November in Movies

Thanks to study leave starting on the 4th, I got to watch quite a few movies during the 'breaks' I took from studying. Now, for the rest of the holidays, movies will probably be my only source of entertainment. Oh well, that's not a bad thing. It's hard to believe that there's only one month left of this year!

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

Bridesmaids - Everyone seems to love this movie, apart from me. I admit that I found it funny in places, but I thought it was extremely over-rated and far too long. I still like Kristen Wiig, though, because she's the only famous person who has the same birthday as me.
The Tempest - I had a strange dream about Felicity Jones last night. She decided to hang out with me for a day, and then she suddenly became a jockey. And there was something about her being surprised that she won the Breakthrough Award over Elizabeth Olsen in Martha Marcy May Marlene at the Gotham Awards. I have problems.
Three Colours: Blue - I actually started watching this in October, but the DVD crapped out so I had to get sent another one. It was still cool, though.
Three Colours: White - I felt so cool spending the last night of school watching a foreign arthouse movie. I live an exciting life.
The Trip - Finally! A movie that came out in cinemas in the preview drawer! It's such a rare occurrence I had to seize the opportunity with both hands.
Centurion - I decided to introduce Mum to my fifth husband, Michael Fassbender. What did we take away from the experience? They swore back in 140 AD. Didn't know that.
TrollHunter - Only got it because it was in the preview drawer and I had heard of it. Again, I had to seize this rare opportunity.
Cars 2 - Meh. I've already forgotten about it.
Wrecked - A nice enough debut feature using the ever-popular 'let's focus on one person' storyline. Adrien Brody plays a guy in a car-wreck. Unfortunately, it wasn't all that interesting.
Tucker & Dale vs. Evil - Probably the funniest movie I've seen all year. No jokes.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon - I know I wasn't that bored yesterday because I didn't feel low enough to watch this gobshite again.
The Double Life of Veronique - I really liked this movie, even though it would probably take me like 500 watches to fully 'get'. Unfortunately, I can't find the DVD anywhere!
Three Colours: Red - Decided to treat myself to watching this after a huge day of studying for the English exam. What a nice treat that was.
Super 8 - I know that Steven Spielberg only produced this, but it felt like a Spielberg movie. And I'm having a bit of a Spielberg phase at the moment. I just don't like how everyone hates him because he's already at the top.
The Red Shoes - I'm so glad I bought this movie 'blind'. It's definitely in my top 5...maybe even my top 10.
Meek's Cutoff - I won the DVD, which was pretty exciting because I never win anything! It was quite a good movie, too. I felt pretty guilty for glugging back water during it, though.
Bad Teacher - It appears that I'm the only one who found this mildly entertaining. Wow, I'm getting unpopular when it comes to comedies.
Contagion - I loved how somebody coughed during it, then another person, then another person, then my friend, with me finishing it off. So much fun at the cinemas.
Clueless - Nope, I've never seen it before. I'm glad I have now, though, because Paul Rudd is the best.
City Lights - Woke up early on Friday morning to watch this for my Drama exam. It was such a beautiful movie. Especially that ending :')
sex, lies, and videotape - I'm so glad that this was the beginning of independent cinema.
Modern Times - Another cute Chaplin film. Seriously, I'm like, in love with him.
The Green Mile - My friend gave this to me about four months ago, but I just could never find three hours to watch it. It wasn't what I was expecting, but it was cool.
The Hangover: Part II - I really disliked this movie. There'll be a review up some day soon, but it just rubbed me up the wrong way.
Beginners - Just came back from seeing this. I loved it. Christopher Plummer for all the awards. Review will be up soon (keeping in mind that I lose a day or two because of the ball).

Movies I've seen before but I felt like watching again because I'm cool like that...

Carrie - No matter how many times I see it, that ending always scares the crap out of me.
Memento - It was on TV. And when my favourite movie of all-time is on TV, I have to watch it. It's so weird that it was on, though, considering that it's not even available in NZ.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Finally found a copy of it, so I made Mum buy it for me as an 'early Christmas present'. I think that everyone should see this movie at least once in their lives.
The Social Network - I wish there was a movie this year that was as quotable as this one (there probably is, but I won't get to see it until halfway through next year...)
The Tree of Life - Way better the second time. Way better on Blu-Ray. I still feel like a whole lot could have been chopped out of it, though, because I thought it worked well as an 100 minute coming-of-age tale.
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - Still Amy Adams' best performance, in my opinion. This is such a fun movie.
Schindler's List - Decided that after a hard day of English study, I would treat myself to watching my second favourite movie. I cried...a lot.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - I felt pretty crap about the Maths exam, so I snuggled up to a blanket and my puppy and we watched this. It always cheers me up.
The Double Life of Veronique - Just had to watch it again before I sent it back.
Fight Club - It was on TV. I felt compelled to watch it as I hadn't for over a year. I love every second of this movie.
(500) Days of Summer - It was also on TV, so of course I had to watch it. Even though I own the DVD and have seen it thousands of times.
Three Colours: Red - Got up on a Tuesday morning and decided to rewatch this before I sent it back. What a pleasant way to start the day.
Zombieland - It, too, was on TV. I just watched it because I couldn't be bothered doing anything else. Or be bothered watching Boy A on the other channel (it's a good movie, but it drags). I can't believe I picked Jesse over Andrew!
Peacock - Felt like watching it again. Cillian Murphy is amazing in that movie. I wish more people would see it.
Singin in the Rain - After the awfulness of The Hangover: Part II, I had to watch something good to get it out of my brain. I had to play eenie-meenie-miny-mo to choose between this and Casablanca. I just felt like watching a movie about Hollywood, in the end.

So, hows about you? Seen anything good this month?

