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
Posted: September 29th, 2007
at 2:28pm by David Hildreth
Tagged with 90 minutes, Across The Universe, Hotel Chevalier, movies, Prudence, resume, The Darjeeling Limited
Comments: 28 comments
And then it was monday
I’ve started playing World of Warcraft again. I tried to go back through my bank account history and count how many times I’ve stopped and started one of my accounts but I gave up after 4. It’s been a lot of fun this time around though, I am making some progress on a character and am playing with some fun people. Another fun thing about WOW is how artistic and beautiful the game can be. I’ve been playing on my big 32″ tv, so while my eyes to hurt a little bit it’s nice to just walk around and admire all the years of work that went into making the game.
Last thursday I decided to capture some video as I ran around The Outlands and because I got bored on saturday I threw it together into what I am calling. An Evening In The Outlands, it includes appearances by my little guy and some friends, but the main feature is just the game itself. Sure it steals all your free time, but in addition to being a lot of fun there is also a lot of cool stuff to look at.
And because I live for nerdy excess it’s also available in High Definition 720p
Tomorrow I get to move on to my last class for this part of the program I’m in. After that I’ll get my Associate’s Degree (who knows what the hell you could do with that) and will then get to start on my Bachelor’s. I’m already counting down the days until I am done with school. It’s been a fun 17 years but I now have a good grasp on what I want to do, at least for the next decade or so, and I am quite anxious to be able to start doing that.
The class I just finished was on PSA production and my spot turned out pretty good. I’ll probably tweak it in the coming weeks, especially the titles at the end. It’s now in the resume section of my page, feel free to check it out.
A trailer for Juno hit the net last week. It’s a film by the guy who directed Thank You For Smoking and I think it looks awesome. It did well at the Toronto Film Festival and has a really high rating on IMDB, although the US release isn’t until December so I guess It’l be a while before I get to see it myself. I hate waiting for movies, especially indie flicks, because even if you wait 3 months for it to be released there is no guarantee (especially in this silly city) that you’ll be able to see it when it’s out. I still haven’t seen Once, it played in Phoenix for like a few weeks, yet it’s still playing in Tucson, months after it got it’s “wide” release.
I’m out for now
DMH
Posted: September 17th, 2007
at 12:47pm by David Hildreth
Tagged with Juno, projects, psa, resume
Comments: 3 comments
That one day normal people get off of work
Labor Day!
Yeah, I’ve got to still work but I’ll take overtime over a day off almost 73% of the time… I did the math.
First off on this “holiday” I give you another episode of I stole it so you don’t have to. It’s my favorite section of Paris Je T’Aime, which I highly recommend. The movie is a collection of short stories all written and directed by different people and set in or around Paris. They are doing the same thing with New York next year.
I’ve gotten back into watching movies lately. After having the same netflix movies for three weeks I finally have the motivation to watch them. I also downloaded a few that I missed in theaters and arn’t on DVD yet. Paris Je T’Aime was one, also Sunshine and King of Kong. All of which were good, King of Kong the weakest of the the three but still good. I also downloaded an HD copy of Reign Over Me, which was awesome and watched Trainspotting for the first time.
There is some new music in my iTunes rotation too. A new Eislely album, which I like a lot more than their other stuff, and a new John Vanderslice album which is too good. All in all i’ve been able to slip back into my little film school ritual of watching a new movie or listening to an album while getting some work done.
And the best part is I’ve actually got some stuff done :D
I’ve been working on my demo reel, I’ve got a neat concept for the menus and am making progress.
That is what I have at the moment. I want to have a lot more clips in there and I need some music but it’s well on it’s way to being something cool. All in all my menu animations for my DVD might be more impressive than the projects they are meant to show… that’s ok I guess.
Neither of my Heinz commercials made the finals. That’s ok, there are a lot of really good ones that did, so i’m satisfied. The first one is probably going to make it’s way to my resume DVD so it’s time well spent.
I’m out for now
David
P.S. for those who don’t spend that much time on youtube this is why africa is hot (if you get bored just skip to 1:20 it’s all worth it from there on)