Hooray for Hollywood! Kind of!

Mark Harris, over at GQ, wrote an excellent article about the current state of Hollywood originality (or lack thereof). Read the article: The Day The Movies Died

I'm of the opinion that the cream will always rise to the top. Sure, there will be TWENTY-SEVEN sequels in 2011. But how many people will remember "Hoodwinked Too!" or "Fast Five" in 2012? There will always be good movies, even great movies, and technology is making it easier to make them; people just need to know about them.

- Tim

Thank Goodness For Spoiled Brats

From Vulture:

"Good news, highbrow literary/cinema aficionados! Vulture is happy to report that billionairess Megan Ellison, the 25-year-old daughter of Oracle boss Larry Ellison, appears to be coming to the rescue of two high-profile Paul Thomas Anderson movies: a foundering untitled Scientology drama (which may or may not end up being called The Master), and Anderson’s adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s 2009 stoner detective novel, Inherent Vice."

Being that Paul Thomas Anderson is the best working director right now (an irrefutable fact), it is extremely exciting to hear this news.

Read the full article here.

-Tim

SUPER"SUCK" and the Movie Trailers!!!

*EDITORS NOTE: It's titled "SUPER SUCK" because of Christina Aguilera, and Black Eyed Peas

I LOVE EVENT MOVIES! You may also know them as “Popcorn Flicks”. The movie’s that you finish your box of Raisinets® and half of your tub of popcorn before the first reel is over. I literally cried at the part in the first TRANSFORMERS after the first attack in the army base. I remember looking at my buddy Josh right after that part and literally out loud at the same time “That was AWESOME!” SIDE NOTE: TRANSFORMERS 2 BLEW! This summer seems to be shaping up to be another one of those summers for me because most of the flicks I want to see had teaser’s during the Super Bowl.

...And The Battle For The Future

Ok, I’m a FILM SNOB. I admit it. With the internet being bombarded with DIY Filmmakers, and YOUTUBE Users, who we will now  kindly refer to as “Uploaders”, I’m spent and exhausted constantly looking for something new, and fresh, and finding nothing but crap. With the advent of the Internet, and especially in the last few years, the ability to post anything you have, anywhere you want, has made people’s own opinion of self worth skyrocket. That’s why 99.9 percent of the time whatever you’re searching for, no matter how mundane, or “OUT THERE”, some one, some where, has taken the time to POST it. Whether it is YOUTUBE, VIMEO, dailymotion, Facebook, GOOGLE Video, if you can think of it, it’s out there.

Hitchcock Your Wagon To A Star

Alfred Hitchcock is a favorite director of mine, so when someone publishes a 26-page academic paper about him, of course I'm going to read it!

This one is particularly interesting; it deals with Hitchcock's use of ellipsis transitions in what's probably my favorite of his, Rear Window.

Read the article here:

What We Don't See, and What We Think it Means: Ellipsis and Occlusion in Rear Window

-Tim

Stop-motion the Insanity

     Stop-motion animation, a technique used as early as 1898, is a laborious, time- and energy-consuming, tedious method of filmmaking; its evil and gluttonous necessity of hours upon hours of back-cramping and eye-straining diligence should only be relegated to either masochists or serious offenders. Unfortunately, the results of the process can often be wonderful and magical (as anyone who grew up watching Sesame Street or Gumby can attest to), making filmmakers like me return to the form whenever possible.