Tuesday Links & Other Stuff #4

What I'm watching tonight:

I don't care how bad The Hangover: Part II will be, watching it will probably be the highlight of my day. Since exams are over, I officially have nothing to do and I'm extremely bored. I even reorganized my DVD shelf into year order after I watched Peacock because I was so bored, but luckily I got saved from my boredom from a few other bored friends. For the rest of the week, I'll be bored, apart from going to see Beginners tomorrow and the ball on Friday (yay), along with prizegiving next week. And then comes Christmas and working my ass off to buy presents. So hopefully, there won't be too many more of these boring days left.

Video of the week:

When I was studying for my drama exam, I watched a couple of Charlie Chaplin movies (City Lights and Modern Times) and a few clips. I stumbled upon this beautiful speech from The Great Dictator (which I'm going to watch later this week), which has also been set to one of my favourite pieces of music, Hans Zimmer's Time from Inception. Truly epic stuff. The speech is literally the most amazing thing I've ever seen/heard. I love you, Charlie Chaplin.

Favourite film news of the week:

Well, awards season has officially started, as the Gotham Independent Awards being handed out today. Beginners and The Tree of Life tied for the Best Feature award, which gets me even more excited for tomorrow's screening of Beginners. The movie also scored Best Ensemble. And Felicity Jones got the Breakthrough Award! God bless that beautiful girl. I can't wait until awards season starts really going, I'll be as happy as Larry.

Announcement:

You know how I've mentioned a Harry Potter marathon in the past? Well, I've set up the dates:

 Tuesday, 14th December - Thursday, 22nd December

So join me, while I go through this series that I really should have watched ages ago. Hopefully it shall be fun.

Links:

Steven @ Surrender to the Void reviews one of my favourite movies ever, A Single Man. I must watch this movie again, but I've got to be in the right mood.

Last time I had study leave, I watched Dogville. That movie exhausted me to no end, but I still quite liked it. Mette @ Lime Reviews really liked it, though!

Nikhat @ Being Norma Jeane takes a look at the best posters of the year. I think we can all agree with the number one choice!

Andrew @ Encore's World of Film & TV has started his Oscar predictions with the Supporting Actor category, which I think is one of the weakest categories so far. That's unless the many actors in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy get some love. 

Ruth @ "...let's be splendid about this..." gives The Trip a review, a movie which I found quite funny. Duelling Michael Caine's FTW!

Sati @ Cinematic Corner lists 10 cinematic dynamites. These are basically characters like Penelope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. I quite like cinematic dynamites in my films. 

The very lucky Scott @ Front Room Cinema got to see Martha Marcy May Marlene, Coriolanus and The Artist at the Cine-City festival. Suffice to say, I'M JEALOUS!!!

Final word:

Hmmmm, since awards season has officially kicked off, predict a movie that you think will win Best Picture...

Unfortunately, I'm Not a Very Patient Person...

...and patience is a thing I'll be needing over the next few months. As most of you know, I proudly hail from the lush green pastures of New Zealand, which has it's advantages (so much green, so much air, so much country-ness), but it comes with it's disadvantages. I'm thinking first-world problems here: our release dates are all out of whack. So let me expose this blasphemy towards our beautiful nation and the film-loving people (i.e. me) who live in it!

As we all know, awards season is coming soon. In America, Thanksgiving weekend brought along such films as The Artist, Hugo, The Muppets, My Week with Marilyn and A Dangerous Method - all movies which are apparently extremely deserving of awards attention. Yet, in NZ, our releases for the week were Arthur Christmas and Immortals - the former being on time and a possible awards contender, the latter a little late and not that hopeful. Those five movies that the lovely Americans enjoyed this weekend? Well, we get The Muppets on December 29th, Hugo on January 12th, The Artist on February 9th, My Week with Marilyn on March 8th and A Dangerous Method on April 26th. That's not all, though. Everyone else gets movies on DVD before we get them in cinemas. It happened with Hanna. And now it's happening with heavy awards contenders The Ides of March and Moneyball. Both of these titles are scheduled to come out on DVD in January. And while you enjoy them in your homes, I will be shooting off to the cinema and writing a review for a couple of films that you probably would have forgotten about, in February.

It seems that the awardsy type movies are taking the biggest hit. On one hand, we have Steven Spielberg's War Horse coming out on January 12th, three weeks after the Christmas release everywhere else. On the other end of the scale, we have Anton Yelchin/Felicity Jones tearjerker Like Crazy out on February 2nd, 14 weeks after America. J. Edgar is released on the same day, 12 weeks after America. Carnage comes out here on February 23rd, 10 weeks after America. Shame the same day, 12 weeks after America. Martha Marcy May Marlene has it's big release on March 15th, 21 weeks after America. 50/50, released in September in America, still hasn't been given a release date here. But that's not the worst of it: America got Warrior on September 9th. 25 weeks later on March 1st, we finally get to see it. See a pattern here?

These movies are all apparently very good, critically acclaimed movies. Yet, we don't get them on time. What we do get on time, however, are big blockbusters. Movies with release dates that coincide with America are: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I, New Year's Eve, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, This Means War, John Carter, The Hunger Games, Brave, The Amazing Spider-Man (we actually get that a week before America) and The Dark Knight Rises (thank goodness). Are we seeing more of pattern here?

I get it. Little movies like Martha Marcy May Marlene and Like Crazy aren't destined to make lots of money. Big movies like Breaking Dawn and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol are. But does that really mean that all some little, innocent movies should be shafted to fit the 'greedy money-grubbers'? And even the 'greedy money-grubbers' get denied good release dates. Puss in Boots is being released this week, after 6 weeks, Dolphin Tale doesn't come out until early next year, and we had to wait a fair few weeks to see Crazy, Stupid, Love. So really, it all comes down to this: why does New Zealand always get shafted when it comes to release dates? It's not like we've done anything wrong. We were the people behind Lord of the Rings. We made the Avatar's. Our scenery is often used because we're just such a beautiful place. We're not just that little country that's split into three islands, that has a lot of sheep and the 'funny' accent. We're just like anyone else.

