I love gift wrapping...

It gives me the impression of rediscovering fire...
If you follow my thoughts... :)

Awards Watch: Directors Roundtable

Film directors often have interesting things to say.
So when you put 6 of them in a room, you're set for a good read.
And when those 6 are named Kathryn Bigelow, Lee Daniels, Peter Jackson, Quentin Tarantino, James Cameron and Jason Reitman... Guess what... :)

Awards Watch: Directors Roundtable

Avatar

There was no real way Cameron would not deliver for this 10 years gestating project, but now we can finally say it: it was worth the wait. And then some.

Those who are slacking on the fairly unoriginal story are missing the point:
1) a good story doesn't get old and this one's good
2) when it's told that way, he could adapt a nursery rhyme I'd be in.

It's just awe inspiring.
Epic. Never seen before.
All those qualifiers take suddently a new meaning...
I would think that my mouth was gaping through at least half of the movie. I couldn't tell though, I was just absorbed...

As a matter of fact, 3D just disappears within the 1st few minutes. It delivers that much more punch and it's so well designed you just forget about it and get drowned in the experience. The focus guides your eyes so you always know where to look at, you're never lost... And also when you think about it, you just don't see the limit between CGI and real shots... It all forms a whole. Absolutely amazing.
But all at the service of the story...

And in a typical Cameron way, it's not all about action, you have some truly beautiful and poetic moments as well... But when the shit comes down, it does come down... :)
Under all the slick and cold technology, there's a heart beating. The Na'vis don't feel like they're just CGI artefacts. They live. You can see the actors working... Yet they move in a cat-like way that clearly isn't human.
Speakign about which, the fauna on Pandora is amazing as well. So many details, so many things to catch. Even if the Na'Vis could be suspiciously humanoid, they do have interesting twists...

You can see that Cameron wanted to create a "Star Wars" for our time and he did.
Yeah, well worth the wait.
I hope this movie will blow Titanic's record out of the waters. I mean it's much better than Titanic. It's also got a love story in it, and it got FRICKIN' BLUE ALIENS RIDING 6 LEGGED HORSES GOING UP AGAINST 10m HIGH EXOSKELETTONS WITH GUNS!!!
Sorry, that had to come out.

Now I hope he does that to Battle Angel Alita...

10 years at the movies...

Back in 1999, I saw a couple of movies (including, of course, Fight Club) that made me realise that I wanted to push movie-going as a more regular activity as it was for me.
And I tried to keep every ticket ever since.
So now, 10 years later, it's time to scan them all and look at what has been accomplished!
Nothing much, of course. But certainly a lot of experiences.

It's actually funny how, looking through them all, I got a lot of memories coming back of the context I saw those movies in. People I saw them with. Reactions...
Quite a good trip down memory lane.
There were even a few I forgot I saw... Only a few seen twice.

I have to say I look at all of them and I stand proud that I minimised the number of crap films I went to see. Understand "films I didn't enjoy". Still, there are a few. I could have "forgotten" them, but hey I'm a honest man. Guess which they were!

In numbers, that's in excess of 275 movies seen (I'm quite sure I have lost a few "anonymous" tickets). About 2 movies a month in 10 years. Certainly not the best, but not bad either...
I have no intention of adding up how much it cost me.

Feel free to have a look! :)

A decade starting with Fight Club and ending with Avatar tomorrow... Not bad! :)
I wonder how the next one will look...

Where The Wild Things Are.

The credits of this movie mentions the usual "all events and characters in this film are fictitious".
that made me chuckle actually, because I would think that everyone would have a connection to this. Everyone that has been 8 once...

It's a trip into a child's mind. Not an ADD child, just a normal one.

It's amazing how Jonze has managed to capture those perfect moments, all in nuances. It does remind me of movies like Lost In Translation that just seem to transmit sensations directly to your brain. Emotions are carried straight from the images.
A snowball fight. Running around in the woods. Cuddling in a "pile". Playing war. And going back to mum...
By extension, it's as much about being a kid than having a kid as well.

It's a movie that has its own mood, swinging from intense joy and jubilation to intense sadness or fear in moments. How play can (and often do) end up in tears.
It's wild, true, poetic, beautiful.

It's also got its own look, completely original and I would think it will stay unique. From a technical point of vue, the Wild Things are quite a marvel to look at. Half costume - half CGI (the faces), however you can't see the seams at all. They're incredibly expressive and as a consequence, they just exist on screen.
They're alive.

