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There are always people who say that films aren't what they used to be or that "they don't make them like they used to". I tend to think they just aren't looking closely enough. Every year I find great new films to watch, the difference from watching classic films is that I have to wade through a bunch of mediocre and bad films to find the good ones. The last few years, or the last decade even, one of the safest places to look for new great films were Korea. They produced a great number of excellent films. Some suited an art-house audience, such as Kim Ki-duk's films (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring), Park Chan-wook's films (Oldboy) grabbed the attention of young white males in the west and Bong Joon-ho's The Host and Kwak Jae-yong's My Sassy Girl had a wider appeal. They all received good reviews and put Korea on the film map.
From what I can tell they all differed significantly from the Korean TV Dramas which I have yet to check out and which I know very little about.
Other Korean favourites:
Mother
3-Iron
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
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Sunday, March 21, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
The Death of 3D?
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You have probably watched a movie in 3D in the last few years, Avatar maybe? Coraline? Or the recent Alice in Wonderland? I've seen those and a few more in this remarkable new technology that's about to dominate the screens. Well it's not exactly new of course, it has actually been around in one form or another since the beginning of cinema but it has failed to catch on for an extended period of time. 3D TV's are just around the corner and should hit stores pretty soon so it seems that this time it's here to stay, and everyone agrees it's the best thing since Smell-O-Vision. After all, the 3D glasses are very comfortable and only gives headaches to a minor percentage of the audience. That seems worth it when we can have those spears or what have you LITERALLY sticking out of the screen.
Ok so I'm not a fan. For me those stereotypical 3D moments they put in every film only serves to make me aware of the 3D as opposed to helping me being immersed in the film. Then there's the extra cost and the %30 colour loss. I'll be thinking twice before watching a 3D movie again. As it stands, 3D is dead to me.
Make your own pair of 2D glasses courtesy of Mark Kermode.
I'll be writing a non-negative blog post any day now I promise.
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You have probably watched a movie in 3D in the last few years, Avatar maybe? Coraline? Or the recent Alice in Wonderland? I've seen those and a few more in this remarkable new technology that's about to dominate the screens. Well it's not exactly new of course, it has actually been around in one form or another since the beginning of cinema but it has failed to catch on for an extended period of time. 3D TV's are just around the corner and should hit stores pretty soon so it seems that this time it's here to stay, and everyone agrees it's the best thing since Smell-O-Vision. After all, the 3D glasses are very comfortable and only gives headaches to a minor percentage of the audience. That seems worth it when we can have those spears or what have you LITERALLY sticking out of the screen.
Ok so I'm not a fan. For me those stereotypical 3D moments they put in every film only serves to make me aware of the 3D as opposed to helping me being immersed in the film. Then there's the extra cost and the %30 colour loss. I'll be thinking twice before watching a 3D movie again. As it stands, 3D is dead to me.
Make your own pair of 2D glasses courtesy of Mark Kermode.
I'll be writing a non-negative blog post any day now I promise.
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Friday, March 12, 2010
Freezer
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I love going to the cinema. I loved going to uni. The two places share something quite significant in that they are both ridiculously cold. When I say ridiculous I mean really outrageously cold, like air con turned up to 11 kind of cold. Why oh why? I swear this question keeps me up at night more often than the meaning of life. If you want people to stop downloading illegal movies you just freaking turn up the heat.
Oh and that reminds me, I saw Bad Taste today and there was an anti-piracy ad made in the UK that kind of made me laugh. At first I though it was a joke but it seems serious enough: Piracy Funds Terrorism. And a spoof of the familiar anti-piracy ad we often see in Australia can be found here.
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I love going to the cinema. I loved going to uni. The two places share something quite significant in that they are both ridiculously cold. When I say ridiculous I mean really outrageously cold, like air con turned up to 11 kind of cold. Why oh why? I swear this question keeps me up at night more often than the meaning of life. If you want people to stop downloading illegal movies you just freaking turn up the heat.
