie, it's one of my favourites from 2011. Pooh is the cutest little bear ever!
All Good Things - As much as I love Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst (seriously, why can't I be as beautiful as her?!), this movie really cheesed me off. It was so messy and ambiguous that by the end I just wanted to punch the air or something.
The Conspirator - Wow, I've already pretty much forgotten this movie. But can anyone who has watched the movie please tell me why this movie was so bright? Like, the cinematography was extremely light, which was really distracting.
The Virgin Suicides - Words cannot describe how much I love this movie. If only I could buy it, because it seems to be non-existent in New Zealand.
Agora - I've pretty much forgotten this film, too. It had way too much going on in it, and it was really messy. Performances from Rachel Weisz and Max Minghella were good, though.
Water for Elephants - Surprisingly a good movie. I love Christoph Waltz when he is angry.
The Company Men - Yet another film which I've pretty much forgotten about. What is with that?
Leaving Las Vegas - Good old Nicolas Cage, back when he was a real actor who was serious about the roles he took. I don't think I ever wanna touch alcohol after seeing this one, though.
Certified Copy - A darling movie that is my second favourite of the year. I wish I thought of this movie, really.
Trust - Here is another movie I wish that I thought of. There is something so intriguing about the internet and I really just want to make a movie about it all. Because I am cool like that.
Midnight in Paris - You know what? None of the critics in NZ have been embracing this movie. I've never seen a review that gives it over 3.5 stars. What is wrong with you?! This movie is the coolest of the cool!
Roman Holiday - Was waiting for The Double Life of Veronique and the ever elusive Days of Heaven from Fatso but this turned up instead. Oh well, it was a cool little romantic film.
Gone Baby Gone - Yes, I only just watched this for the first time. I feel like I should have watched it earlier. But I am a fan of Ben Affleck when he is directing.
Punch-Drunk Love - Bought this 'blind' while I was on holiday. But you really can't go wrong with Paul Thomas Anderson. I loved this movie!

Films I've seen before but felt the strong urge to watch again because I am cool like that...

Cemetery Junction
Paul - Me and my friends had a movie night (the reason why I was watching Hanna on three hours of sleep), and this was the first - and best - movie that we watched.
Sucker Punch - Again, part of the movie night. And you know what? It makes even less sense the second time.
Your Highness - Jeez, if I had a dollar for every time this movie had a dick joke in it I would probably be able to buy 50 copies of this movie to burn in a fire.
The Reader - Just decided to rewatch it because I love Ralph Fiennes. It was slightly disappointing, just as it had been when I watched it two years ago.
The Lion King - Childhood classic on Blu-Ray. Beautiful movie - could have done without the 3D conversion but that's all the rage these days.
X-Men: First Class - Michael Fassbender is so damn sexy that he - to quote Tumblr - makes my 'ovaries explode' every time I see him. I don't even know how a man as sexy as him could possibly exist on this Earth.
Certified Copy - Watched it again about a week after my first watch, just to savour it's goodness before I sent it back.
Thor - Just coz I couldn't be bothered watching anything else.
Cemetery Junction - Decided to watch it again last night because I had nothing else to do. I really do love this movie. Felicity Jones is adorable and Ralph Fiennes was so mean.

So, what do you think about these movies? Seen anything good this month? Happy Halloween!

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Let's Talk About Film Censorship Ratings...


The big news this week was that Steve McQueen's sophomore effort Shame got given the dreaded NC-17 rating by the MPAA. Now, this isn't something that came as a huge surprise, as most of the people who saw the film at various film festival's said that it's explicit content would get it the NC-17. It's all because this movie deals with sex addiction, which of course leads to a whole lot of sexually explicit material which then results in the NC-17 rating because, you know, kids can't watch that kind of stuff. Unlike many of the films before it, Shame will not be put up for appeal for an R rating. Instead, it's going to wear it's NC-17 rating loud and proud, and hopefully it will change a few people's attitude towards the NC-17 rating. Because, if the critical acclaim, trailer and cast are anything to go by, this film will be amazing.

Why is being an NC-17 such a bad thing?

Okay, so coming from New Zealand, which probably has the most complicated rating system like, ever, I can't help but feel that the MPAA rating system is a pile of crap. Well, to be honest, my life would be a whole lot easier if we had the 'R' rating here, because then I could drag my mother out to see films like Drive which is an R18 here. But this NC-17 business? It is seriously the largest pile of crap I have ever heard in my life. So, what I gather from this whole Shame situation and everyone trying to cut their films down to get an R rating, is that being an NC-17 is totally bad territory.


Here's what I don't understand: why is being an NC-17 such a bad thing? Here in New Zealand, we have R18's. Technically, this is a far worse rating than an NC-17. Yet, we just go about our day. Sure, there are very few R18's that make it to the cinema, but in the past couple of years, there have been some pretty successful ones in cinemas like: Drive, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Kick-Ass, Machete, Piranha...the R18 is just a sticker here, to be honest. Also, some of the movies that are widely regarded as classics are R18's, like: Pulp Fiction, Fight Club, Reservoir Dogs, American Psycho, Trainspotting, Taxi Driver, Requiem for a Dream and The Usual Suspects.

The R18 effect.

If you took a walk down the average DVD store's new release wall, you'd find that the large majority of the R18's are films that missed the cinema and went straight-to-DVD. Usually that's because they're sucky B-grade horrors that only have their target audience with fourteen year-old girls and boys who think they're as tough as nails and enjoy watching people suffer. But while the R18 doesn't necessarily do that much here outside of the cinemas, it does have this strange power which makes the younger crowd more interested in it.
Psychosis, one of those straight-to-DVD horrors
And here is where we have our problem. I see this happen all of the time. Let's say, a group of fourteen year -olds come into Blockbuster because they are having a movie night, and their mother or father has to stand by the counter awkwardly, where their children hand over a pile of DVDs so they can pay for them. More often than not, the pile is filled up with R18 horrors or action films, because these days teenagers are instantly drawn to incessant gore and violence to fill up their movies. The fact that their choices are R18's only makes them better because a) they feel so high and mighty when they're watching an R18 because it is against the law which of course makes them bad-ass, and b) if it's an R18, that means it probably has a lot more gore and violence in it than an R16 which will obviously make it better. That's just the way things are. It's never going to change. You slap an R18 sticker on a movie at the cinemas and the kids are just going to illegally download it. Just look at Kick-Ass, which was one of the most downloaded movies of 2010.