Definitely one of the most important movies I've seen this year. As vital for people who might have buried their inner child as those who nurture it, as it just let's it out.

2009 is almost over, still it's not giving up... What a year.
Avatar is the next one up. To finish with a bang.

The Box.

I'm quite a fan of Richard Kelly's.
I mean Donnie Darko could be up in my top 10 favourite movies. And I absolutely love Domino which he wrote, while Tony Scott directed.

Anyway The Box only confirms what a talented artist he is.
Based on a Richard Matheson short story, it sees an ordinary American family, all happy, receive the visit of a strange character, who gives them a box containing a "button unit". If they press the button, they receive $1M, but someone they don't know dies.
On this "what if?" concept, unfolds a complex moral fable.

Firstly, the technical side is flawless. The direction is fluid and elegant. The special effects very well integrated and the reconsitution of the 70s (although I only shortly lived them) seems to have been given so much care that it almost feels like a period movie...

This gives the perfect based for a masterfully told story, reminiscent of a Twilight Zone episode. The tribute is paid as soon as the very first notes of the movie open (the score was handled by Arcade Fire's leading couple).
What starts like a family drama soon show signs of strangeness at every turn and goes into full blown SciFi at some point. However it has the very good taste to finish where it started. Which only makes the conclusion more poignant.

Judos have to be given to the interpretation here, with Cameron Diaz and James Mardsen portraying an awfully likeable leading couple. You're with them every steps of the way.
But the palm has to be given to Frank Langella. His Arlington Steward will certainly stay in a lot of memories as one of the most creepy baddies in a movie. Perfectly mannered, yet utterly creepy and unforgiving.

It's one of those movies that stay with you after the lights have come back, where you try to fit some small details back into place. The call for watching it again.

I was sick with a cold when coming in but even that couldn't prevent me from being stuck into yet another mindfuck from Mr Kelly...

Interdire les drapeaux etrangers : l'UMP singe le FN | Rue89

Voyez les vieux cons vociferer...

Interdire les drapeaux etrangers : l'UMP singe le FN | Rue89

Un mariage dans le silence... Faut pas deconner non plus... Surtout si ce qu'ils ont vraiment derriere la tete c'est les mariages "d'etrangers"...
Desolant...

Small Worlds.

A flash game, highlighted to me by Kotaku

I find it quite brilliant.
Minimalist would be the key word here. However, the game still manages to pack a story (through exploration, reminiscent of Metroids) and has a quite distinct atmosphere...
It's short, but it still manages to deliver a memorable experience...
Most impressive...

Here it is.

Modern Matrix Times...

This is quite excellent:


(initially spotted by Ecrans)

Je trouve ca drole...

...donc je partage: http://lefebvrotron.fr/.

:)

L'article ou je l'ai trouve vaut aussi le coup d'oeil...
Haaa les politiques et internet... :)

This is not an add.

I came accross a game description on Steam that made me laugh (I blanked the game's name because this is no advert):
"Who needs backstory? Who needs resource-gathering? Diplomacy is so last year. ##### cuts right to the chase of sci-fi strategy games, and deals with large, completely unjustified space battles between huge opposing space fleets."

That's the spirit! :)

Harry Brown.

This should work as a British companion piece to Gran Torino.

However, despite the fact that they both feature 2 elderly retired from the military type characters, they take 2 very different paths.
When Eastwood's character shifts from a racist & cantankerous old git towards someone more accepting and even self-sacrificing, Caine's taking something of an opposite direction: from quiet retired to avenging angel. Because this is a revenge movie. So it's actually closer to Dirty Harry.

Caine's Harry saves the movie from any misplaced far-right extremism though. He depicts a faillible character, who doesn't quite enjoy the path he takes but takes it anyway because he's just fed up in a sense. He's lost too much and sets himself to do something.
Thanks to that, the movie manages to navigate in this grey area that is vengeance. The "baddies" are also interesting in the sense that they're not likeable in any way (they're dispiseable thugs), but they're caught in a system, adding a relevant social commentary.

It's quite a tough movie, violent and bleak, hard to stomach at times, yet it's a fine example of what British cinema can produce.

The Myst

I missed that one in the cinema although it came very highly recommended, both by critics & friends. I finally have taken the time to watch it.
And I have to say the "hype" was well deserved.