Oh and that reminds me, I saw Bad Taste today and there was an anti-piracy ad made in the UK that kind of made me laugh. At first I though it was a joke but it seems serious enough: Piracy Funds Terrorism. And a spoof of the familiar anti-piracy ad we often see in Australia can be found here.
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Monday, March 8, 2010
Last night
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The official Avatar forums exploded last night with surprised Avatar fans who could not believe The Hurt Locker for both Best Picture and Best Director. Said forums turned out to be a lot more entertaining than the Oscar show itself, in fact, I thought I had found a goldmine of humour until it dawned on me that these were actual people writing on this forum. Actual people with no perspective at all. From then on it got a little scary and depressing. Anyway, I bring you the best posts from Avatar's official forum after last night's loss:
"Avatar lost both best director and best picture, but fear not. In a years time, who will be obsessing about The Hurt Locker? No one. What movie won best picture the year Star Wars came out? Annie Hall. Know what that is? I don't."
"I'm going to do the only thing that makes sense to me. Go look through the Neytiri pictures thread while listening to the soundtrack..."
"I'm going to kill myself. Oooh my dear Lord....nooooooooo."
"Noooo please don't... Oscars don't amount to anything in our hearts... in our hearts Avatar is the best movie ever made, this won't change a thing for us!"
"I was hoping Avatar would win more than that, still happy though that they won some awards. How could it not win Best picture and best film editing? Especially editing look at how much stuff they had to edit during the production of the film."
"Avatar belongs in the "Most Significant Movie in History" category. I cannot see any movie ever compete with Avatar in terms of its effect on the entire human population."
"About the Hurt Locker: "I don't get it, it gets SOUND and MUSIC awards? There isn't even a single music snippet in the entire movie, except for one scene when they're listening to a CD... and there's like 2-3 explosions, other than that - no sound at all....”
"I AM NOT ADVOCATING TERRORISM BUT I THINK WE NEED TO GO TO DVD STORES AND STUFF AND DESTROY AND DISPOSE OF EVERY COPY OF THE HURT LOCKER SO THAT IT CANT MAKE ANY MORE MONEY!!!!!"
"the hurt locker", i think, was very good technically speaking (filming, editing, etc.) but i think as well the story was plain boring after 30 minutes. if you had 30 minutes instead of 2h+, it would have been much better + it's a documentary, huh!, not a movie!"
"AVATAR is so vastly different and beyond extraordinary that it really can't be compared to other movies in so many ways .. and that is probably the problem .. the industry was trying to 'Criteria' it by their standards, where Avatar needs to be criteried by a completely different chart."
"This is the greatest movie ever made, with the greatest movie director and writer, and the greatest community gathering on the greatest forum... does the Hurt Locker have that? Nope don't think so. Did The Hurt Locker make people feel feelings like Avatar did? Nope. Avatar is the greatest movie ever, and the Oscars will not sway my view of the movie, in fact I must see it again!!!"
"well the initial disappointment of Avatar losing is subsiding. People are right. Star Wars didn't even win and lost to some movie called Annie Hall. THL didn't even show in any theatres near me, so I couldn't see it if I wanted."
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The official Avatar forums exploded last night with surprised Avatar fans who could not believe The Hurt Locker for both Best Picture and Best Director. Said forums turned out to be a lot more entertaining than the Oscar show itself, in fact, I thought I had found a goldmine of humour until it dawned on me that these were actual people writing on this forum. Actual people with no perspective at all. From then on it got a little scary and depressing. Anyway, I bring you the best posts from Avatar's official forum after last night's loss:
"Avatar lost both best director and best picture, but fear not. In a years time, who will be obsessing about The Hurt Locker? No one. What movie won best picture the year Star Wars came out? Annie Hall. Know what that is? I don't."
"I'm going to do the only thing that makes sense to me. Go look through the Neytiri pictures thread while listening to the soundtrack..."
"I'm going to kill myself. Oooh my dear Lord....nooooooooo."
"Noooo please don't... Oscars don't amount to anything in our hearts... in our hearts Avatar is the best movie ever made, this won't change a thing for us!"
"I was hoping Avatar would win more than that, still happy though that they won some awards. How could it not win Best picture and best film editing? Especially editing look at how much stuff they had to edit during the production of the film."
"Avatar belongs in the "Most Significant Movie in History" category. I cannot see any movie ever compete with Avatar in terms of its effect on the entire human population."
"About the Hurt Locker: "I don't get it, it gets SOUND and MUSIC awards? There isn't even a single music snippet in the entire movie, except for one scene when they're listening to a CD... and there's like 2-3 explosions, other than that - no sound at all....”
"I AM NOT ADVOCATING TERRORISM BUT I THINK WE NEED TO GO TO DVD STORES AND STUFF AND DESTROY AND DISPOSE OF EVERY COPY OF THE HURT LOCKER SO THAT IT CANT MAKE ANY MORE MONEY!!!!!"
"the hurt locker", i think, was very good technically speaking (filming, editing, etc.) but i think as well the story was plain boring after 30 minutes. if you had 30 minutes instead of 2h+, it would have been much better + it's a documentary, huh!, not a movie!"
"AVATAR is so vastly different and beyond extraordinary that it really can't be compared to other movies in so many ways .. and that is probably the problem .. the industry was trying to 'Criteria' it by their standards, where Avatar needs to be criteried by a completely different chart."
"This is the greatest movie ever made, with the greatest movie director and writer, and the greatest community gathering on the greatest forum... does the Hurt Locker have that? Nope don't think so. Did The Hurt Locker make people feel feelings like Avatar did? Nope. Avatar is the greatest movie ever, and the Oscars will not sway my view of the movie, in fact I must see it again!!!"
"well the initial disappointment of Avatar losing is subsiding. People are right. Star Wars didn't even win and lost to some movie called Annie Hall. THL didn't even show in any theatres near me, so I couldn't see it if I wanted."
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Wednesday, March 3, 2010
World of Glory
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Here's a link to Roy Andersson's short film World of Glory. He made the feature film You, The Living a few years back and Songs from the Second Floor before that. Unfortunately he's not very prolific. His films are offbeat and sometimes funny, though not in the uplifting kind of way. World of Glory goes for about 15 minutes and features a terrifying opening scene. Have a look and you'll soon figure out whether he's your cup of tea or not.
There's an interesting interview with Andersson here, from Little White Lies. He talks about not being able to make feature films and what he thinks about his work as a commercials director. Unfortunately he also has some bad things to say about fellow Swede Ingmar Bergman which might come as a surprise to some.
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Here's a link to Roy Andersson's short film World of Glory. He made the feature film You, The Living a few years back and Songs from the Second Floor before that. Unfortunately he's not very prolific. His films are offbeat and sometimes funny, though not in the uplifting kind of way. World of Glory goes for about 15 minutes and features a terrifying opening scene. Have a look and you'll soon figure out whether he's your cup of tea or not.
There's an interesting interview with Andersson here, from Little White Lies. He talks about not being able to make feature films and what he thinks about his work as a commercials director. Unfortunately he also has some bad things to say about fellow Swede Ingmar Bergman which might come as a surprise to some.
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Tuesday, March 2, 2010
The Academy Awards
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Once every year the key people of the film industry gather together for the most important award show on the planet. They celebrate themselves and their art while film nerds around the whole world is watching to see what films to keep an eye out for. Alas, it isn't time for Cannes just yet. In just 5 days another award show is kicking off, The Academy Awards. This is the part of the blog where I'll soon stop pretending I don't care about the Oscars, but first let me say I keep asking myself why do we care? Politics consistently overshadow the main categories and unless you're a filmmaker who makes documentary shorts, it's really hard to care about that particular category or the other minor ones when we have no chance of watching the films nominated. If only they would care enough to somehow distribute these films to the public. A nice little DVD would work, or easier yet, just distribute them online and throw a few cents to the filmmakers for every person who watches the films. Easy.
This year I care particularly about the Oscars because I am curious whether Avatar can buy its way to fame and glory. Well alright, I'll concede it already has the fame. I'm rooting for the only film nominated for best picture I haven't seen yet, and that's The Hurt Locker (I'll be watching it on the weekend). Now I'd root for other films if I thought any of them had a chance. Up for instance is sadly just window dressing. 10 nominees doesn't exactly make it doubly exciting. No, it's strictly a two horse race in that category with The Hurt Locker being a slight favorite at this stage. The reason why I'm a bit worried that Avatar might take it is because the Academy often pick the films that wont be remembered in a few decades time. Shakespeare in Love won Best Picture Oscar a decade or so ago, it's actually a perfectly decent film, but it's hard to find on Best of the Decade lists and such. Go further back and the mistakes they've made become more apparent. Many people will tell you Raging Bull was robbed for instance, Hithcock's Psycho was never even nominated and films like Cimarron and Cavalcade (hands up who has seen any of them) won Best Picture awards for their respective years.
So I'll say it. Take away the money from Avatar (i.e. the special effects) and it has no merits. None. At least they got it right when not giving it nominations in the writing or acting categories. That's why I'll be hoping James Cameron's ex-wife will sweep the awards this year. No woman has ever won the Best Director award at the Oscars. True story. Bigelow started directing about two decades ago so maybe they feel ready to give it to a woman now. Heck, maybe in a few decades Ang Lee should try again for Best Picture with Brokeback Mountain 2, their attitudes towards gay people might have changed even.
PS: If there are any big surprises at the Oscars this year please let it be Carey Mulligan for Best Actress.
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Once every year the key people of the film industry gather together for the most important award show on the planet. They celebrate themselves and their art while film nerds around the whole world is watching to see what films to keep an eye out for. Alas, it isn't time for Cannes just yet. In just 5 days another award show is kicking off, The Academy Awards. This is the part of the blog where I'll soon stop pretending I don't care about the Oscars, but first let me say I keep asking myself why do we care? Politics consistently overshadow the main categories and unless you're a filmmaker who makes documentary shorts, it's really hard to care about that particular category or the other minor ones when we have no chance of watching the films nominated. If only they would care enough to somehow distribute these films to the public. A nice little DVD would work, or easier yet, just distribute them online and throw a few cents to the filmmakers for every person who watches the films. Easy.
This year I care particularly about the Oscars because I am curious whether Avatar can buy its way to fame and glory. Well alright, I'll concede it already has the fame. I'm rooting for the only film nominated for best picture I haven't seen yet, and that's The Hurt Locker (I'll be watching it on the weekend). Now I'd root for other films if I thought any of them had a chance. Up for instance is sadly just window dressing. 10 nominees doesn't exactly make it doubly exciting. No, it's strictly a two horse race in that category with The Hurt Locker being a slight favorite at this stage. The reason why I'm a bit worried that Avatar might take it is because the Academy often pick the films that wont be remembered in a few decades time. Shakespeare in Love won Best Picture Oscar a decade or so ago, it's actually a perfectly decent film, but it's hard to find on Best of the Decade lists and such. Go further back and the mistakes they've made become more apparent. Many people will tell you Raging Bull was robbed for instance, Hithcock's Psycho was never even nominated and films like Cimarron and Cavalcade (hands up who has seen any of them) won Best Picture awards for their respective years.
So I'll say it. Take away the money from Avatar (i.e. the special effects) and it has no merits. None. At least they got it right when not giving it nominations in the writing or acting categories. That's why I'll be hoping James Cameron's ex-wife will sweep the awards this year. No woman has ever won the Best Director award at the Oscars. True story. Bigelow started directing about two decades ago so maybe they feel ready to give it to a woman now. Heck, maybe in a few decades Ang Lee should try again for Best Picture with Brokeback Mountain 2, their attitudes towards gay people might have changed even.
PS: If there are any big surprises at the Oscars this year please let it be Carey Mulligan for Best Actress.
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