The Shame in having a whole lot of sex scenes.

Fact of the matter is: teenagers will only watch R18's if they are horrors or actions. Teenagers are all about the violence. And now I'm going to be perfectly blunt: if an R18 had sex scenes in it, there is only about a 10% chance that a teenager would get it out because firstly, they wouldn't want to watch it with a whole group of people and secondly, they'd have to get their parents to get it for them and that could cause a particularly awkward moment. Teenagers only want to watch sex scenes by themselves. And you know where they can do that? On the internet. Where it's free. So to be perfectly honest, what teenager is going to want to watch Shame? Apart from me, of course, the one who has it on her most-anticipated list simply because Michael Fassbender looks amazing in it. To be perfectly honest, no teenager is going to want to watch - or own up to watching - Shame just because it is an R18. No teenager is going to want to see Shame just because it has Magneto from X-Men: First Class in it. I bet you, by the time it comes out, everyone will know it as the 'sex addict' movie, and other teenagers will think you're weird if you have seen it and liked it. The exact same thing happened with Black Swan, which teens were quick to label as the 'weird lesbian movie', and the very few of us who actually liked it were attacked by the Facebook statuses of those who didn't. So yeah, there won't be a big teenage fan base for Shame, so I don't know why the MPAA is getting their knickers in a twist about.


What really gets me, though, is that sex is deemed worse than violence in film. It was the same back in the strict 'Hays Code' days, when the code was more lenient towards violence then it was to sex and offensive language. Nowadays, in your average M-rated film (probably PG-13 in the US), you could see a few people getting killed. On television shows like CSI or Criminal Minds, which are on at times when little kids could still be up, you can see people meeting their grisly demise. Hell, The Dark Knight escaped with an M rating and I know quite a few people around my age who were terrified by the violence in that movie. There are very few M rated films which has sex scenes in them, in fact, the only ones I can remember are Never Let Me Go, The Constant Gardner and Brokeback Mountain. But once we get up into the R/NC-17 territory, sex really is bad. I mean, come on...how can something as sick and vile as The Human Centipede: The First Sequence pass with an R rating (it's obviously an R18 here, and all the teenagers watch it like there's no tomorrow), but Shame gets an NC-17. Let's look at it this way: whether we like it or not, people have sex. That's how you, the person who is reading this, came to be on this Earth. People do not make centipedes out of humans for fun. Yet, there's still heavy censorship on something that humans do actually do but something about stuff that humans shouldn't do escapes with a lighter rating. This is the moment when I yell: "WTF?!"

But if people were inspired by The Human Centipede, then Tom Six thought ahead and incorporated that idea into his sequel. Along with having a guy do a whole lot of obscene sexual things towards his centipede. And that got banned in the UK along with going 'Unrated' in the US. At least there is some justice left in the world.

Is the NC-17 rating going to hurt Shame?


My uneducated answer to this is no. Of course, I have not seen this film, and probably won't get to see it until at least half way through next year when it comes out on DVD. Even without seeing the film, I could tell you that Michael Fassbender's performance is probably one of the best that this year has to offer. If the Academy decide to turn his performance down because of the fact that this film is an NC-17 then a lot of people aren't going to be happy. And really, what's an NC-17 to them? They're all over 17, so they can get the fuck over themselves. The biggest thing that Shame has going for it is the fact that it was so well-received at the various film festivals it played at and it already has a wide enough fan-base, which is no doubt due to the fact that everyone likes Steve McQueen, Fassbender and Carey Mulligan. People are excited by how upfront this movie is. If any of the awards circles reject Shame because of it's rating then that is the biggest douchebaggery that I will ever witness.

In conclusion...


I think that Shame will change the face of the NC-17 forever. If it gets some nominations come awards time, then we'll be able to say that an NC-17 finally got some proper awards attention. There's just something so different about the Shame case which is different to, I don't know, something like Showgirls or what ever other NC-17's you can think of.

There's something that we all really have to face: films are more violent, more sexual, more profane than the censorship system ever wants them to be. Films like The Human Centipede or the entire Saw franchise abuse this fact, but films like Shame use it to actually tell a proper story. That may sound like a sentence straight out of the 'How to be a Pretentious Douchebag who Also Loves Films' manual, but it is true.

So my message to everyone is embrace the NC-17. If cinemas refuse to show the films, then stuff 'em. We in New Zealand will still show R18's and we seem to be getting along fine. An R18 is worse than an NC-17 and yet we don't run around like the world has ended.

And there is my $0.01. Where's yours?

Friday, October 28, 2011

5 Reasons Why I Love Kate Winslet


This post is part of this month's edition of the LAMB Acting School 101!

It's been a wee while since I've done one of these...I think the last one I did was on Rebecca Hall and that post has continued to be really popular thanks to the fact that if you Google 'Rebecca Hall' the post is on the first page of results. Anyway, why not bring this back for a week since this month's actor on the LAMB is the wonderful Kate Winslet whom we all know and love a lot. I mean, how is Kate Winslet not awesome?

So without further ado, here are five reasons why I absolutely love Kate Winslet.

1. She was my first favourite actress.


Well, if you could call it that. Admittedly, this is a pretty stupid story. A long long time ago Titanic was playing on TV and my mother taped it so she could watch it the next day. While she was watching it I was out riding my horse or something and I only caught the last half-an-hour or so. From that half-and-hour I was like "this is my favourite movie!", "Leonardo DiCaprio is my favourite actor!", "Kate Winslet is my favourite actress!" Lame, I know, but I was only 11 years old. Still, I do love her to this day, and even when I finally saw Titanic from start right through to the finish in 2009 she was still one of my favourite actresses. So yeah, I guess I get a little sentimental about Kate Winslet sometimes.