This is possibly the best horror movie I saw since John Carpenter's The Thing.
It shares with it the fact that it's more interested in its atmosphere and actual scares. Which is fine by me, as I'm not too fond of jumps and it doesn't dim down the experience. Instead, fear is always there, creeping (I did have to make an awful lot of pauses, even though I watched it during the afternoon. Yes I'm a big wuss).
Also, there's some parallels with Spielberg's War Of The Worlds, as it shows a world collapsing.
And the horror comes as much from "what's out there" as from the characters depicted. What people are capable of doing when what they took for granted falls to pieces...

It's not for the faint of the heart, not specially for the gore (there is some but it's not the emphasis here), but for the situations. The ending is especially upsetting.

What would I do? I hope I'll never know, but it's entirely possible that this movie shows what would happen... A lot of the questions and the images will certainly stay with you after the credits roll...
Essential viewing.

Up.

Again, a Pixar movie that I almost let pass me by.
My excuse, here, could have been "Wall-E was so good, they can't do that twice in a row". Not that they haven't done that in the past, mind you (Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc. for me). So well yes they can.

When it took 1/2 of Wall-E to make me shed a tear, it took Up only 10min. Just for this opening, presenting a perfect life in little moments, the movie could just be the best of the year. Simply amazing. And although the movie kind of climaxes emotionally here, the rest always manages to juxtapose extremely serious scenes with pure Tex Avery-style slapstick. Cry & laugh are just seconds of one another. It's a very difficult balancing act but they just manage to pull it off easily.
And with that tone set right, you can just have a stupid bird called Kevin, talking dogs, it's fine, it all works. It's all funny, well paced, well used (no fart joke here).
And the action packed final could stand amongst the best "summer blockbusters" scene of the year.

You could argue that on the whole it's yet another buddy movie with a mismatched pair of characters and it's true that the movie does follow the blue prints of the genre. Yet, the context, the themes change everything in my view.
Because at its heart, Up is finally a fairly children-unfriendly film. Loss, nostalgia, all these are difficult to empathise with if you haven't lived a little.
But as such, I don't care, I'm an old git already, screw the kiddies. :p

Another stand out for me here was that it was the 1st movie I watched in 3D. Initially I wanted to refrain myself until Avatar comes out, in order not to spoil anything of the experience that it promises.
But with Up available in 3D, how could I say no? And having seen it, I'm actually glad that I did. Because it's not a "3D effect" movie with lots of "in your face" moments. So it was very interesting to see how 3D can enhance a "standard" picture. Because it does. It gives real depth to the picture, which is stupid to say because that's exactly what 3D does, but the addition is really striking.
That final action scene just gives vertigo as a consequence. I can't imagine what a Spiderman movie could do with this...

So yeah another addition to the great movies I've seen this year. What a year indeed...

Play it simple.

2 posts in a day wouhou! ;)

I read a very interesting interview of Spike Jonze on AICN earlier and beyond the fact that I'm dying to see Where The Wild Things Are, he made a comment on music that I found quite interesting.

Talking about his composer: "He was working with these world-class musicians from the New York Philharmonic, and saying, "Play it simpler. Play it like a fifth grader." "

It's true that you can write a very simple melody, but if you have an experienced musician, he'll play it with all his technical skill. So it actually make it SOUND simple, you also have to play it simply...

Might seem obvious, I think that's an interesting thought.

Gamer.

Yet another "late" review.

I tend to get lots of ideas on things to write and not actually take the time to write anything. Hence the pretty much "cinema review only" content of late.

Anyway, I went to see Gamer back in September and here we are.

That's my 3rd Neveldine/Taylor film in the year (after Crank, 1 & 2). So I kind of know their MO now: they don't do art and they know it. But although they tend to go into B/exploitation territories, they manage to put so many ideas in their thing that maybe it sticks as more than it "should" be. If you compare this and Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror, they share quite a lot of points (most notably blood, guts & boobies). But while the Rodriguez's Grindhouse look at the past, they bring it right up in the present.
I guess there a a lot of direct-to-DVD pictures that do that as well, but N/T do that in their own flamboyant way...

Gamer could feel like a more "serious" movie than Crank, yet they stay true to their formula. It's less hectic, but they put a lot of crazy ideas and I have to say they hit their targets right on the nail, bending just a little our own gaming / social networking world...

As for the rest, it's all ably crafted, I quite like Gerard Butler as an action hero. And Michael C. Hall is in a type-cast role but does it perfectly.