My question is, why don't we all just have the same release dates? Surely it would just make life easier. Sure, having a couple weeks between us and America is understandable. But I really can't justify the 25 weeks it will take to get Warrior in cinemas here. We usually get our films at the same time as Australia, but even they got it months before us. Let's look at it this way: if people want to see movies and they can't, they will take to illegally download it. And illegal downloads lead to loss of money. Which is obviously not what the studios want. Trust me, I know people who unfortunately have downloaded films that aren't released here until as late as March next year.

You can tell me to just be patient, but I have seriously had enough. You can tell me that this is only a minor problem, but it's time that someone spoke out about it in some way (even if it's just a tiny blog post that no-one will take seriously). But why should we have to wait so long? I think it's utterly ridiculous.

As I said, first-world problems.

"Don't forget, a great impression of simplicity can only be achieved by great agony of body and spirit."

Film: The Red Shoes
Year: 1948
Writer/Director: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Starring: Moira Shearer, Marius Goring, Anton Walbrook, Leonide Massine, Robert Helpmann, Albert Bassermann, Ludmilla Tcherina, Esmond Knight.
Running time: 133 min.
NOTE: There may be spoilers in this review. Sorry.

As I said in my review of Sunrise, cinema is one medium which never fails to amaze me. As you may or may not know, I am quite the fan of classic films, particularly those made before the mid-50s. I just feel like they have so much more to offer than other films, as they were made just as cinema was become a huge thing. That meant that the film-makers could experiment with their unique and fresh ideas, paving the way for many more film-makers in the future. They were the true inventors, as they didn't have computers or fancy technology to do the hard work for them. They figured out a way to do it. This is part of the reason why I loved The Red Shoes so much. The film, written and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (who had made Black Narcissus the year before), is shot in glorious Technicolour, which was a rarity in 1948, even though it had been around for quite some time. Everything looks pretty mainstream and normal for this film until it gets to the 15 minute ballet sequence showing the production of 'The Red Shoes', a fairytale written by Hans Christian Andersen and the story in which the movie is partially based upon. It is then that the movie becomes a visual treat, with the ballet sequence becoming one of the most beautiful things that my eyes have ever seen.

"Don't talk to anyone. Don't touch anyone."

Film: Contagion
Year: 2011
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Written by: Scott Z. Burns
Starring: Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Ehle, John Hawkes, Bryan Cranston, Elliott Gould, Sanaa Lathan, Anna Jacoby-Heron.
Running time: 106 min.

Contagion is exactly what I like to see as a film. When I go to the cinemas, there's a huge part of me that just wants to be entertained. Because, after all, that's the main purpose of films: to entertain the audience. But one thing that I like more than entertainment in films is to feel like I'm part of an experience. Like the world outside that cinema doesn't matter anymore. I am taken in by this film, drawn into the atmosphere it has created, only to be snapped out of it when the credits start rolling, and even then I take a bit of my experience away from me. Probably the only time that I've felt part of an experience with a 2011 film was when I saw Midnight in Paris. While it was not realistic in anyway, just the nostalgia and enchantment made me happy to be right with Owen Wilson meeting famous people from a bygone era. Even though Midnight in Paris is still my favourite film of the year, Contagion blew that cinematic experience out of the water. With this film, I was instantly drawn into the world of fear, paranoia and total destruction, and felt like I too could be running for my life. Now I'm constantly aware of when my hands are touching my face, or touching anything. I'm literally going to buy a box of hand sanitizer. Film-makers may be throwing lots and lots of money into making their movies into 3D so people can feel part of an 'experience', but that's only an artificial experience. Contagion, however, uses old-fashioned story-telling to show something that is perfectly realistic. And it is a great experience, indeed.

What's Happening Where I Am: Cinema and DVD releases here, 24/11/11

Cinema releases

Arthur Christmas - It's weird that Christmas is a month away. I put up some Christmas decorations today at work, which got me in the festive spirit. The Christmas parade is a couple of days away and the theme is 'At the Movies', and I still have no idea what I'm going to dress up as (I'm in the parade). If only I had someone to dress up as Captain America so I could be Peggy Carter. Anyway, Arthur Christmas looks pretty good. Is it weird that I think that Arthur is kinda cute, for an animated character? Well of course he is, because he is voiced by James McAvoy.

Immortals - I did think about going to see this one, as I was supposed to go to Palmy today, but we had to be back too early so I couldn't go and see Beginners. So if I went, my whole day would be wasted, unless I went and saw a movie and this was the only one playing at an appropriate time that I had a slight interest in. Alas, I am too poor and seeing Mickey Rourke in 3D would scare the bejesus out of me. But you could say I'm a fan of Tarsem Singh's visual style, and I still need to see an R16 in cinemas. Unfortunately, this won't be my first one, either.

Submarine - Typical. I could have gone to the cinemas today, but unfortunately there was nothing I wanted to see playing. But Submarine has come out today, a movie which I'd very much like to see. And guess what? It's not playing in Palmy. Or anywhere near me, for that matter. I feel so loved.

The Whistleblower - Jeez, I wish I was half as beautiful as Rachel Weisz. That would make life so much easier. I haven't really heard much about this film, nor do I have a lot of interest in it. When it comes out on DVD, I'll watch it, but for now, it's not really my thing.

