February 2012
2 posts
3 tags
Guess how many films are about WWII?
… a lot.
An incomplete list of films in which World War II is a part of the narrative.
Considering the list might not contain all of them kind of boggles my mind.
(This is how I spend my time instead of doing homework.)
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Piracy's Real Influence on the U.S.
Film piracy has a very little impact on box office results in the U.S. but likely cuts into studio profits overseas depending on the time lag between a film’s American debut and rollout overseas.
This is really interesting. Studios are freaking out about piracy, and yet it doesn’t have nearly the impact that they’re claiming it does (at least domestically). So why is it that tickets...
January 2012
16 posts
6 tags
X-Men: First Class Sequel In The Works
“Concurrent with today’s announcement that Emma Watts renewed her contract as 20th Century Fox production president until 2015, it was revealed that Fox has closed deals forMatthew Vaughn and the cast of X-Men: First Class to return for the forthcoming sequel.”
X-Men will never die in the movies, especially with the continuing comic book trend. Not that I mind in the slightest.
2 tags
Megaupload User Data To Be Deleted
Federal prosecutors say data from users of Megaupload could be deleted as soon as Thursday.
Man, I’m glad I never used Megaupload. I hope they stop the block, at least temporarily.
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Spike Lee's Co-Writer Discusses Continued...
”Nothing in this world happens unless white folks says it happens.”
“And therein lies the problem of being a professional black storyteller, writer, musician, filmmaker. Being black is like serving as Hoke, the driver in ‘Driving Miss Daisy,’ except it’s a kind of TV series lasts the rest of your life: You get to drive the well-meaning boss to and fro, you love...
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Oscar Nominees 2012
Is it just me, or are the nominees this year a bit disappointing?
Also, how was Shame (2011) not nominated? It seemed like there was a lot of buzz for Fassbender’s performance, and for McQueen as well. Maybe the NC-17 rating killed it?
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J. Hoberman on The Changing Film Scene
“I can feel as if I’m whispering into the wind, drowned out by the whirring of the mainstream cinema hype machine, which of course is kept nicely oiled by the entertainment media.”
That quote was actually by Manohla Dargis, one of the interviewers, but Hoberman has a few interesting (and depressing) thoughts about how film reviewing has changed, especially since the 1980s. Personally,...
3 tags
'Last Exorcism' Sequel To Start Filming
Studiocanal EVP of international distribution, Harold Van Lier, adds, “We are horrified to bring to the marketplace the eagerly awaited sequel to our 2010 worldwide hit. This much bigger scale movie will unravel a profoundly scarier chapter to Nell’s battle between good and evil. God have mercy.”
Okay, super cheesy press statement, but I’m still interested in how they’ll spin this...
4 tags
Shame (2011) and Carnage (2011)
So, I just saw both Shame and Carnage tonight at my local theater, which were both really good. Especially Shame—fuck, it was amazing.
However, a real review will follow soon, when I’m not ready to pass out.
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Star Trek Sequel In Production
Paramount Pictures announced that principal photography has commenced in Los Angeles, CA on the sequel to STAR TREK from director J.J. Abrams. The film will be released on May 17, 2013 in 3D.
So close and yet so far away!
5 tags
Micro-Budget Film on the Rise
Mike Fleming suggests that major movie studios are “rethinking the idea of overspending on risky projects.”
However, he also predicts that the quality of the films will be the same (aka, just as awful). I agree, in a sense. These sort of fake documentary horror movies have been more frequent the past couple years, so it’s possible it’ll turn into a genre. When studios...
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David Cameron Pushes for Better Box Office
UK Prime Minister David Cameron says he wants to rival Hollywood in the box office by encouraging more commercially successful British films.
“Our role, and that of the BFI, should be to support the sector in becoming even more dynamic and entrepreneurial, helping UK producers to make commercially successful pictures that rival the quality and impact of the best international productions. Just...
13 tags
Hopefully Coming Out of Hibernation
So I haven’t posted anything in over a month. I would feel bad, except I had finals (or rather, a load of papers and projects I had to scramble to finish). Then, I had to take a temp job over winter break, so basically, almost everything has been on hold.