And there's a brilliant dance scene!

1 disappointment could be that they could push the social commentary further. In a sense I wish it could have been more than a souped up B-movie. But then again would it work if it took itself seriously?
It's still worth a look.

District 9.

I've this one ages ago and have attempted to write something about it several times already, but it's one of those movies for which I feel my words are not worthy.
I can't really express how brilliant it is.

So I'll make it short:
This is one of the best piece of SciFi committed on celluloid since, probably Spielberg's War Of The Worlds (which I loved).
The documentary style is an excellent idea and feels fresh.
The special effects are mind blowing (the aliens are just there, which is pretty important given the documentary style).
The main actor is incredible (I can't believe he's not a professionnal).
And the social subtext is amazingly relevant and well implemented.

I'm running out of superlatives so I'll conclude that, when considering that this is Neil Blomkampf's 1st feature and that it was produced on just around $30M (10 times less than Tranformers 2, when the action is if not better at least as good), it just becomes an achievement of heroic proportions!

Following up on that might be difficult for the director...

Street Art...

Very cool:

Inglorious Basterds.

I rewatched Deathproof not long ago and althoug h I did enjoy it when I saw it in the cinema, I just couldn't watch it in full. Too chatty... "Too chatty"???? That's a Tarantino what did I expect? Well, given that's chatting for chatting in this case, despite the fact that the dialogs are perfectly built, it just fell flat on the 2nd viewing for me. That never happenned to Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown and the others...

And that will certainly not happen with this 6th feature... QT comes back at the top of his game...
From the 1st notes of the opening, the titles' polices and the 1st images (the chaptering...), you know where you are. This is a Tarantino Movie, with the inevitable references and shots taken straight out of a Sergio Leone Western to start with. Yet what could annoy (why does he feels compelled to COPY???) just doesn't. Because what follows is one of the greatest opening scenes in recent memory. A simple dialog, very long (this is a Tarantino feature!), but incredibly well constructed, both in French and English and that builds up an incredible tension, leading to the unavoidable.
In it, Christoph Waltz directly imposes himself as a baddy to be remembered in an incredible performance. Just a close up where you can see his affable expression fading into that of a hunter about to deliver the final blow is quite simply astonishing (and I have to say that I don't praise actors easily, as I tend to put most of the responsibility on the person directing them).

That's only the opening and the rest delivers at least as much...
In a sense it's a "classic" Tarantino movie. Very chatty, with burst of brutal violence and lots of references to other movies. Yet in all he does, he manages to throw eveything out so it feels fresh. He doesn't copy. He recycles. He pays tribute and adds his 2 cents. And he does that incredibly well.
The dialogs here are also a marvel. It's always the case with him, sure, but in our case, they deal with 4 languages!
And they're all delivered by incredible actors. Sure, Christoph Waltz comes on top, but all of them should be commended for their turn. Also, in this case, the dialogs do add to the story. They distill the tension until violence breaks loose. Like in a horror movie, where the "jump" moment is delayed only to be more effective. And we're graced with the music of the words in the meantime.
They are also especially relevant in a setting where only one word (or sign!) can give an ennemy away...

The story is masterfully told, incredibly tense, brutal and darkly ironic as usual.
I realise I refer to "classic" and "usual" a lot. It might give the impression everything is expected, but that's not the case, as here what is expected is to be surprised...

There are things that made me think of Verhoeven's Black Book, despite the fact that Basterds doesn't share its depth (nor does it would try to). But shall we say that the title does describes pretty well every character depicted here...
It is also extremely layered. For example, in essence, this is a WW2 movie without battle scenes. Yet there are, in a movie in the movie...
It's that kind of stuff that you can take home a think about and that make such work very rewarding.

Tarantino movie comes with high expectations which are met in spades here. I might not be far from thinking that this is his best work yet...

Always a good feeling.
This is what Cinema is.

Canabalt

Another great flash game: Cannabalt.

1 button to jump that's all you need.
And reflexes, good ones as the game accelerates almost constantly...

I just love the style of this.
There's a great sense of elation as you perform those crazy jumps at a crazy speed, quite similar to Mirror's Edge 2D (the music itself has me play just to listen to it...).
And it's also great that the level are randomly generated. It's pure skill that way...
My best is 2153m so far...

Thanks to Kotaku for the tip.

I notice see what I was running from after a few plays...

UPDATE!
I did 3848m!!! \(^0^)/

3966!!