When a City Falls - As I hope that many of you have heard, in September of last year, Christchurch (New Zealand) was hit by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, which caused mass destruction. There were no deaths, though, as the quake was quite deep, it happened in the early hours of the morning and the epicentre was a fair way off the city centre. However, in February 2011 (and this is one of those days which I remember extremely well), a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck the city at a depth of 5km, 10kms south east of the city centre, at 12.51pm when everyone was out and about in the city. 181 people died, and the entire city now looks like an absolute wreck. Now, Christchurch is my favourite place I've ever been to in my life, and I was so devastated when this happened. But the city has shown a great resilience and strength in the past few months. So it's great that they've made a documentary about it, because this city has been through a lot - and is still going through a lot - and their story needs to be told.

DVD releases

Bad Teacher - Okay, I'm not going to lie, but I quite enjoyed this film. Sure, it was extremely shallow and had it's fair share of flaws, but I was quite entertained. Mainly because of Justin Timberlake, who I thought was just hilarious in his role. I know teachers just like him, who are just so happy to be at school and teaching. One thing I did find extremely disturbing, though, was the fact that a teacher like Cameron Diaz is allowed around kids. She's not the kind of person I would have liked to have had teaching me English this year.

Kung Fu Panda 2 - I still need to watch the first one. WHY DO I KEEP MISSING OUT ON THE FIRST ONE?! There are just too many sequels coming out these days.

The Eagle - I refrained from watching this one because I've decided this whole warriors-from-700-years-or-more-ago action genre is probably my least favourite. I just can't get into these films, because to me it's just a whole lot of fighting and not much else. But of course, if it has Nicolas Cage in it, then I'm so there. Season of the Witch was a cinematic masterpiece. (sarcasm)


So, what do you think of these films? Are you a fan of Kung Fu Panda? Do you like the warriors-from-700-years-or-more-ago action genre? Are you getting into the festive spirit?

Tuesday Links and Other Stuff #3

What I'm watching tonight:

Just the one movie, again. This is not because I have had to study all day. Yes, I do have an exam tomorrow. But it's geography, a subject which I'm neither good at, care much about, or am taking next year. Therefore, instead of making an effort, I've been lazing about at home all day, starting the day with Three Colours: Red and ending with Bad Teacher. This is unfortunately the only movie that slightly interests me this week, as I can't watch Kung Fu Panda 2 as I haven't seen the first Kung Fu Panda, and Channing Tatum isn't one of my favourite people so I won't be seeing The Eagle. Anyway, back to the topic of exams. Just in case any of you were wondering (as I'm sure you probably weren't): I think my English exam went well. I don't want to set myself up for failure here, but I thought my essays were pretty good. My Maths exam didn't go too great...I'm absolutely positive that I failed algebra. My Science exam yesterday was so-so. I may have just passed Physics, just passed Chemistry and I think I did pretty well in Biology, since I thought it was really easy (bio is the only science I care about, since it's the only one I'm taking next year). Just Geo and Drama left. And guess what we have to do in order to study for Drama? Watch comedians/clowns on film! Like Mr. Bean, Charlie Chaplin, The Three Stooges...see why it's my favourite class?

Video of the week:

EVERYBODY STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND WATCH THIS VIDEO RIGHT NOW!!!!! 

I was going to post this last week but it had been taking off the net right as I went to embed it. But now it's back on the net, so you can all watch Liam Neeson being the awesomest he has ever been. Seriously, me and my friend have now claimed him as our dad. I could sit here and quote all of the funny moments in here, but I'd be here forever. But my new favourite line of the year is "let's do some improvisational comedy, now". And the part about Schindler's List. Okay. If you are still reading this and you have not watched the video, then I suggest that you go and do so now. I've watched it at least 20 times and I still find it funny.

Favourite film news of the week:

Okay, so it's not really film news as such, but it's set photos, so that's enough for me. Especially when Leo looks as sexy as he does there, in a perfectly tailored white suit. And then there's Carey Mulligan, in that beautiful purple dress. The costumes for Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby look just divine. Which is why one of the many set photos is my current iPod screensaver. I'm not sure why this movie has to be in 3D, though. I read the book just recently and I see no need for it at all. But it's a Baz Luhrmann, and he gets my ass on the seat (jeez, it's nearly a whole three years ago since my Baz Luhrmann phase...)

A bit of randomness:

War Horse is officially my most anticipated movie. I've told Mum that we have to go see it on opening day. Why? Well, you already know why. But I saw this recently reached picture, and it just made me want to see it even more. There's nothing I love more that seeing a guy with a deep connection to a horse (wow, that sounded weird). That horse looks like a fine specimen, indeed. It looks like he's trying to break the horse in. And also, Jeremy Irvine is as hot as hell. I think I can line him up in my ever-growing list of fake husbands.

Links:
Okay, so I didn't make this, but I felt the need to share it. It doesn't matter if you're a Captain America fan or not, this is so cute!

A film I actually quite enjoyed (enough to have it in my DVD collection) this year was Limitless. Matt didn't think it was at all bad either.

Nikhat offers up some reviews of The Art of Getting By, La Belle Personne, Submarine and Like Crazy. All films about young love. Which is a thing that is clearly lacking in my life.

Film Intel gives us conclusive proof that every film would be better with two Armie "I am created by angels" Hammer's. I agree with everything.

Following my lead (well, maybe), Andy Buckle has set up a page for his Oscar predictions for the year, too. Let's see who wins!

Anna at Defiant Success reviews Beginners, which I will be going to see next Wednesday (it's Contagion this week).

Ruth at FlixChatter gives us some lovely musings on The Tree of Life, a.k.a. the most polarizing movie of the year.

James at Cinema Sights reviews Bridesmaids, a movie which I was completely indifferent about, unlike just about everyone else.

Surrender to the Void has a post dedicated to the lovely Jena Malone, a child-star turned indie darling who I admire very much.

Sati at Cinematic Corner gives The Help a review, and it is a very lovely review indeed. The more I think about Jessica Chastain in that movie, the more determined I am to be her.

The very lucky Scott at Front Room Cinema has watched Shame again, and it is now his favourite movie of the year. I am still eagerly awaiting the DVD release!