I did, however, manage to watch a few good movies over break. I saw Melancholia last night, and had a movie marathon with friends, which...
December 2011
6 posts
2 tags
Problems with Film Writing
So my friend teapotter linked me to another awesome post.
“How can I communicate the importance of a film without one dimensionalizing it and destroying its magic? I don’t know.”
This author says almost everything that I want to say.
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Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)
Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) is not merely a movie—it’s more of an experience. Or rather, like a dark dream that you can’t shake off in the morning.
The film is about a young woman named Martha (Elizabeth Olsen) who escapes from a cult in upstate New York, and finds refuge with her sister (Sarah Paulson) in a neighboring state. As the film wears on, and Martha tries to...
Hollywood Studios' Liberal Agenda
An interesting article about how some people view new children’s movies as “liberal propaganda.”
“We conservatives and believers in free markets are accused of being paranoid when we say the Hollywood industry is trying to indoctrinate our children with left-wing propaganda. But now movie directors and producers are coming out and admitting what they’re doing. I’m just glad I...
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Andy Serkis's Take On Acting
His interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
“It [motion-capture acting] should be in the [regular] acting category because the acting part of the process is entirely the same. I’ve been bombarded by hate mail from animators saying, “How dare you talk about ‘your’ character when all these people work on it after the fact? We’re actors as well.” They are...
Watchapio:
Why are there so few female and non-white directors?
Steve McQueen asking a lineup of six white male directors why they so rarely cast minorities in movies. Also, how about that telling list of only three female directors at the beginning?
Steve McQueen’s bewilderment at the difference between “movie reality” and “real reality” re: the total imbalance of race representation onscreen...
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Random thoughts
I just have to say that I’m still not sure what I want this blog to be. Originally, it was supposed to be a very “professional” blog that I could show to future employers or graduate schools, but now I feel like that was the wrong way to go. Lately, I’ve been finding that goal restrictive (and fake).
So, right now, I’m simply trying to have fun with it, and...
November 2011
4 posts
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Breaking Dawn: Part 1 (2011)
So, I just saw Breaking Dawn: Part 1 with a few friends last night. A sister of one of those friends (who is, in fact, a big fan of Twilight ) said it was a total waste of money, which I only half agree with. While it was utterly ridiculous, it was ultimately worth it, simply to be able to read Cleolinda’s Movie in Fifteen Minutes version. And for the laughs, of course.
(WARNING:...
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Jane Eyre (2011)
Alright, I know I’m a little late in the game for this movie, but here goes.
Jane Eyre (2011) is an adaptation of the Charlotte Bronte book. It chronicles the journey of a teenage girl (Mia Wasikowska) just out of school who becomes the governess for the charge of a Mr. Rochester (Michael Fassbender). While he is a difficult master to please, Jane’s troubled past more than prepares...
8 tags
In Time (2011)
In Time (2011) is a political thriller set almost 200 years in the future, where people don’t age past their 25th year. In this new society, time literally equals money—people must work for more hours, which are recorded on their wrist and used as standard currency. As one might expect, a disparity develops between the rich and the poor, since lower class workers can only acquire...
New Site Name
My username is the same, but I changed the title. My page now says “The Treehouse Movie Reviews.” What do you think? Should I modify it at all?
Also, I have another account on Tumblr that I keep confusing with this one, so I keep reblogging posts here that I don’t mean to reblog. So sorry if I keep deleting posts randomly!
June 2011
5 posts
Fish Tank (2009)
The subject of Fish Tank, made in 2009 by director Andrea Arnold, is 15-year-old Mia, who loves to dance, picks fights with the neighborhood girls, and lives with her neglectful mother and younger sister. Compassionate and willful, Mia seems to have no direction or purpose, breaking into abandoned apartments to practice her dance moves and impulsively taking swigs from her mother’s alcohol. In...
