The Master (PTA fanboy reaction)

Holy shit guys!  So The Master is really, REALLY fucking good.  I don’t think I can actually write a formal review on this yet, partly in fear of just raving too much.  Hopefully Maryann will find the time this week to write something more elegant and thoughtful so we can have some actual content about this movie on the site.  I’ve never seen anything quite like it, and everybody involved just seemed to go above and beyond, Joaquin Phoenix in particular.  Afterwards we were talking about how PTA often seems to channel a different filmmaker (Boogie Nights = Scorsese, Magnolia = Altman, There Will Be Blood = Kubrick), and with The Master I got an almost Malick vibe, though it was much more controlled (Malick has a tendency to go off on tangents, to say the least) with more focus on the characters and actors.  So many things stood out.  Jonny Greenwood’s score is amazing and surreal.  The writing and performances and the list just goes on and on.  Admittedly I’m biased as I’ve been a huge fan of PTA for years, but once again he exceeded my expectations.  If you’re at all curious about the film, please don’t hesitate to see it.

Happy Holidays!

“The Room” midnight screening

From left: Greg Sestero, me, Tommy Wiseau.

The Room is, in my opinion, the best worst movie ever made.  It was released in 2003 and stars Tommy Wiseau (pictured above), who also wrote, directed, produced, and executive produced the film.  Immediately it built a strong cult following allowing for Mr. Wiseau to hop from city to city hosting special midnight screenings complete with a meet-and-greet after the show and a Q&A beforehand.  I was lucky enough to see the recent Seattle showing, and it might have been the best theater experience of my life.

It’s hard to describe what makes Tommy Wiseau and The Room so special, it’s really something you just need to see for yourself.  I’ve heard it called everything from “the Plan 9 From Outer Space of chamber dramas” to an “outsider masterpiece” to a “filmic holocaust,” while the most fitting description of Tommy Wiseau I’ve come across is that he’s like a “half-drunk Croatian cyborg.”  Needless to say The Room is unintentionally hilarious in the best way possible.  Here’s the trailer for a small taste, but I really stress that you see it in its entirety (the trailer’s good but it hardly does it justice):

Now for the screening.  Things started off with a great 20-minute Q&A with Tommy and Greg Sestero (who plays Mark in the film and was one of Tommy’s FIVE assistants during the making of the movie).  The movie itself was funnier than ever thanks to a theater full of drunk fans quoting and laughing along.  Audience participation was strongly encouraged (not unlike a Rocky Horror showing), with a full list of instructions handed out before the screening.  Here’s a few of the things the audience was instructed to yell:

“Spoon!” – “Nearly all of the artwork in the film features spoons.  Whenever one of the works appears on screen, yell “Spoon!” and hurl plastic spoons at the screen. ” Note:  Literally thousands of spoons were thrown during the screening.

“Focus! Unfocus!” – “The film is constantly going in and out of focus.  Whenever the film goes out of focus, you shout “Focus!” Of course, when it does come back into focus during a sex scene, it is necessary to shout “Oh God, Unfocus!”

“Cause you’re a woman!” – “Yelling “‘Cause you’re a woman!” after pretty much anything that regards a female character.  Started off as a dig at the film’s casual misogyny (there are half a dozen places where it works and is hilarious), but quickly spiraled into a non sequitur that can be dumped after everything.  It is the Room equivalent of adding “in bed” to a fortune-cooke fortune.”

“GO! GO! GO! GO!” – “Used to cheer on tracking shots of the Golden Gate Bridge.  Celebrate when it makes it all the way across the bridge.  Express your disappointment when it doesn’t.”  Note: There are TONS of bridge shots, all pretty much the same.  Many people will also chug for as long as the shot lasts.

Those were just a few.  There are also some activities like clapping and singing along to the horrible music that plays over the sex scenes or playing catch with a football as the characters do the same.  It’s just a non-stop blast, and I’m pretty sure I laughed through the entire thing.  Plus it was all topped off with getting to meet Tommy and Greg after the show for pictures and autographs.  I definitely recommend checking for screenings in your area, it’s $15 (not much more than one ticket for an Imax or 3D movie) and well worth it.