Tyler continues his All-Time Favourites series with Fanny and Alexander, an Ingmar Bergman movie I would love to see!

Raghav at Ticker Talks Film writes a wonderful post about how us bloggers feel the pressure to review. And it's totally true.

Final word:
Speaking of most anticipated movies, what 2011 movie are you most looking forward to seeing?

Krzysztof Kieślowski's Three Colours trilogy

These days, when we hear about series of films, they're usually action films that just have the sequels piled on to see how much money that can be squeezed out of the average cinema-goer. However, back in the day (we're talking 1993-1994 here), there was a Polish director called Krzysztof Kieślowski. He made a trilogy based on the ideas of the three colours in the French flag: blue for liberty, white for equality and red for fraternity. They each had different characters and different stories, and at first glance the films are only connected by their titles. Nevertheless, the trilogy as a whole is a brilliant piece of work. Let me give each of the films a small review each, as no measure of my writing could ever do these films justice:

Three Colours: Blue

Juliette Binoche is the lead here, playing Julie, a woman who has just lost her husband and child in a car crash. She doesn't seem to be dealing with it that well, and sets out to paralyse her emotions and basically 'disappear' from the world. However, she finds that while she is trying to cut herself off from her former life, she can not cut off her human connections, and as she tries to live in isolation she finds out the truth about her late husband. The film deals with the theme of 'liberation' by showing that Julie is liberated after her husband and child die. This isn't necessarily a good thing, but I couldn't help but think of a particular quote to describe Julie, ironically from another Juliette Binoche movie, Certified Copy: "my family lives their lives and I live mine." This particularly becomes more evident as the film wears on, as Julie finds out the truth and desperately tries to live her own life. Binoche is amazing, as always, here, with her face doing a large majority of the acting. I didn't think that Julie was a particularly likeable character but it's easy to feel what she is going through, which is thanks to Binoche's calculated performance. However, the biggest star of this movie for me was the music. The music played a vital role in the movie, often being used as a narrative device. It was beautiful music, indeed.

Three Colours: White

This one is generally perceived as the worst of the trilogy, but that doesn't mean that it is at all bad. I actually found this one far more enjoyable than Blue, as that movie was occasionally quite pretentious (sorry to any arthouse fans which I may have offended with the use of that word, but that's my opinion), yet this movie was a black comedy, a genre which I genuinely enjoy. I felt like this movie took itself seriously enough to not be taken seriously, which was a strange thing, but I liked what Kieślowski did here. Ultimately, it's a saddening tale, particularly as our hero Karol Karol (Zbigniew Zamachowski) is given the job of assisting a man's suicide. Also, the end is a particularly memorable one, which I felt sad about at first, but then I also realised how much it showed the film's theme of equality. I can't figure out whether that equality was cruel or fair, which of course got me thinking a little bit about equality and how strange it is. The problem I had with White was the fact that it didn't have a strong story like Blue and Red, and it was a little different in tone compared with the other two. While it is probably the worst film of the lot (it is still really good), I'm tempted to say that White is the most accessible out of the three. It is rather entertaining and occasionally deeply affecting. In the strangest of ways.

Three Colours: Red

Red is hands down my most favourite film out of the trilogy, and will definitely be making it's way into the higher section of my favourite films of all time. The reason why I loved Red so much was because it tells the story of something which I often think about: how different people's lives interconnect in the most mysterious ways. The way that Kieślowski makes the story of the retired judge Kern (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and the beautiful model Valentine (Irene Jacob) parallel with the story of student Auguste (Jean-Pierre Lorit) and his girlfriend Karin (Frederique Feder) is intriguing. It really got me thinking of how strangely different lives can parallel each other and how fate and destiny can control some things. I just found a lot more to mull over with Red, which is something that hadn't happened to me with Blue and White. It actually seems to cover everything, much like I believe that The Tree of Life tried to do, but it did this with a lot more ease and fluidity. Maybe it's not a film about existence for anyone else, and maybe I just read a little too far into it. But it took me another watch early this morning to fully realise the many things that this film was trying to say, which was as satisfying as ever. Red is a masterpiece, pure and simple. And that final twist is shocking, with the final image etched in my memory forever. I blame Kieślowski and his work with Red for making me walk around all day like I'm part of a French arthouse film.

What I got for Blue and White:

What I got for Red:

Have you watched this trilogy? What did you think of the films?

Annual Awards Nerdism is back for another year...

A lot of you probably don't remember, as this was back in the day when I didn't have many followers and I was pretty much just blogging to myself, but I had this series called 'Annual Awards Nerdism'. This was when I just talked about the awards season, which is my favourite part of the year. Let's hope that next year we end the season on a better note than The King's Speech.

Anyway, we are getting close to the beginning of awards season, so I've started with doing my Oscar predictions. As I explained on the page, I haven't seen many of these films, so I'm not basing it on what I've seen, but what I've heard. And also, I'll be adding to this page, so check back every so often to have a look.

I hope you will all join me for this/next years Annual Awards Nerdism...it's hopefully going to be fun!

"I know that's your camera, sir, but technically that's my film."

Film: Super 8
Year: 2011
Writer/Director: J.J. Abrams
Starring: Joel Courtney, Riley Griffiths, Ryan Lee, Gabriel Basso, Zach Mills, Kyle Chandler, Elle Fanning, Noah Emmerich, Glynn Turman, AJ Michalka.
Running time: 112 min.