Post Coming Soon
Sorry I haven’t updated in a while, everyone. I’m slowly working on a review of Fish Tank (which seems to be kind of a hot topic on Tumblr lately), so yes. I want to post it either later tonight or tomorrow, depending on how busy work is.
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X-Men: First Class (2011)
I have to admit that when I went to see X-Men: First Class, I wasn’t expecting much. I’d only seen five minutes of X-Men: The Last Stand, but that was enough to make me apprehensive, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine didn’t help anything either, what with Wolverine’s naked waterfall jumps and fights on nuclear reactors. But, I decided I would give it a chance because I’ve loved X-Men since I was a...
6 tags
Ghostbusters (1984)
So I just saw Ghostbusters for the first time a few days ago. Yeah, I know, what’s wrong with me? How can I not see Ghostbusters? It definitely wasn’t because I didn’t want to see it, so cool it guys. The important thing is that I saw it.
My first impression of it was that it’s very old school. There wasn’t a punchline or joke every five seconds, which is kind of weird to see these days. Not that...
Hey Guys!
I finally figured out how to enable comments on here, so comment away! :D I think you have to go the actual post, not the dashboard one, to comment.
(No seriously, please comment. Feedback is always appreciated.)
May 2011
3 posts
4 tags
A Serious Man (2009)
In no uncertain terms, this is a ridiculously frustrating movie. Not because it’s bad or because of any sort of flaw—it’s simply because there are many foreseeable ways out for the main character, and he doesn’t deliver. But, as I, and anyone else who watches it, should keep in mind, there is almost no movie without conflict, especially A Serious Man.
A Serious Man is about a Jewish physics...
6 tags
Raging Bull (1980)
I’ve always been a fan of Martin Scorsese. The first film of his I remember watching was The Aviator, which isn’t a bad film to start with when studying his career, but it certainly hasn’t become my favorite. Since then I’ve come to love Gangs of New York, The Departed, and, of course, Taxi Driver (which I fell head over heels for this past school year in film class). I’ve even liked some of his...
4 tags
Film Literacy Project
Since I’ve finally found a little free time (now that school won’t be sucking the life out of me for a while), I’ve decided to start up the film literacy project I wanted to do several months ago.
My goal is to watch at least three new films a week, and write a short review of each. I was originally going to watch a film a day, but I don’t think that’ll work out no...
February 2011
1 post
An idea. . .
This semester, I’m taking a class about literacy, which is actually much more interesting than you would think. So far we’ve been learning about how literacy is not just about reading and writing strictly, and any sort of discourse could be considered a literacy. For example, if you’re a doctor, you have a medical literacy because you would presumably be well acquainted with...
January 2011
3 posts
8 tags
The King's Speech
I’m not always a fan of historical dramas, especially ones about real people. Often they run too long or have actors with crappy accents or go with a boring linear narrative, or all of the above. When I go to the movies, I don’t enjoy being fed the same formula over and over, so historical dramas tend to be hit or miss for me. The King’s Speech, however, is a stellar example of...
Somehow. . .
… I’ve gotten 44 followers. I don’t know how that happened, since I haven’t updated in at least six months, but I’ll take it as a good sign.
I know I said I would post a review of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ages and ages ago, but that will have to wait. For now I’m planning on writing reviews of films I’ve been watching recently, simply because...
July 2010
3 posts
It's been brought to my attention. . .
… that I need to focus more on the actual criticizing part, rather than the plot. I wholeheartedly agree, so, I’ve decided to write about a movie that I’ve seen many a time, and love, and perhaps that will help me practice in the meantime.
Coming soon: a review of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
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Delicatessen
Although some may know Jean-Pierre Jeunet best for directing the Oscar-nominated foreign film classic Amelie, he also co-directed a great film titled Delicatessen.
The dark comedy is set in a post-apocalyptic world where everyone is starving and fighting for scraps, presumably because they’re unable to grow or buy much food. It’s never clear what has happened to Earth (or even if...
Only for Now
At the moment, this is a blog to help me practice writing movie reviews since I aspire to become a film critic some day. This blog may or may not change later on. :)