2. 2008 - The year of The Reader and Revolutionary Road.


By 2008, Kate Winslet with her five Oscar nominations was deemed 'overdue' for an Oscar. Which was fair enough, because she had done so many bloody brilliant performances that despite her young age she deserved an Oscar more than anyone else. But which performance could they possibly pick out of Hanna Schmitz in The Reader or April Wheeler in Revolutionary Road? I always thought that her Oscar campaign in this year was a little bizarre. First, she wins a couple of Golden Globes for Best Actress (Revolutionary Road) and Best Supporting Actress (The Reader). For the SAG award, she won Best Supporting Actress again for The Reader, but lost Best Actress to Meryl Streep. Then she bet herself to a BAFTA for The Reader, which was this time placed in Best Actress. But even after quite a few nominations in the Best Supporting Actress category, for the Oscars her performance in The Reader was bumped up to Best Actress status, and she won that overdue Oscar that she actually really deserved for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Now, I'm on of those people who really believe that her better performance was actually in Revolutionary Road rather than The Reader. Sure, The Reader had her playing her character at various stages of her life, being a Nazi war-criminal and being illiterate...all Oscar favourites, as far as one can be concerned. But she was just so much better in Revolutionary Road. Okay, I just find it sad that her work went largely unnoticed by the Academy in favour of The Reader, which just wasn't as good as Revolutionary Road.

3. Her break-through was in a New Zealand movie. 


Back in 1994, before Kate turned 20, she starred with Melanie Lynskey in a small Peter Jackson film called Heavenly Creatures. The film was about one of New Zealand's most notorious murder cases: a pair of teenage girls decide to murder one of their mother's so they can go away and live together. They try to cover it up, but police see through their lies and they end up getting separated forever. The movie doesn't focus that much on the murder itself, but rather the friendship between the two girls and the imaginary world they had created for themselves. Kate plays Juliet Hulme, the English Rose that Melanie Lynskey's character falls in love with, and she does this role terrifyingly well, especially considering that this was her first feature film. And you know, Peter Jackson directed this film, and look where he is now. This film just did good things for everyone involved. And it was made in New Zealand!

4. She's an absolute darling.


Just watch her winning an Oscar. What a darling.
But really, Kate is such a great role model. She just looks so real, unlike some of the other actresses around, and she acts quite natural. She's impossible not to love. As me and my friend would say, "I would definitely turn lesbian for Kate Winslet."

5. She looks awesome no matter what the hair colour.


I still contest that her performance as Clementine Kruczynski in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is her best. Well, it's certainly my favourite, as I, like many film-lovers, love this film to death. If only I could track down the DVD to buy because I really want to watch it again. But still, Kate is amazing. Even with the multiple hair colours that don't suit that many people (not even Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Ramona Flowers in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), she still looked amazing. She's a flawless lady, Kate, and that's why I love her.

So, what do you love about Kate Winslet?

Thursday, October 27, 2011

What's Happening Where I Am: Cinema and DVD releases here, 27/10/11

Cinema Releases


Fright Night - I admit, I kinda find Anton Yelchin quite cute. Like, if I ever saw him I'd just run up and give him a huge hug, because he looks like the kind of guy that you would run up and hug. While Fright Night looks intriguing enough, I think I'm saving up all my love for Yelchin until I get to see Like Crazy, one of my most anticipated movies for the year. Of course, that doesn't come out here until February next year. So maybe, if I ever get the chance, I'll have to settle for this. Even though it's an R13...no-one ever gets given the R13 label anymore!


In Time - Okay, I admit to scouring the internet to find a still of Cillian Murphy in In Time because it has been far too long since I have had him on my blog. Cillian, I still love you dearly. It's been a while since I've seen a movie of yours. But I'm sorry, I probably won't be going to see In Time. You look like such a badass in that jacket though. It's just that with a 38% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, this does not look promising. If it gets up to fresh territory, we have a date. Good? Good.


One Day - As much as I'd love to see Anne Hathaway's apparently terrible British accent and Lone Scherfig's latest after An Education, I have decided that romantic films really aren't my cup of tea. Because they're so far from my reality that it sucks. But I will see this, one day. Haha, see what I did there?


The Inbetweeners - Can somebody please enlighten me on what this whole thing is about? Because it's currently rated 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is quite a high score, if I'm not mistaken.

DVD Releases


Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - It's thanks to this movie that I had to go without a proper Tuesday Movie Night. I'm sorry, pirates really don't interest me. I don't care if this one has Penelope Cruz in it.


Barney's Version - ...and thanks to whoever decided not to get this movie at Blockbuster (probably my father, the dunderheaded clodpole), I did not have a nice Tuesday Movie Night. Seriously, after seeing the trailer for this like 500 times (not even exaggerating) at work while I WAS ORDERING THE SHELVES THAT WERE SO NOT IN ORDER, I NEED TO SEE THIS MOVIE. I mean, I nearly had a wee cry every time I saw the end. But no, I'll just wait for it to become available on Fatso, coz that's obviously the place that has the cool movies. //End of rant.

So, what do you think of these movies? Are you a pirates fan? A Cillian fan? An Anne Hathaway-with-a-bad-accent fan? A let's-go-hug-Anton-Yelchin-coz-he's-so-cute fan?

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

"The whole purpose of life is to have fun."


Film: Certified Copy (Copie Conforme)
Year: 2010
Writer/Director: Abbas Kiarostami
Starring: Juliette Binoche, William Shimell, Agathe Natanson, Gianna Giachetti, Adrian Moore, Angelo Barbagallo, Andrea Laurenzi, Filippo Trojano.
Running time: 106 min.
NOTE: If you have not seen this film, I don't suggest you read this review any further. It's best you go in knowing as little as possible, like I did, because you'll definitely be better off. 