I often hear a lot of people getting all nostalgic about the movies they watched in their childhood, like E.T, or The Goonies, or Ghostbusters. Unfortunately, I missed the 70s/80s, when easy, breezy family entertainment was fun and fresh. Instead, I was born in 1995, which I suppose wasn't a great time for family entertainment compared to then. I didn't watch any movies either, because whenever a family movie came on at 12pm every Sunday, I would turn it off. If there was one thing I hated more than American sitcoms with canned laughter as a kid, it was corny 90s family movies. So when it came to see Super 8, a movie which I heard was extremely nostalgic and sort of a homage to sci-fi family movies from the 80s, I was a little worried that I wasn't educated enough to get it. Instead, J.J. Abrams' movie, with Steven Spielberg producing, is one that not only pays tribute to the movies that most of us/our parents grew up on, but also pays tribute to our childhood. The carefree days when we had imaginations that couldn't be reined in by cynicism or the harsh reality. The days when school didn't matter all that much. The days when everything seemed so much easier.

What's Happening Where I Am: Cinema and DVD releases here, 17/11/11

Cinema releases

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 - May I interest you in the history of this particular saga and I? Too bad. Okay, so back when the first movie came out (I was 13, just starting high school), I went to go and see this movie because I had nothing else to do and I was pretty curious about it. I thought it was average. I told a few friends about it. They went and saw it. They (as well as I) read the books. They dragged me to the cinemas to see it twice. I still liked it. Then it came out on DVD. Me and one of my friends got quite excited when it turned up at work. The week that it came out I watched it five times. This was because I had a huge crush on Dr. Carlisle Cullen. Anyway, I started thinking that it was terrible. Every time I picked up a magazine, it would be plastered with Twilight stuff. After that week, I was over the movie. And every thing else that came along with it.
I watched New Moon. It was my least favourite book, and my least favourite movie (thus far). I watched Eclipse. It wasn't terrible (and that was my favourite book), but it definitely wasn't good. And now comes along Breaking Dawn. In two parts, too! I'm actually pretty excited to see this movie (I'm not paying to see it, though), because a) I'd love to see how the sex scene turns out (in a non-Michael Fassbender in Shame kinda way), and b) I'd love to see this vampire pregnancy. How do humans get pregnant to vampires?!
I guess you could say, that if someone asked me to choose between Twilight and Harry Potter, I'd pick Harry Potter. And I haven't even seen, nor read, any of the Harry Potter's. But I can promise you that anything is better than Robert Pattinson looking pasty and sparkling and Kristen Stewart walking around all mopey.

DVD releases

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II - So, it's all ended. And I feel like I've missed out on the biggest party of my generation. If there's anyone to blame, it's the local newspaper (who I could probably blame for a lot of other things, but let's not go there). Back in 2001, my mother and I went to the cinemas in town (back when they were still open and didn't show movies that were already on DVD) to go and see the first Harry Potter. But no, the newspaper stuffed up the schedule and in fact, Lord of the Rings was playing. So we went and saw that instead. Now, I've watched all of the Lord of the Rings (I actually did that last year, as I would have been too young to understand them while they were playing in cinemas), but none of the Harry Potter's. This shall be rectified next month, as I promised like, everyone that I'd watch them all once the last one came out on DVD. And I always keep my promises.

Super 8 - This shall be reviewed tomorrow (because it was so awesome), providing that I don't kill myself while revising for my science exam on Monday. It's been a while since I've done a review. And to think that this whole site used to be based around reviews as I reviewed everything I watched. I wonder if you lovely people like the new direction I'm taking? Or shall I revert back to grammatically incorrect one paragraph reviews of every movie I see, just like this one?
To think that reviews like these used to get published in the local newspaper.

So, what do you think of these movies? Are you a Twilight fan? Or a Harry Potter fan? Or a Spielberg/Abrams fan? Discuss.

Tuesday Links and Other Stuff #2

What I'm watching tonight:

Just the one movie tonight. This is because a) I have an exam tomorrow and even though I've been studying for seven hours today, I need to do some more tonight to make sure I get an excellence for English and b) I haven't watched any of the Harry Potter's so therefore HP7PT2 is of absolutely no use to me. But speaking of Mr. Potter, I promised a lot of people that once the last one comes out on DVD, I shall watch them all. So next month, I think, I'll be having a little Harry Potter marathon which I'll be tracking on the blog. Once exams and the ball are all over. Anyway, I'm quite looking forward to seeing Super 8. I've heard good things, and I'm having this mini obsession with Steven Spielberg after watching Schindler's List again last night.

Videos of the week:

I know this was originally 'trailer of the week', but there was a hilarious video released this week that everyone needs to see. And I guess it's a trailer, technically.

L. DiCaprio (J. Edgar Parody) - watch more funny videos

So, according to like, everyone, J. Edgar sucks. Which is slightly annoying because I had once hoped that this would be the year that Leonardo DiCaprio gets an Oscar, and maybe he's missed his chance yet again because of how bad his movie is. But anyway, while this trailer is quite true, it's extremely hilarious. J. Edgar screams 'Oscar baiting', which went terribly wrong. Leo is always a winner in my heart, though.

Favourite film news of the week:

The lovely Felicity Jones, who I loved in Cemetery Junction and am very much looking forward to seeing in Like Crazy, was chosen to be in Warren Beatty's untitled Howard Hughes film. This is awesome for two reasons: a) Felicity Jones has been given a big role which she deserves, as she is amazingly talented and b) another Howard Hughes film? Cool. He's a guy who interests me a lot.

A bit of randomness:

The lovely Nikhat at Being Norma Jeane created this e-card, which describes my life perfectly. Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes has an amazing name, and what makes him even more amazing is that he has shaved off that horrible beard. Anyway, thanks, Nikhat, this is now hanging up right by my mirror, just so I can be reminded of his amazingness every day!

Links:
Speaking of Nikhat, she recently released her 100-ish favourite films. We have some similar choices!

Scott @ Front Room Cinema continues his 'Fallen Icon' series with Daryl Hannah. The picture of her now gave me nightmares!