LOST finale

Cheers!  Can’t wait for tonight.

Yoda vs. Count Dooku

This is what I do with my free time instead of blogging:

Video Art Blog

Sorry I don’t update very frequently.  School has been incredibly overwhelming for the last year, and I haven’t really found time to watch films, let alone blog about them.

I am currently working on a Video Art Independent Study with my friend Forrest, and we have a blog where we will be posting screening responses, interesting pieces we find, and more analytical reviews of video art.  If you are at all interested, please check it out.

Video Art Blog

Thanks! And sorry about the self-promotion.

Hilarious 70 minute video review of “The Phantom Menace”

This is old news, but I just came across this epic video review tearing the first Star Wars episode to shreds.  It’s much more entertaining than the actual movie.  He’s also apparently working on a review for Attack of the Clones, which I can’t wait for.  Check out part 1 of 7 below:

Side note:  If you enjoy this, also check out Wizard People, Dear Reader, which you can find on youtube.  Here’s a description from the artist’s website:

“Wizard People, Dear Reader is an unauthorized re-envisioning of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, by Brad Neely. To experience it, viewers need to get a copy of the first Harry Potter movie (known as Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in Europe) and watch it with the sound off, replacing the original soundtrack with Neely’s narration.”

It’s comedic gold, definitely worth checking out even if you’re not a Potter fan.

Opening credits of Gasper Noe’s “Enter the Void”

This thing’s going to be completely insane.  Early reviews, while not all positive due to the film’s crazy length and the lack of a narrative (both of which I’m fine with), are saying that the trippy visuals are actually “earth-shattering.”  Another reviewer said the visuals even surpass Avatar‘s.  Pretty exciting words for an experimental low-budget film like this.  Apparently it’s also designed to look like 1 continuous take.  I am so, so excited. 

Check out the opening credit sequence below, it’s pretty much the only footage we’ve got so far.  The film’s scheduled to open in limited release in the U.S. sometime in September.

Oscar predictions

The Oscars are only a few days away, so here we go.  Read ’em and weep:

Picture:  The Hurt Locker

Director:  Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)

Actor:  Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)

Actress:  Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side) 

Note:  I SO hope I am wrong and Meryl Streep is able to win this.  A Carey Mulligan upset would be wonderful too. 

Supporting Actor:  Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)

Supporting Actress:  Mo’Nique (Precious)

Original Screenplay:  Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)

Adapted Screenplay:  Jason Reitman (Up in the Air)

Foreign Film:  The White Ribbon

Documentary:  The Cove

Animated feature:  Up

Cinematography:  Avatar

Score:  Up

Special Effects:  Avatar

Song:  “The Weary Kind” (Crazy Heart)

Editing:  The Hurt Locker

Sound Editing:  The Hurt Locker

Sound Mixing:  The Hurt Locker

Costume Design:  The Young Victoria

Makeup:  Star Trek (District 9 was robbed of a nomination)

Art Direction:  Avatar

A slight departure from film, kind of…

I know that this is a film blog site, but I would like to make a quick post about something really interesting I discovered on the internet.  The name of it is Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries (yhchang.com).  I haven’t done my homework yet on the site,so I don’t know who is responsible for the links on it directly, but I do know that they are really cool.  Known as electronic media or hyper media, the works on yhchang.com are being looked at around the world as a new electronic literary art form.  In a way these pieces are like short films, but instead of using actual images the text becomes the image, its pacing, flashing and shaking all becoming devices that push the “plot” forward.  Punctuated with some really great soundtracks, these pieces are literally poems in motion, stirring up imagery in the viewer’s mind.  So much of the text go by so quickly it is interesting to, in retrospect, see what words or aspects of the text sticks with you by the time the piece is finished, inserting itself into your subconscious.  Here are a couple of my favorites:

http://yhchang.com/DAKOTA.html

http://yhchang.com/NIPPON.html

Hope this post wasn’t too far in anyone’s left field.  If it is, let me know and I’ll make sure to limit my weird artsy-fartsy speak!