November 7, 2009

Movie of the Day

TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN

Really only two things to say about this.  First, if you’ve got a 5.1 (or better) surround system at home, here’s a nice way to show it off.  Christ, the Dreamworks and Paramount logos at the beginning are more intensely mixed than most feature films.

Second, since this film basically follows the video game standard (composed of a series of “tasks” or “set-pieces” to get through), let me say that I’d still be insulted if this were only a mere video game, not a one hundred million dollar PLUS major motion picture.

Michael Bay.  He will rape your eyes and ears for 2+ hours. Pay him to do so!

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Got my Exec Producer cap on today. Festival time!!

Got my Exec Producer cap on today. Festival time!!

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November 6, 2009

Additional Movie of the Day

PRECIOUS

Since Precious’s debut at Sundance this year, I’d have to say only Avatar has garnered more buzz throughout the movie biz.  This film, directed by producer Lee Daniels (Monster’s Ball), tells the story of an overweight, pregnant teen from Harlem, who fights an abusive mother and indifferent society every day.  The visual style of the film adds a heightened quality to it.  Precious (the newcomer Gabourey Sidibe) has daydreams, in which she’s at a movie premiere, a photo shoot.  These are countered with dark transitions, lingering, out-of-focus moments in her real life.  The end result is almost like a fable or fairy tale (a theme in the film).  The characters are all there: young princess, evil mother, good queen.  It’s not a style that I wholly dig, but Daniels makes it work, and there are some surprising moments of honest revelation when they pop out from underneath that curtain.

A lot of people have been talking up Mo’Nique’s performance as the violent, depressive and abuse mother.  They’re right.  She’s fierce.

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Movie of the Day (TV Season edition)

MAD MEN: SEASON TWO

I continue to love this series.  The art direction is absolutely superb.  The direction and cinematography is fantastic (especially in the hi-def), with some compositions smacking of a Gregory Crewdson photo.  The real stand-out, though, is the writing.  It’s hard to explain, but each season (13 episodes, in Season Two’s case) feels like one complete story, and each individual episode just moves that story along patiently.  An episode doesn’t feel like a self-contained one hour drama, with a beginning/middle/end and a theme (although they do stand alone strongly).  The plots are moved along across multiple episodes so very well, without anything being too sensational or feeling ratings-grabbing.

Some spoiler-y things after the jump.

Read More

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November 5, 2009

30 Rawk!

There are some episodes of 30 Rock that feel like they were made just for New Yorkers.  Tonight was one of those eps.  And I loved it so.

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November 5th, 1955

The famous Hill Valley Lightning Storm was 54 years ago tonight.

SAVE THE CLOCK TOWER!!

EDIT: Horribly embarrassed.   November 12th was the night of the Lightning Storm.  November 5th was when Doc Brown invented time travel.

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TV Season break

Watching another TV season, so no review today.

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Well bought played, Yankees.

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November 4, 2009

Movie of the Day

BY THE PEOPLE: THE ELECTION OF BARACK OBAMA

Filmmakers Amy Rice and Alicia Sams noticed Obama during the 2004 Democratic Convention, and thought, “What an interesting guy.”  So around the 2006 midterm elections, they decided to start filming him.  Little did they (or he) know, he was soon to run for and win the presidency.  The result is this film, covering the 19 months leading up to election day.

It’s more of an observational documentary, just watching people and things happen.  A few brief interviews here and there: Barack, Michelle, Axelrod, Plouffe.  But it doesn’t dive into the details and behind-the-scenes as much as I had hoped (like the brilliant 7-part Newsweek series.  If you haven’t read it, do so now).  It’s still enjoyable to watch: exhausting remembering all the crap of that looooong election, but fun to remember and see just what a great, charismatic, smart guy our president is.

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November 3, 2009
Democracy!!!!!

Democracy!!!!!

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Movie of the Day

SUNSHINE

There are two types of space film working here.  There’s the space-is-lonely-and-vast theme (Stanley Kubrick’s version), and the space-is-confined-terror theme (thank you, Ridley Scott).  Danny Boyle uses them both very ably here, in the story of the mission to ‘reignite’ the sun (suspend the disbelief here, because everyone knows that the sun will die by first expanding and getting hotter, billions of years from now.  Duh!).  Boyle’s frenetic style fits this type of film well: waves of deadly heat, and fire, and leaping across gaps in space.  It’s a pretty predictable story, but still a fun ride.  By the end, I even felt a little high (thanks to the aforementioned frenetic-ness).

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(No. OF NOTES: 1)
  
November 2, 2009

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Movie of the Day

THE WAGES OF FEAR

What a stellar piece of suspense, this winner of the 1953 Palme D’Or at Cannes.  Considered to be one of France’s masters of the thriller, Henri-George Clouzot’s film grabs hold and doesn’t let go.  In a destitute South American town, an American oil company hires four drifters to drive two trucks loaded with nitroglycerin across 300 miles of bumpy, treacherous mountain roads.  The slightest bump or jolt will blow them sky-high.  Add to the mix the fact that the four drivers (paired up per truck) don’t always trust each other, and have different breaking points under the immense stress, and throw in some truly smart set-pieces (a rotting wood road, for example): the result had me clenching my fists.

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November 1, 2009

City at night

Sometimes I forget that I have an HD video camera in my bag all the time.

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Huge turnout for the 4th and Goal-stein party.

Huge turnout for the 4th and Goal-stein party.

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