When Ryan @ The Matinee doesn't like J. Edgar, I know that there is next to no hope that I will either. Oh well, by the time this comes out in February here, I will have forgotten about it...unless Leo gets nominated for that Oscar.

I recently watched the Three Colours trilogy, which I loved. Tyler @ Southern Vision, the guy that recommended them to me, tells us why he loves them in his new 'Favourite Films' series.

Despite the topic, I am amping to see Shame. Dan @ Public Transportation Snob was lucky enough to catch it, and the results were good.

Giving me some company while I tortured myself with calculus revision was the podcast Reel Insight's episode dedicated to one of my favourite actors, Cillian Murphy. There was a bit of love for Peacock, which is one of the most under-rated movies, like, ever.

A movie which I will not hesitate to put in my list of the top movies from this year is Melancholia, which Bonjour Tristesse saw and liked too. If you haven't seen it, see it on the big screen, and prepared to be wowed (and depressed).

Matt & the Art of Motion Pictures has started an epic tournament to determine the greatest actors in history! Go participate.

Anna @ Defiant Success has recently watched and reviewed The Breakfast Club, one of the best teenage movies ever. I still wish that John Hughes directed my life.

A film from last year which I unconditionally loved was Buried. Jessica at The Velvet Café loved it too. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

So far my second film of the year, Certified Copy, was seen and loved by James @ Cinema Sights. If you haven't seen the movie, then what the hell are you waiting for?

Final word:
I have my English exam tomorrow, and my Maths exam the next day (so there won't be a post tomorrow, I'll be far too busy). Do you have any tips to beat the pre-exam jitters?

Here's What I Do at School: An Essay on Film Piracy

Since I've been studying hard all day, I didn't really have time to post something. Well I would if I wasn't watching Schindler's List again, but when the mood strikes, one should watch that film. So here is an essay that I wrote a couple of months ago for school, which is all about film piracy and why I'm against it. The essay managed to get an extremely high excellence. See how different my writing is when I'm at school compared to when I'm blogging (if I seem to be over-exaggerating a lot this is because I'm just trying to get my point across, as I am supposed to be writing this essay for a 'school magazine'):

In 1927, the first sound movie, called The Jazz Singer, was made. After years of silence on film, finally someone had successfully combined talking and music with what was happening on screen. This was the first of many cinematic milestones achieved through advancing technology. Since then there have been several introductions: Technicolour, Cinemascope, 3D, and even a brief trial with Aromascope...all of these opportunities used to try make cinema-going a more involving experience. However, advancing technology has also had a negative effect on the film industry. Since videos have become a form of watching a movie, film piracy has slowly become a huge problem, but even more so since the internet has become more powerful.

Internet film piracy has become a global epidemic. As internet usage has expanded and there is now a lot more space to download and share files, pirates have been using this to their advantage. In January 2011, Envisional was commissioned by NBC Universal to analyse the amount of internet usage dedicated to copyright infringement, particularly in the area of film. One of the areas they looked at was the content on BitTorrent, which is the most used file sharing protocol worldwide. It was shown that 35.2% of what they found on BitTorrent was film content, and all but one of the 10,000 files they tested offered copyrighted and illegal content. They also found that video streaming is the fastest growing sector of the internet, accounting for over one quarter of internet traffic. 5.3% of that is illegitimately streamed content, a number which is set to rise as video streaming continues to grow at a fast speed. Envisonal states that 23.76% of global internet traffic is used for infringing content. With the internet’s continual rapid growth, these numbers are set to get bigger – eventuating in a criminal act such as piracy becoming the biggest user of the internet.

People are under the impression that downloading/watching a pirated film on the internet is harmless, when it is really theft. What these people fail to realise is that film-making accounts for over 2.4 million jobs in the US, and is a major contributor to the global economy. The film industry isn’t the only one that loses money to piracy, as the Department for Professional Employees says the government loses tax revenue “that would have been generated by the sale of non-pirated goods.” The Motion Picture Association of America says that an estimated “$58 billion in economic output is lost to the US economy annually due to copyright theft.” This has a resounding effect on the jobs needed to make films. Most of the workers in Hollywood are on average wages – even though their services such as costume making, food preparing or assisting directors are all vital. If their films fail to earn their budget back, their wages are cut, or even worse, they lose their job. Films aren’t just about the rich actors and lavish sets that appear on screen. Hundreds of people work on one film, and if you download that film instead of paying to see it, there is a chance that you are robbing one of those people of a job.

Film piracy is also a business that doesn’t realise what kinds of people they are stealing from. Most of the downloads available on the internet are for what is doing well at the box-office, but one of the worst cases of piracy was for a war film called The Hurt Locker, which was only given a small release. The Hurt Locker is a cinematic milestone in itself: its director, Kathryn Bigelow, became the first woman in the Academy Awards’ 82 year history to win for directing. It was also the lowest grossing film to win Best Picture, surprisingly beating the highest-grossing film in the world, Avatar, to the award. However, even though the film had many accolades to its name and was met with universal critical acclaim, the film failed at the box-office. This doesn’t mean that the film wasn’t widely seen, though. Most of its audience will remember seeing this film with a hazy picture and out-of-sync sound, through a leaked copy that was released on the internet five months before the films initial release. The Motion Picture Association of America says that the film only had six million viewers in US theatres, but seven million illegally downloaded it through BitTorrent in 2010. In America, the film grossed a weak $16,000,000, which was barely enough to cover its budget. This prompted production company Voltage Pictures to retaliate, suing 24,583 BitTorrent users who illegally downloaded it, in court – making it the largest lawsuit of its kind. Unfortunately, instead of being remembered as the multi-Academy Award winning epic war tale, The Hurt Locker will be known as the film that unfairly had to get its budget back by suing the people who downloaded it.