I admit, Certified Copy was a film that I became interested in when it was playing on the trailer loop disc back in August, but we never got any at the shop because it's one of those 'nasty' foreign movies that nobody likes. Certified Copy is one of those films that you should never judge by a trailer, or anything else, for that matter. It is really the kind of film which you just watch and absorb as it comes, and I love it for that fact. Through the trailer, you would suspect that the movie is a foreign/indie romantic drama between Juliette Binoche and British opera singer William Shimell (in his first proper feature film). But no, that is far too conventional. Certified Copy is never really anything; it can't really be categorised as a particular kind of film. It's in a league of it's own, even if it looks far too simple to be that way.


Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Link Time!


Okay, so usually I replace a word in the title to the movie that I'm watching with 'link', but since Thor can't really be replaced properly, I'm just taking the easy route out. Why am I watching Thor again when it came out three weeks ago? Because Pirates of Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is the only thing out this week (well, there is Barney's Version, but for some stupid reason our shop didn't want to get that, so I'll have to get it off Fatso), and I haven't even seen the first three. Sure, I have plenty of other better movies to watch, but come on...it was the first day back at school, I'm already exhausted, I just wanted something light and easy to watch.

So while I drool over watch a pretty buff Viking going around avenging the land (does he do that?), read these thunderous posts...

While I was trying to have an afternoon nap on Sunday, I decided to watch some trailers to help make me a little sleepier. One of the trailers I watched was for The Skin I Live In, which looked far more bizarre than I expected it to. Lesya at Eternity of Dream gives it a review...a pretty good one too.

One of my favourite films ever, Let the Right One In, gets a review at Surrender to the Void. I feel like revisiting this one sometime soon, it's been too long!

The lovely Mette over at Lime Reviews and Strawberry Confessions just celebrated her first blog birthday (a day after mine!) Go wish her a happy birthday!

Bonjour Tristesse gives Sleeping Beauty a whirl. And by that, I don't mean the Disney classic. I mean the new one starring Emily Browning which really isn't for little kids at all.

Andy Buckle shares his thoughts on the wonderful Peter Jackson film Heavenly Creatures. Truly one of the best New Zealand films ever made.

Over at Anomalous Material, Max and I discuss the 1932 classic Freaks. Just coz it's nearly the end of October and you know what that means...

Tyler at Southern Vision watched Trust, just like I did, and liked it a little more than I did. Check out his review.

Brent gives us some of his most iconic film images over at The Silver Screen. A great list, for sure!

Is there anyone who doesn't like Midnight in Paris? Tom Clift gives it yet another good review...I really hope it gets a Best Picture nomination!

This week's Tumblr recommendation is one I recommend that all of you film lovers follow...especially if you read my post about the movie posters. These movie posters are way better than the ones that we usually see.

Have a great week, my friends!

Monday, October 24, 2011

"We can't control what happens to us or our loved ones."


Film: Trust
Year: 2011
Director: David Schwimmer
Written by: Andy Bellin, Robert Festinger
Starring: Clive Owen, Catherine Keener, Liana Liberato, Jason Clarke, Viola Davis, Chris Henry Coffey, Spencer Curnutt, Aislinn DeButch, Noah Emmerich. 
Running time: 106 min.

Trust is a film which takes a look at something that is a very real and happening thing, but very few have dared to make a movie about it. Now, we are all on the internet (if you're reading this right now, I'd be highly worried if you weren't on the internet). Most of us don't physically know each other, but we still have nice conversations and stuff like that. Trust focuses on 15 year old Annie (Liana Liberato), who often chats to a guy named 'Charlie' online, who she thinks is similarly aged to her, and they are connected through their love for volleyball. They talk at every opportunity possible, and she often calls her beautiful and really boosts her self esteem. But then she finds out that he isn't really 16, he actually is 20. Turns out that was a lie too, because he then confesses that he is 25. Charlie and Annie decide that they should meet, and it's then that Annie discovers that this Charlie is really a man in his mid-30s (he is played by Chris Henry Coffey). While Annie is at first very disappointed and a little scared by this fact, she still hangs out with him, before he takes her back to his house and gets her to wear some lingerie that he bought her, before raping her.


Sunday, October 23, 2011

"You're in love with a fantasy."


Film: Midnight in Paris
Year: 2011
Writer/Director: Woody Allen
Starring: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Kurt Fuller, Mimi Kennedy, Michael Sheen, Nina Arianda, Carla Bruni, Alison Pill, Corey Stoll, Tom Hiddleston, Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Léa Seydoux. 
Running time: 94 min.
NOTE: This probably has spoilers in it. But by now you should have seen the film, really. If you haven't, I suggest you do straight away.

Let's face it: all of us, at one point or another, have wished that we were born in another era. I myself would have loved to have been around during the transition from silent to sound cinema, living in Hollywood. Gil Pender (Owen Wilson), Woody Allen's latest hero, wishes that he was around in 1920's Paris. While he accepts that he could never go there, he seems intent on creating a life for him and his fiancée Inez (Rachel McAdams) similar to his dream, and insists that they should stay in Paris forever, where they're currently on holiday. Gil is in love with this city, and decides to take a stroll at midnight. He is picked up by a 1920's style car, and transported to the world he has dreamed of. Along his journey he meets people like Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston and Alison Pill), Ernest Hemingway (Corey Stoll) and Salvador Dalí (Adrien Brody), who all help inspire him while he is writing a novel. Gil goes back to this place every night at midnight, and ends up falling in love with Adriana (Marion Cotillard), who wishes that she was around during the La Belle Époque, which she thinks is the Golden Age of Hollywood, as opposed to 1920's Paris.


Friday, October 21, 2011

Happy Second Birthday to Cinematic Paradox!


