Archive for the ‘90 minutes’ tag

A movie I liked, another that’s ok and other fun opinions

I saw No Country For Old Men a few days ago, and after having a few days to mull it over I think I’m ready to call it the best movie I’ve seen this year. There was a lot in the movie to think about and while I certainly don’t worship the brothers Coen they have really done a masterful job of telling this story. As is often true, I wasn’t sure of my opinion when the movie ended, but I did know that I liked the ending. The guys sitting in front of us didn’t, I guess things weren’t wrapped up as tightly as they would have liked. It did end abruptly and generally unresolved, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good ending. From the reviews I read the ending was most people’s biggest problem, others didn’t like the seemingly senseless violence. Which I’m not a huge fan of, but thats pretty much what the movie was about. So if you are willing to watch a complex movie and pay attention to the characters definitely go see No Country For Old Men, it’s worth $9.

That being said I also saw something very different a couple of weeks ago. Southland Tales is Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly‘s second movie… and man is it complex. I loved Donnie Darko, it’s strange and deep, I’ve seldom had as much fun as I had discussing that movie with people. However, a while after Donnie Darko came the Director’s Cut, which is awful. Southland Tales is basically every bad part of the director’s cut of DD stretched out to three hours. Southland Tales was very long, and I felt every minute of it. The story has lots of characters and lots of dialogue and while it is insightful and funny there was just too much. About an hour into the movie about 10 people in the theatre had already walked out, which is a mistake because if they had stayed for the whole things they might have liked it. Despite it’s length and how tedious the story felt the end wrapped everything up into something that was satisfying. I liked the movie, it’s not the best thing i’ve seen in a while but I liked it and will see it again. The movie could have been so much more though, and that is frustrating. First off the first half of the plot was told in a series of three comic books… I didn’t know this and because I can’t find them for free I still haven’t read them. Expecting your audience to already know half the plot is a mistake. I don’t care how much advertising they could have done for the comics (there was basically none) most people aren’t going to read them before seeing the movie. The second big problem with the movie was what made me hate the Director’s Cut of DD… titles. Kelly used full screen titles to explain plot and breakup the three acts, which is un-needed in a movie and really just made me want to hate the convoluted plot. If the plot of your movie needs to be explained in such a blunt manner you’re story needs to be simplified or shortened.. that’s pretty much it. If you get a chance go see Southland Tales, but it’s probably better to just wait for the DVD.

In other news I’ve finalized my holiday travel plans. I’ll be in Boise from December 20th until January 7th so if you’ll be in Boise too let me know and we’ll hang out. While it’s nice here in Tempe it’l be fun to experience some weather again, maybe even some snow if I’m lucky.

Everyone should also go and check out www.synthar.com. There you’ll find an awesome band who just put out their first record… which you should purchase. I’ve only listened to it once through, so I’ll maybe talk about it later but It’s really solid stuff from some hard working artists and there are no record companies involved… you can’t go wrong with that.

Laters,
Dave

Across The Valley

I saw Across The Universe last night. I can honestly say that it was just as enjoyable as it was confusing. I swear, no one actually directed the movie, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t very creative. We drove out to Scottsdale to see it at the Cine Capri. Which I’m sorry to saw was in it self was a letdown. The more theaters I goto the more I realize how spoiled I am by the Egyptian. The Cine Capri was a popular theatre in Phoenix, as a matter of fact it was host to many hollywood premiers, but it was torn down a few years back and replaced by multiple “Cine Capris” (which is French for $.50 more profit per ticket) at different theaters, Phoenix now has two of them. I figured it was a huge theater, with a balcony and cool architecture. Nope, it was just a bigger theater with stadium seating and ugly gold curtains. So I drove to north Scottsdale and payed extra for nothing, but I still don’t regret seeing the movie.
Across The Universe was fun to watch, but it’s first and fatal flaw is that it’s too long. 90 minutes people, unless you’re David Lean it’s all you get! The music however is amazing, all the Beatles covers are well done and while the visuals do at times get too weird (the Eddy Izzard scene is un-watchable). The majority of the musical scenes are a lot of fun and that is why everyone should go see it. Don’t expect much from the plot, and don’t be surprised when characters just randomly disappear and appear. There is one in particular that shouldn’t have been in the movie in the first place, but just randomly pops in and out of scenes throughout the movie. It’s a directoral nightmare, but like I said, if you at least sort of like the Beatles you should go check it out.

I’m hard at work on my demo reel (you know that thing I’ve been working on for months now) I think I finally have a grasp on how to do this. I basically started over two weeks ago after watching a bunch of other people’s reels. I’m doing a sort of montage now, and while I don’t really like the concept of it, it supposedly helps you get a job. So I’m jumping on the bandwagon and hoping for the best. I get to show my resume to a bunch of potential employers at a job fair next thursday. So while I have to get the stupid thing done in the next few days I’m excited about showing it off. Even if my current boss might be there… it could get a bit weird… oh well.

On wednesday Wes Anderson released a short film onto iTunes. It’s called Hotel Chevalier and it’s excellent. It gives a bit of background to one of the characters in his upcoming film The Darjeeling Limited. It’s short and doesn’t have much of a plot but it’s full of Anderson’s usual charm. It’s free, only on iTunes and also rated R for a reason.

David

Rain with a chance of scary

Thursday was my only day off this week. Which is ok now and then but I am really starting to dislike going to work. I have to run audio all this weekend and if we have one more breaking news report about rain I might just pot up some 1k tone and walk out the door. I’ve never seen sensationalism like this before, it is very honestly out of control. At the first sign of a cloud (us outside the newsroom like to call em “SCARY clouds”) we break into what ever is on the air and talk about how water will now fall the sky. As if people here have seen rain before… I know it’s the desert but for balls sakes this happens every summer… EVERY SINGLE SUMMER!

The Margo House had its first casualty this week. A roommate that was found on Craig’s List named decided that a year’s commitment wasn’t for him. So at the moment there are just four of us at 3920 Margo Drive. He was a nice guy, but was having some problems settling in, so in all honesty it’s probably for the better. Jon has another friend who is going to move here from Indiana so the room will once again be occupied next week. I don’t know the guy but he is moving here to be a chess instructor, and has been described as “a little odd” so he’ll fit right in.

I’m currently watching The Bridge on the River Kwai on TCM and it reminds me of a pressing issue that effect us all in this day and age.
Movies are too freaking long.
Remind me again why Knocked Up (which really was pretty good) was over two hours long? Why did I have to sit through almost three hours of Pirates 3? Even Hot Fuzz (which was amazing) was longer than 90 minutes. Unless it’s the un-cut DVD or directed by David Lean no movies should be longer than an hour and a half.
90 minutes!

I digress.
The videos section has been renamed kinetic…. get it? Yea it took me a week and 4 emails to bender to come up with the whole static/kinetic thing. There are more videos and they are much better organized. You can also now embed them like youtube videos and most have quicktime mirrors for those who don’t have flash. There are still a few more videos that I need to add, they will be up in a while.

My second Heinz commercial is done, which is good because the deadline is monday.
Check it out here.

Davie