The main reason why people download movies these days because going to the cinema is a ridiculously expensive task. It costs $12 for an adult ticket, and the refreshments cost an average of $10. So really, watching a movie from the internet saves a lot of money, doesn’t it? In saying that, the box office is enjoying high theatre attendance numbers at the moment. Most of these high-grossing films, like Michael Bay’s latest directorial effort Transformers: Dark of the Moon, are the same: they have huge budgets which are used to fight piracy numbers. Because it’s impossible to pirate a 3D movie...for now. Also, these producers don’t want to pour a huge budget into a movie if they don’t know whether it will work or not, hence the significant amount of sequels and ‘reboots’ being released. Unfortunately, independent film-makers are the only ones who dare to try something new, but they don’t have the money, or the industry backing to fight piracy. In fact, one of the most unique movies to come out in the past decade, independent film The Tree of Life, probably won’t get its budget back, thanks to its more powerful competitors. Thus, piracy leaves discerning cinephiles scratching their heads, seeing their beloved film industry suffering at the wrath of someone like Michael Bay’s hands. All of this because cinema-going is an expensive hobby and the only way to stop people from downloading a movie illegally is to convert a film to 3D and put far too many explosions on it.

Not only does film piracy lose a fair amount of money for the global economy, it has introduced criminal activity to the biggest part of modern life: the internet. Advancing technology has been good to the cinematic world on the surface, but what people think is a harmless activity is really hurting the film industry and tarnishing the art form that it is. When it comes down to it, if someone like Michael Bay can fight piracy with money, and an independent film-maker can’t because they don’t have enough, then cinema-loving might as well just die.

What do you think of this essay? And also, what do you think about film piracy?

10 Movies I Wish I Had Made

As some of you may know, in the future I wish to become a director. But we all know that that's never going to happen, because basically everyone I've talked to about it has told me that I can't do it (well not everyone, but everyone has frowned upon my career choice). However, I am one of those people who will always "chase my dreams" because I don't want to end up being something boring like an English teacher (which is where I am headed, believe you me). Anyway, here's a taste of the films I wish I had made. Not because I think I could do a better job - because I don't think anyone could - but I just wish I'd thought of these ideas and be the woman behind these films. Basically, it's a taste of the kinds of films I'd like to make in the future if I continue to chase my dreams and avoid being an English teacher...

10. (500) Days of Summer

I'm quite an old-fashioned person. I like old ideas. But what I like even more is when they have a fresh spin on them, just like (500) Days of Summer does with the already worn-out romantic comedy. Also, something else I particularly like in films are non-linear story-lines, which you will see pop up quite a few times in this list. The way that (500) Days of Summer zips and zaps back and forth, whilst giving us all a lesson about love and avoiding clichés, is something which I find simply genius. I wish that I had thought of the expectations/reality scene, too.

9. The Disappearance of Alice Creed

While this movie isn't by any means perfect, it represents two particular things I about cinema: the power of minimal sets/characters and being as low-budget as they come. I love it when movies are deceivingly simple, but they have a few twists and turns which can't be expected. And when movies have extremely simple budgets, then I like them even more. I'd never want to be the one making movies for $200 million.

8. Revolutionary Road

One thing that has always interested me is 50's suburbia, and how people seemed so suffocated by it. The best example of that is Revolutionary Road, which also happens to be a movie about a disintegrating marriage - yet another thing I'd love to make a movie about. Yes, I'm a sick person. And another reason why I would have loved to have made this movie that has nothing to do with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet? Having Michael Shannon steal the show.

7. The Double Life of Veronique

I just watched this movie yesterday, as I am becoming quite the Krzysztof Kieslowski fan. The Double Life of Veronique is an extremely clever movie which raises a lot of questions - most of those being existential questions. If there's one thing I love seeing in movies, it's existentialism. Oh, and it's beautiful to look at...not that I could ever emulate the beauty that Kieslowski was so good at creating.

6. An Education

An Education is a personal favourite of mine, which I probably love a lot more than anyone else. This is probably because this movie speaks to me on so many different levels - particularly when Jenny has her little speech about how education is boring and everybody is telling her to be bored. I don't know, it's a film which I find a lot of comfort and beauty in, and also a film which always makes me feel like studying and doing well at school...so obviously, I need to watch this movie again.

5. A Single Man

Okay, so I'm not as fashionable as Tom Ford, but I love style in movies. The more stylish, the better. Also, the more depressing, the better. Call me weird, but I quite like movies about suicide, and movies that make me feel extremely depressed. I am a happy person, though.

4. Blue Valentine

Again, here's a film with a non-linear storyline and a love story that's been given a different take. Oh, and it's another disintegrating marriage story. As I said in my review, this movie is "ingeniously depressing". Which is something that I'd love to try and do in the future.

3. Memento

Yes, this is my favourite film. I rewatched it the other day and all I can remember thinking is how much I wish I could have made this film. Obviously because of the non-linear narrative...that is bloody genius. Alas, I'm not as smart as Christopher Nolan and I'd probably end up getting confused with what I was trying to do. I could never make a film noir as smart as this one.

2. The Social Network

There is something about the internet that interests me so much, and if I can ever get around to writing this excellent screenplay I have lingering in my brain (it's not excellent) then it will have a lot to do with the way people use the internet. The Social Network has been described as the 'movie of our generation', and that's another thing that I'd love to try and do, because I'm all for our generation. Plus, I'd have lots of talking...I love listening to people talk.

1. The Virgin Suicides

While a lot of people may disagree, Sofia Coppola is one of my most favourite film-makers. She makes everything look romantic, while being perfectly simple at the same time. The Virgin Suicides is a very simple story of some teenage sisters who are suffocated by their parent's rules and simply being a teenager. There's something about being a teenager that fascinates me, and it's something which I'd love to make a film about. Or I would just love to be Sofia Coppola.

What are some movies that you wish that you had made?