This time two years ago, little old Stevee Taylor sat down at her computer and decided to write a review on Let the Right One In. It was an awful review, only about a paragraph long. Nowadays, little old Stevee Taylor sits at her laptop each night and writes semi-good reviews on movies which are, on average, about five paragraphs long. Let's just say, in the past two years, the quality and quantity has gone up a bit!

Seriously, I'm extremely proud of this blog. It makes me so happy when I wake up in the morning and look at the comments I got on a post I did the night before, and have people reading my work, and sometimes loving it.  In fact, when I won that LAMMY in June for 'Best New Blog' I was the most excited I've ever been in my life. So excited that I forgot that I'd just had my tonsils out and my voice wasn't sounding the best, but I just had to ring Mum and Dad and scream my exciting news at them. Needless to say, I didn't have much of a voice for the rest of the day.

To celebrate this milestone, I revamped my 100 Favourite Films list. It seemed like the right time to do it. I hope you guys like the list, it's got a lot of new movies in there!

Now, I really don't think I could have kept this blog going without a few people's support. In fact, at the end of January, I wrote in my diary that I was going to give up blogging because no-one ever commented on here. It seems you guys heard me, somehow, because after that I've had at least one comment on every post. You guys are amazing! Here's some people I'd like to thank, and plug at the same time (in no particular order):

Tyler @ Southern Vision. He's a fellow NZ blogger who really does know a thing or two about just about every kind of film there is...especially indies and foreign films. His lists are the best, too!

Lesya @ Eternity of Dream. Lesya really is a sweetheart who has been around these parts for quite some time. She's been my most loyal supporter, and her blog is pretty awesome, too! Her reviews are always so smart and informative.

Cherokee @ Feminising Film. Cherokee usually leaves me long comments...in fact, on one post, we had a conversation which lasted for 65 comments! Her blog, which she finally opened earlier this year, is a pretty amazing one. Thanks for introducing me to Perfect Blue!

Anna @ Defiant Success. Anna kindly tweets me a whole lot of links that have something to do with Ralph Fiennes or people like that, and I always love them. Her site, filled with lots of small reviews, is a comprehensive guide to a plethora of different movies.

Ryan @ The Matinee. Probably one of the best bloggers in the business, and a man who inspires me with his great writing, Ryan is over at a new space and kicking ass. Plus, his TIFF coverage was awesome, man!

Scott @ Front Room Cinema. Scott is one of the nicest guys in the blogging business, and he has a great knowledge of technology and such which makes for an interesting read. His site has such a great variety of stuff, I'm jealous!

Castor and the team @ Anomalous Material. This site will tell you everything you need to know and more about movies that have just been released, future movies and sometimes some movies from the past. Such a great community going on there!

James @ Cinema Sights. James is known as one of the most knowledgeable of us film bloggers, and he's got a great reviews site which proves that. And he loves Terrence Malick. Which is cool.

Kai and Dylan and the team @ Man, I Love Films. Formerly the people behind The List and Blog Cabins, Kai and Dylan moved onto better things with their awesome, comprehensive site which has everything and anything.

Steven @ Surrender to the Void. The reviews written on this site really make me envious. They're so detailed! There is a great variety of reviews on this site, so you should definitely take a look!

Brent @ The Silver Screen. Another Kiwi blogger, who really likes going to cinemas a lot. He always comes back with some interesting and funny reviews!

Sebastian @ Films from the Supermassive Black Hole. Probably the biggest fan of Joseph Gordon-Levitt ever (I mean, who couldn't love the guy?), Sebastian always has great stuff on tap at his site.

Simon @ Four of Them. Truly one of the funniest sites ever. And I just don't give out that honour willy nilly.

Jack @ Jack L. Film Reviews. Jack and I may not have very similar film tastes, but I do really love his site. He's extremely knowledgeable about film, which is impressive considering how young he is!

Ruth @ "...let's be splendid about this." Ruth is a lovely blogger with a truly splendid and lovely personality and site!

Mette @ Lime Reviews and Strawberry Confessions. Mette is a similar age to me and she loves Bollywood films (and Confessions of a Shopaholic!). Reading her site, I'm quite interested in Bollywood films...I'll have to go for a look through the small section we have at Blockbuster!

Tom @ Movie Reviews by Tom Clift. Tom's reviewing style is so fluid and so nice that I can't help but feel a little jealous. Plus, he's a 'critic' on Rotten Tomatoes, which is my ultimate lifetime goal!

Dan @ Public Transportation Snob. Dan always has the most interesting stuff on his site, reviewing a variety of films that I haven't even heard of. Which is a good thing.

Bonjour Tristesse. This site specialises in indie, foreign and cult cinema, which I love. Plus, the design on this site is super nice!

Univarn @ A Life in Equinox. There is plenty to like about this site, from the random ramblings and rants to occasional reviews. One of the best blogs out there!

Andrew @ Andy Buckle's Film Emporium. I've always liked Andy's site because he is very up with all the movies coming out, and being in Australia, he usually gets the movies at the same time as us. I just don't know how he writes so much!

Jandy @ Jandy's Meanderings. Jandy wrote the sweetest thing about me and my blog not so long ago, that it put me in a really good mood for days! Her site is pretty sweet, too, with it's cool design and awesome content!

Nikhat @ Being Norma Jeane. Dearest Nikhat is like my soul sister from across the internet (damn, that sounds cheesy). We have extremely similar tastes! Apart from the fact that she puts The Pianist over Schindler's List but hey, that's a tough decision to make.

CS @ Big Thoughts from a Small Mind. Also joining my ever growing list of the best blogs in the business is this site, which I really really like. Apart from when CS asks us to choose between Amy Adams and Michelle Williams. That's a tough one.

Maria Sofia @ FILMflare. This site is so stylish, my eyes just love it. Maria Sofia always offers up some great comments on here too, which I'm grateful for!

Andrew @ Encore's World of Film & TV. I always remember that Andrew gave this site it's first appearance in a links post. I've always been proud of that one. He has some great reviews and other stuff on  his site!

Film Intel. This site is so great and consistent with it's reviews, especially as I've seen most of them so I can easily relate to some of them. Great stuff!

Toby @ blahblahblah gay. Toby has an interest lot of stuff on his site. He's not easily impressed, but his reviews are damn insightful!

Dan and the team @ Top 10 Films. Dan is a regular commenter here, and I just love his site, it has just about everything on there!

Ruth @ FlixChatter. This is a site which I always feel relaxed going to. It has such a nice feel and warmth to the place, I love it!

Everyone @ The Large Association of Movie Blogs. How could I not thank these guys? They make being a movie blog so much easier, and so much more fun!

They call it the 'terrible twos', but I hope that Cinematic Paradox won't end up being that terrible. It's been a blast, folks, let's hope I see you here this time next year!


Thursday, October 20, 2011

What's Happening Where I Am: Cinema and DVD releases here, 20/10/11

Cinema Releases


Midnight in Paris - Finally, it's here. I decided that since I had been waiting to see this for so long, I had to see it on opening day, and was even lucky enough to catch the first available screening. To say that I loved this film would be a bit of an understatement. I don't think I could put into words how much I loved this film. Like, if I could marry a film, it would be this one. I see a.... rhinoceros. (a review will be coming in the next couple of days)


Paranormal Activity 3 - I sorta liked the first one. I thought the second one was the most boring piece of crap I'd ever seen (I hate it when people use terms like this to describe a movie...but it's true). I really don't see why people like these movies so much. Okay, so I haven't had the whole cinema experience of it all, which may be why I don't like them so much. But come on, why do all the critics like them so much?


The Trip - Was a movie in the NZFF lineup. It's hard to believe the NZFF is still going on, and will be until the middle of next month. Oh well, it has to get around a lot of towns. Anyway, this movie is directed by Michael Winterbottom? Please let it be better than The Killer Inside Me. I still have bitter memories of that movie.

DVD Releases


X-Men: First Class - Oh, how nice it was to watch this film on blu-ray the other night without a creepy man sitting next to me talking to himself, or nearly breaking my toe as he walked past. Seriously, that was the worst cinema experience I had ever had, so it came as no surprise that I picked up on a whole lot of things while revisiting this movie. I know that there are haters (and many of them) out there, but I thought this movie was freaking awesome. And Michael Fassbender looks super sexy in a turtleneck. In fact, Michael Fassbender just looks super sexy. Yes, I am excited for Shame.


Trust - I have to wonder what the world has come to when a perfectly good movie directed by David Schwimmer (y'know, Ross off the best TV comedy ever Friends) and starring Clive Owen, Catherine Keener and Viola Davis goes straight-to-DVD. It just seemed to pass by so unnoticed, which is really unfair. Especially as this movie is really one of those 'sign-of-our-times' movies that some silly teenagers could learn a lot from.

So, what do you think of these movies?

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

How to Sell Your Movie with a Poster: For Dummies.

As you probably know, for the past four years of my life, I've worked at a DVD store. Over these years, there have been a few things that I've learnt: a) No-one liked to keep classic movies in that shop, so I had to fuel my love for classic movies by actually buying them myself, b) No-one likes to order in foreign films because "no-one likes them" and c) When people come in to get a DVD, 95% of the time they make their choice based on the cover alone. While I was cleaning shelves, I noticed how achingly bad some DVD covers are, trying to sell themselves in one average sized rectangle. The worst offenders are generally the blockbusters and the straight-to-DVD B-movies, coz most indie flicks know that whoever is going to watch them probably knows a thing or two about movies.

Here's my guide, for dummies, to how you can market a movie with a poster:

Main Street (2010)
Despite the star power, this movie struggled to get a release (I think it went limited in America, but very few people saw it), and wound up on DVD, with a horrendous poster to match. But whoever designed the poster obviously had a field day with their assignment.

A) "From Horton Foote, screenwriter of To Kill a Mockingbird and Tender Mercies, and director John Doyle." That's cool, but come on, To Kill a Mockingbird was made just about 40 years ago. I get that this person won two Oscars for his work (but did it say that on the poster?), and unfortunately died before this movie was released, but the whole screen-writing thing is hopelessly dire on a poster. And John Doyle...this is his only film. But, oh well, putting stuff like that on a poster can only mean one thing: the production team really cared about their writer and director.
B) "Colin Firth, Ellen Burstyn, Patricia Clarkson with Amber Tamblyn and Orlando Bloom" Wow, what a cast. You always gotta capitalize on a cast. That's first and foremost the thing you should remember when designing a poster. Even if your cast sucks, just make sure you have someone quite famous who maybe has two-minutes of screen time and stick them on the poster. Names will get you everywhere.
C) The next best thing to names are faces. When you have quite a good ensemble cast, you just line them all up and have them walking somewhere (or, in the case of X-Men: First Class, just have some mutants walking, others just standing, all over the place, just so you can get every character on the page). Make sure they have mildly different faces. Like, old Colin looks quite jovial, Ellen Burstyn looks like that happy old lady, and Patricia Clarkson looks like...someone just farted.
D) Ha! Witty! You see, since the title is Main Street, of course the title had to be put on a street sign. Even if the street sign is sitting quite low in the middle of the footpath, and if Colin Firth walks any further and does not see it, he will be hit in a place which...yeah.
E) Good old Orlando Bloom. While everyone is looking like they just stepped out of Coronation Street, he is donning the action hero attire. Just trying to jazz it up a little, eh?

Monte Carlo (2011)
Teens are all about the clichés. More so if they're the target audience for the latest Disney-style flick starring Selena Gomez.

A) "She's having the time of someone else's life." The tagline. It can always draw the audience in with it's dry wit. Especially when you take a well-known cliché like 'She's having the time of her life' and make it even more clichéd by saying 'She's having the time of someone else's life'. Clever, or what?
B) Oh, don't they just look jovial?! Okay, so Leighton Meester, Selena Gomez and Katie Cassidy are three beautiful young girls...except, well, judging by some of the other stuff that Meester and Cassidy have been doing with their careers, they're kinda past this kind of teen fluff that Gomez is well into. So, they're just hanging in the background looking happy, trying to shrug off their spoiled brat Gossip Girl's and their Taken prostitutes, while squeaky-clean Selena Gomez is up the front, y'know, looking squeaky clean. The girls at the back can look happy, but not as happy as Gomez, because she's the only actress anyone under the age of 12 would know.
C) Ah, the clichés! As part of a poster, you always have to show off a little of the character and their story. In this case, our heroine is wearing an elegant ball gown, but underneath, she's wearing cowboy boots! Oh, this tells us SO much about her! Like, she's into the whole parading-around-as-a-princess thing, but she's staying true to her roots! Cool story bro.

Never Let Me Go (2010)
Yes, this is a very good movie. And yes, we know that there is a better poster out there. This one, however, is pretty bad, but it is the perfect example of following the poster making skills for dummies. Trust me, the DVD cover that we have in NZ is worse...this whole poster is kinda blurred together. I could probably recreate it in Microsoft Word.

A) Names! And what's even better than names? When they have Oscar nominations! But never mind that Andrew Garfield fulla, because, as he doesn't have the old "Academy Award Nominee" above his name, he must not be a worthy actor. But he's helped along by Academy Award Nominees Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley, so he's worthy enough of your attention. Seriously...that's the kind of feeling I get from name dropping like this one. Not that I have anything against Oscar nominations though, they're all the rage on posters!
B) Keira Knightley is probably the most well-known cast member. So it's only natural that she gets to stare into the camera putting her hand up on the window in that fashion (and that doesn't really say that much about her character at all...Mulligan's character is someone more suited to that). Obviously, people will see her face and be like, "that's the chick off Pirates of the Caribbean!" and immediately put this in their mental watchlist. See, to be a good poster designer, you really have to get into the mentality of the person looking at this poster.
C) It's a love story baby just say yes. That's what I think when I look at that romantic shot of Garfield and Mulligan. People love their romances. It doesn't matter if this romance is a little different to that of The Notebook.
D) Ah, because that beautiful shot was featured on the completely normal poster, it just has to be included here. But really small and just as a place-filler. Because on this poster we have the characters, and now we have to have the setting. Not together, though, as that would be the easy thing to do.

Takers (2010)
This movie is pretty bad. And yet, people picked it up like it was the next The Godfather. Just with, y'know, rap stars.

A) Oh look at all those names! Matt Dillon, Paul Walker, Idris Elba, Jay Hernandez, Michael Ealy, Tip "T.I." Harris, Chris Brown, Hayden Christensen. There are so many great things about this:
-Firstly, they're all male. Hey, Zoe Saldana, the star of the highest grossing movie ever to grace this Earth, was in this movie! But no, with all that testosterone this is the coolest thing to happen to the world after The Expendables.
-Secondly, I haven't even heard of half of these people, but that doesn't matter. Because, if all these names managed to make it to the poster, then this movie must have a great cast!
-Thirdly, famed rapper 'T.I' used his full name Tip Harris on the poster. That shows some swag, man.
-Finally, Matt Dillon is first billed but he don't even get to be on the poster. Because, obviously, he ain't got enough swag like these bros here.
B) Ooooh, Chris Brown. Looking serious. Coz this is a serious acting job. His face is so serious that he looks just like what the public think of him, thanks to him beating up Rihanna. Yeah, no matter how serious this acting job is, we ain't never gonna let you live that one down, buddy.
C) Look how serious everyone else. And look how much swag everyone has. Except for maybe Hayden Christensen, who is proudly brought to you by PhotoShop. He's just sitting there, lightening the mood with his out-of-place top hat and nerdy bow-tie, just living up his status as the whitest guy in the room who doesn't have any swag. That shows character range, folks.
D) Again, the tagline! "Everyone's after something." Ain't that a great burst of philosophy? Especially when you apply it to a whole lot of gangsters.
E) Just look at everything on the table in front of them. A gun, an alcoholic beverage, a bottle of champagne, a martini, a suitcase which is presumably filled with money. Welcome to the 'Swag Parlour', where the men are as clichéd as their possessions.
F) The website! "WhoAretheTakers.com"...Yes, even the website URL has to ask a question which many don't really care to find out the answer for. Oh, how amazing is the internet?

 The Social Network (2010)
Last, but certainly not least, the DVD cover for one of my most favourite films, the amazing The Social Network. Which was given the most bland portrayal of poster making for dummies.

A) "Screenplay by AARON SORKIN, Directed by DAVID FINCHER." Two amazing people, yes, but usually the stars should get a little love, too. But they're so important they get to go right under the title, because everyone knows who they are. Which is unfortunately not true.
B) "A BRILLIANT FILM." "AN AMERICAN LANDMARK." "REVOLUTIONARY. ABSOLUTELY EMBLEMATIC OF ITS TIME AND PLACE." "SENSATIONAL. A ONCE-IN-A-GENERATION MOVIE." "MAMMOTH AND EXHILARATING." If you were around during 2010/2011 awards season, then there is no doubt you would have seen how critically acclaimed this movie is, which is why the poster designers decided to make the critical acclaim their big draw. Critical acclaim is everything, and when you have as much as this one had, then you just gotta shout it out from the rooftops. Or from a DVD cover...whatever floats your boat.
C) A single picture of Jesse Eisenberg's Mark Zuckerberg standing there smiling away while a couple have a little hug session. Wait...this isn't a romantic comedy? No, we're led to believe that Marky Mark is smiling because of all the critical acclaim this movie got. As I said, critical acclaim is everything.
D) We all love Facebook, don't we? So, incorporate the Facebook font into the title for this movie and BAM! People think they're seeing a movie about Facebook but really they're seeing a movie about a douchebag who shits on his best friend but his best friend tells him to lawyer up asshole because he's not coming back for 30% he's coming back for everything. And there's something about forced cannibalism in there.

So, do you have any tips for poster making for dummies?

Saturday, October 15, 2011

"You can never, never ask me to stop drinking."


Film: Leaving Las Vegas
Year: 1995
Writter/Director: Mike Figgis
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue, Julian Sands, Richard Lewis, Steven Weber, Kim Adams, Emily Procter, Valeria Golino.
Running time: 111 min.

Believe it or not, Nicolas Cage used to star in good movies, and he used to be a good actor. Before he had been reduced to the world of witch seasoning, driving angry and riding ghosts, he starred in a little, low budget film called Leaving Las Vegas, which he won an Oscar for. He played Ben Sanderson, a man recently divorced from his wife and has found little reason to live as his job has tanked. So he goes to Las Vegas to drink himself to death. While he's on his suicide mission, he meets prostitute Sera (Elisabeth Shue), and the two spend some time together. The basis of their relationship is that Ben shall never ask Sera to give up her prostitution and Sera shall never ask Ben to give up his drinking. This, of course, makes their relationship doomed, as both of them are living such dangerous lives and damaging themselves to the point of no return.


Friday, October 14, 2011

"I'm not running away, I'm coming home."


Film: Water for Elephants
Year: 2011
Director: Francis Lawrence
Written by: Richard LaGravenese
Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, Christoph Waltz, Paul Schneider, Jim Norton, Hal Holbrook, Mark Povinelli, Richard Brake.
Running time: 120 min.

To be honest, the movie world has been a little unfair towards Robert Pattinson. Okay, so his big claim to fame is being the object of many teenage girls (and, you know, those Twi-mums) desire by playing an 108 year old grumpy virgin vampire in the most annoying series of movies and books ever to see the light of day (or not, since they're all about vampires). And, let's be fair, these teenage girls and their mums only like him for one thing: his apparent good looks, not his acting skills. So we've all just written him off, thinking that every movie we see him appear in will be just as terrible as the angsty vampire ones. He was quite good in some of the little indie flicks he did before he appeared on 'I Love Edward' t-shirts hidden beneath sweaters. He wasn't so good in Remember Me (that ending still pisses me off a whole 15 months after I saw the damn thing). But along comes Water for Elephants, an adaption of Sara Gruen's best seller that is very Hollywood and comes when R-Pattz is still kinda in vogue, and it's not all that bad. Well, judging by the way we treat old Robert Pattinson, it could have been a lot worse.


Thursday, October 13, 2011

What's Happening Where I Am: Cinema and DVD releases here, 13/10/11

Cinema Releases


The Three Musketeers - Apparently this is quite bad. I mean, come on, some classic novels are not meant to be made into 3D blockbusters. Yes, that includes you, The Great Gatsby. I feel kinda sorry for Christoph Waltz, though, as he hasn't been giving the proper Hollywood welcome that he deserves. Water for Elephants was okay, but this and The Green Hornet? Hmmmm. At least Carnage is out later this year. Now that looks like a proper film that he deserves.


Cave of Forgotten Dreams - I'm pretty sure this was playing like, every day at the NZ Film Festival. Okay, I exaggerate - but it seemed to pop up in the program and awful lot. The whole cave painting thing looks pretty interesting, but I don't think I'd run out to see it. One day, someone might come across our old stable and see all of my drawings on the walls in there and make a documentary about it. Now wouldn't that just be fascinating?


Monte Carlo - Okay. I know I shouldn't be judging movies before I have seen them, but I have so many problems with Monte Carlo. First of all, what market is this movie aimed at? It certainly doesn't look like an adult-orientated movie, but it sure doesn't look like a tween movie. The tweens look like they may be a little too young to understand some of the stuff in it, the teenagers a little too old to enjoy it (unless they're fans of Selena Gomez) and adults definitely too old to go through the movie without rolling their eyes. Second...how could these three women possibly be friends? Their ages are so weird. It's like Leighton Meester and Katie Cassidy are babysitting Selena Gomez, but she's the standout star of the movie. Plus, both Meester and Cassidy have done their fair share of adult-orientated movies, which doesn't quite mix with Selena's clean cut image. Last, Selena Gomez just had to record a song so it would play in the background of all the TV spots. Only Disney stars do that.
There are plenty more problems I have with this movie...but I won't go on with them, because I don't want any die-hard Selena fans coming to throw lip-gloss at me while I sleep.

DVD Releases


Agora - I actually remember this movie being featured on the trailer loop disc at work back in March. A mere seven months later, the movie has actually arrived on DVD. I gave it a go, and I quite liked it, even though I found plenty of things that could have been better about it. Rachel Weisz was simply luminous, though. One thing I'd like, though, is for Max Minghella to get another role like this one. He's such a good actor!


Scream 4 - Since this came out on DVD, I've been kinda wishing that I was up with all of the Scream movies so I could watch this one. I mean, it has quite a good cast. And it looks kinda fun. Anyway, we only happen to have the first one and 14 copies of this one at Blockbuster, so I don't think I'll ever get to catch up with the series. I could put it on my bucket list, though!


The Lion King - After several years of looking like complete idiots without The Lion King, Blockbuster has finally got this classic Disney movie in their grasp. Yay for that, now we just have to get Forrest Gump. But seriously, why do Disney insist on putting their movies into the vault for such a long time and only bring them out every so often? And why did they wait so fucking long to bring this one out again? This was the movie of my childhood!


Water for Elephants - This movie was way better than I expected it to be. But maybe that's because I'm a sucker for period romance/dramas. Seriously, anything set in the 1930s just looks better. It's always a good thing when Robert Pattinson appears in a movie and he doesn't annoy the living daylights out of you, too. Oh, and Christoph Waltz...how I love thee when he gets angry (that rhymed, I'm now a lyrical genius). I might actually review this one.

So, what do you think of these movies? Are you a fan of Christoph Waltz? Got any problems with Monte Carlo? Have any wall drawings that could possibly make a good documentary?

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails