I say this

life

The other day, I was with my grandparents after graduating college.  I was opening cards that I had received, while some of my family was congratulating me.  My grandfather leans over to me, and says, “you know I never went to college or got any degrees” he then looks over at my grandma and he scans the room with his tearing eyes and says, “but I raised a hell of a family” And that was all his said, and he went back to talking to my uncle.  I could have cried, it was, don’t know, just a beautiful moment.

And it got me thinking, the only true way to measure the success of a man, is through his happiness with his life.  Money, fame, houses, college degrees, means nothing if you are 78 years old and are unhappy with the way things went.  At the end of the day, what we are made of are our family and friends. The impact we make on their lives is our significance, our legacy, and our success.

That’s all.

Spring Awakening

I saw Spring Awakening the other day in Philly.  Great show.  Similar to the themes of Dead Poets Society, lots of teen angst, but with more music and nudity.

A few lines in the play, stuck with me, one being, “shame is a product of education” Then yesterday, I was reading an article about gay and lesbian couples raising children.  Some of the children can’t help but feel ashamed of their parents, they know that is wrong, and therefore begin to feel ashamed for feeling ashamed.  I think this line was Spring Awakening has some relevance to this situation, although, I’d like to modify it to, “shame is a product of culturalization.”  And I think the latter is more true really and I didn’t really look at it that way before.  The children of these gay and lesbian parents feel ashamed of themselves because they know it is wrong to feel ashamed of their parents.  They love their parents, they most of treated them right.  But because our culture has this negative outlook on this (currently) untraditional family, it is brought to their attention that it is wrong (according to culture).  But in reality, they are cared for and loved, just as well as any other child, and it begins to tear them up inside.  Shame, I suppose it wouldn’t exist at all, if we didn’t make such judgements on life, each other, and our selves.  It isn’t until we are older that we become concious of our bodies, and ashamed or certain aspects of them, because our culture has this ken and barbie perception of how we are supposed to look.  As we absorbed more and more media and bullshit, we begin to believe all this crap, purely from osmosis of this oversaturated overload of perfection from the media, culture, and each other.  Maybe once we realize this facade that is shame, we can overcome it.  Realize its not real, its a product of something that was not self discovered, but rather slapped on like cheap paint.  We will no longer supress feelings, supress idea, and become the highest ideals of ourselves.  Shame is a product of culturalization, not education, teach yourself otherwise, realize the greater truth and we will all be happier.

Another line from a song was, “shadows carry the light from the stars.” Which I thought was a nice way of looking at it.  I think most people think that light is expelling the darkness, but really, without the darkness, light does not exist.  And so perhaps, darkness carries us this gift of light.  And maybe thats true for life as well.  When times are tough, maybe that is just the pathway for light and good to find its way to you.  Therefore, embrace the darkness, the badtimes, for they must pave the way for better days, for one cannot exist without the other.

I don’t know, just some thoughts, I suppose.

Anyway, good play. young cast.  thoughtful and full of life.

Night at the Museum 2

Short review:

Doesn’t have the same magic as the first (should be a december movie, magic month)

Amy Adam is adorable, (was she channeling katherine hepburn?)

Bill Hader was hilarious. 

Still a decent ride, but def a step below the first one. 

Away We Go

Dear Sam Mendes, PLEASE MAKE MORE MOVIES. Love, TommyO Sam Mendes I think is one of the best director’s actors out there today. Every movie he directs, the performances are just pitch perfect. The scenes are so tight, never missing a beat, always on the right note, hitting every naunce within a character to truly bring the richness out of the scene. He knows how to use composition for emotion, and his close ups are sometimes breathtaking, the timing is just perfect. There is this one scene between this orange tree, where Rudolph is recounting a happy childhood memory, where everything about it, just clicks so well, they way, he positions actors body language, and their place in the frame, cutting on the right emotional beats. Away we go, its wonderful, just a joy to watch and soak in. I love cerebral comedies, one where real characters ask real questions, but deal with them in ways we wish we could. Maybe that is the ultimate freedom for the audience. Watching people deal with our issues, and solve them in whimsical ways that can only really happen movies, therefore freeing the audiences of some dilemna. If movies and media can do anything well, I hope its that, we gain perspective from others people’s perspective, whether real of fictional, and if the movie is good enough, smart enough, real enough (with emotions) it can do that for it. A catharsis, a profound thought, a new perspective, all things moves like this can do for its audience, for me, that ultimate reward. And one that Mendes continues to give, especially with one of my favorite movies of all time, American Beauty. John Krasinski, for me, can be like the next Jimmy Stewart. Has the same long and lanky body, crooked smile, and everyman apealing character. His affable character in Away We Go, is just fun to watch, he’s goofy but not over the top, and the love he feels for his girlfriend is palpable. Maya Rudolph is also remarkable, stepping far away from SNL to find real depth in her character, in her and her boyfriend’s seach to find where home is. All the rest of the supporting cast is wonderful, each one playing a new unique character, onscreen for just enough time that their traits don’t get to silly. So much of my praise goes to Mendes, but really couple screenwriters, Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, wrote a tremendous screenplay. Smart, funny, thoughtful, and full of heart. I don’t think I ever stopped smiling with each new line of dialogue, every line was thought out. Away we go is a beautiful roadtrip movie, full of self discovery, what’s at stake with age, and what home really means. Think you have an unusual family, try this one out. I always think about, the fact that, now that I graduated college, I can live and settle down anywhere. Why not move someplace fantastical. This is a question Away We Go ask’s and its quite a ride watching them figure it out. So yea, go see it. Soundtrack is awesome too.

The Hangover

Well this was the funniest movie since Role Models for me.  Todd Philips, director of Road Trip, Starsky and Hutch, and Old School, further proves himself as a great raunchy comedy Galifianakis director.

Zach Galifianakis, I think stole the show, with his unique brand of absurd humor.  He has no fear of being offensive or exposing his himself (i still can’t believe he mimed that with the baby, if you haven’t seen it, oh, you’ll see).  Just like his comedy routine, he has great one liners, that are either the last thing you would say, or have a strange relevance to the scene.

It was the quite the adventure, watching these three guys try to figure out whats going on, and I don’t think the movie lets us down, by being predictible.  The suprising kept coming, engrossing us further into what in the world happened during that night.

Anyway, it was a fun buddy comedy, maybe the funniest of the summer, if you like Wedding Crashers and Old School, you’ll love this.

UP 3d

Just saw UP in 3D last night.  The academy award should just give pixar the oscar for best animation at the beginning of every year.  The only sure thing in Hollywood is Pixar, where every single one of their films has been a commercial and critical hit.  The company who could be churning out 5 pictures a year, instead works on a film for sometimes five years, concentrating on story, and bringing groundbreaking CG to each new film.  This time, UP used a program that employed Newtonian Physics, to give each individual balloon, its own life.  Rather then it just being a cluster of balloons, pixar spent the time to make it more realistic, so each balloon reacts on its own.  

The lighting in their films is getting better each time, I suppose, especially after Deak, gave them a little demo during Wall-E.  Rather then just being flat with an overall exposure, you can tell the lighting DP on Up took the time to mold each scene realistically, and took creative license in choosing how to light each scene with a pleasing aesthetic.   

The characters in UP were really fleshed out nicely.  The opening montage to set up Carl Frederickson, could not have been more winsome. Tears came to the eyes within those first few minutes.  From watching the movie, its palpable how much Doctor and his animators, cared for those characters with such subtle character nuances that is not seen very often in animation (Carl touching his wifes mark on their old mail box as he walks by it). 

Up is quite the adventure, thrilling for all ages.  No pixar movie is just for kids, they are far too thought out, and many times profound to be called kids movies.  Up will have everybody missing their childhood sweethearts, as you watch Carl’s unflinching devotion to the memory of his wife.  Maybe we all won’t be able to have the grand adventure in South America in our life, but as Carl learned, don’t let that blind you from the adventure going on right in front of your eyes everyday.  Every moment of joy and sadness is an adventure with the one you love, and it took Carl 70 some years to realize that, don’t let it happen to you.  

Anyway, go see UP.  The 3D is wonderful, its not gimmicking, its subtle and simply adds extra depth and dimensionality to the film.  

IMAX

The other day, after the success of Star Trek in imax theaters, there was a slew of articles, deflating the new crop of imax theaters popping up in your popular amc theater of whatever.  Stand alone imax theaters are typically many stories high, with uncompressed sound, and projected on true imax 70mm film.  Where as all of the new theaters are really, just top notch regular theaters, taunting themselves as imax branded. But in reality the screen aren’t as large, they are just closer to the audience to give the illusion of granduer.  Then the projection is not 70mm its, two, 2k projectors.  Which does not nearly reach the quality of the imax frame. 

Why should we shell out the extra 5 bucks for more of less an enhanced 35mm experience?  I am a big fan of the true stand alone imax theaters.  It is truly the anti- youtube experience, the imax frame is 9 times that of the 35mm frame, and has a digital equivalent of 18k.  The highest end digital cameras are shooting just 4k. 

The Dark Knight was one of the first feature narratives to shoot with a true imax camera for parts of the movie, and it is completely immersive.  You can see things in the frame, that you couldn’t see before, a glint in the eye of a characters, something in the background.  The imax just completely fills your field of vision, the only medium that we truly look into rather than at.  A perfect window, that lends itself to captivate the audience in a great story and whole new environment.  It is the ultimate format.  One that I think, audience deserve not to be ripped off from with these imax poser theaters.  It is no wonder people pirate movies, because rather then spending the money to put up more real imax theater, they copped out, tricked audiences, and charged the same prices for a far inferior experience.  Its becoming insulting the anti piracy ads they put in front of the previews, telling us its stealing, when they are stealing from us with these bogus “imax” theaters. 

I love IMAX, I think its the greatest format in the world, and I hope to see more and more films taking advantage of the viewing experience it provides.  No matter how nice everybody’s HD 60in tv is, it will never be any match for the IMAX experience, and help save the deflating movie going audience.  But hopefully, more true IMAX screens are built to really bring people out of their living rooms, and feel like the extra 5 bucks on top of an inflated ticket price is worth it. 

out.

Favorite Films of 2007

I wrote this last year before I had the blog, but since I just posted my favorite of 2008, thought this might be relevant and fun to see last years. 

My Top Favorite Films of 2007

Gone Baby Gone – brilliant acting and direction from the Affleck brothers, with one of the greatest moral questions that should leave people debating its aftermath all the way home and then some.

Eastern Promises – again 2007 was the year of morality as the always great Viggo Mortenson plays a Russian mobster, but is he really? And if he isn’t does that really make him righteous?

Into the Wild – One of my favorite books, its an incredible character study with beautiful cinematography and a charming performance by Emile Hirsch.  Mccandless was such an interesting person, and with such unique ideas of life, its worth seeing just to see the world through his eyes if only for a few hours. 

The Borne Ultimatum – are there spy movies much smarter with a protagonist any “cooler” in movie history.  The action covertly takes place in our everyday environment gives it this authenticity that is very engaging.

No Country for Old Men – The Coen’s and their go to cinematographer Roger Deakins, do it again, painting beautiful but stark landscapes of the desert, as one of the most menacing villains in all of movie history played with such a haunting panache by Javier Barden and a wonderful performance by the quasi-anti hero Josh Brolin

Juno- Jason Reitman is the future of smart comedy after Woody Allen retires from the movies.  Ellen Page is the future of smart leading ladies after Jodie Foster stops making movies, and this movie is the culmination of both of these stars making this sharp, quick, and endearing comedy with high brow social comedy and a very heightened dialogue

Ratatouille – Pixar is the best animation production house out there right now.  Everything they make is gold. Clever clever clever. With great stories that all have big hearts and nice morals, hands down best animation of the year.

3:10 to Yuma – the most overlooked movie of 2007, 3:10 breathed new life into the modern western and more importantly successfully.  the two acting power houses Christian Bale and Russel Crowe facing off is delicious and supporting actor ben foster as Crowe’s second in command is the surgar on top.  Another moral story of right and wrong or more like choosing between hard and wrong, Crowe is terrific as the onion-like antagonist.

The Darjeeling Limited – I just love Wes Anderson and all his humor, I just get him I guess and think his stuff is hilarious.  With Jason Swartzman, Adrian Brody and Owen Wilson riffing off each other as they travel through India, Darjeeling becomes more poignant then life aquatic was as the three brothers learn how to grow up and move on after their fathers death and mother’s abandonment

Sweeney Todd – I think we all had our doubts with this one, but Depp and Burton make another great film, and yes Depp can sing.  Although sometimes I felt some songs should have been cut to move the story faster, they were lots of fun listen to and Depp’s dark and brooding milieu is wonderful for this dark story.

Honorable mentions

Hairspray – what a fun musical with great performances

Charlie Wilson’s War – hoffman and hanks riffing off one another is hilarious and this true story is enlightening because of not just what it says about the past, but what could again happen in the future if we don’t do things right this time

Michael Clayton – a wonderful political thriller, and so smart but scary as hell too

Diving Bell and the Butterfly – amazing true story of a man at 42 has a stroke and paralyzed with his only ability being to blink his eye, tells his story

The Savages – wonderful performances in this very funny dramedy

Zodiac – kept my heart beating fast the whole time, fascinating story

Dan if Real Life – I love steve carrel when he is acting instead of performing

Stardust – a wonderfully enchanting and endearing fantasy

American Gangster – so interesting that is happened, Denzel plays franks lucus with a fierce determination to take over new york city and brolin is vicious as a corrupt cop

Once – charming new age musical with sweet romance and great music. 

Performer of the Year

Phillip Seymour Hoffman – three movies and three great performances, the guy is amazing, he can do comedy (Charlie Wilson, savages) drama (before the devil knows and dead) all in one year. 

My Favorite Films of 2008

These are some of my favorite films of 2008. I can’t say they are the top ten best films because I just feel that is too tough to judge. For me, I can only tell you the top films that stuck with me, touched an emotion, something I felt related too. Ultimately that is what films are supposed to do, tell a story that touches an emotion which one can relate too. Every story does that for somebody, even Beverly Hills Chiauaaduaa, had a big audience this year, because for some strange reason those little rodent dogs spoke to the audience (well literally) and they enjoyed it. So, to judge what is the best film, I just think is impossible because it is a subjective observation unique to ones character (except zach and miri make a porno, that just sucked)

1. Slumdog Millionaire - I saw this film twice in theaters, the last time I was so entranced in a movie full of so much magic was Tim Burton’s Big Fish. Slumdog was a such a charismatic, romantic romp full of plenty of action, drama, and innocence, it is just irresistible to root for. plus the cinematography on this film is an inspiration, absolutely gorgeous.

2. Dark Knight - I don’t even see this movie as superhero flick as much as a brilliant crime thriller/drama. I think Nolan broke new ground in the superhero genre with a much more gritty, and grounded picture with relevant and provoking political and social overtones. A superhero picture that makes you think about todays world, I think Dark Knight almost works as a parable. I thought about Bruce Wyne’s sacrifice for the good of the city, believing in the leadership of one man to lead the way. To quote an opposing superhero movie, Superman (the first donner picture) jor’el (however you spell it) says “they are a great people, they only lack the light to show them the way” and in a way dark knight has the same ideas, believing that the leadership of harvey dent is worth sacrificing the reputation of batman as a hero. i find that to be interesting, and perhaps true, maybe what todays society truly needs a leader who can lead without faltering, and lead purely for morally sound reasons, and people will follow his way, i don’t know, thats what i got from it.

3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - was it a re-hashed Forest Gump? If you don’t think so check out the youtube video comparing them, but all the same, I really enjoyed Finchers and Roth’s interpretaton of this short story. (a very strange short story btw, not much like the movie, in the book his mind was old when he was born and grew younger with him, while the movie only his body was old, while his mind and soul were still young, which I found a lot more interesting anyway). From a purely structural point of view, adapting this story is on feat in its own right, and then the techinical challenges in presenting it in a believeable manner, really impressive. i found brad pitt’s performance to be charming, and the whole story to be very quaint. the 2.5 hour run time never became a problem for me, I just truly enjoyed watching this beautifully photographed story of a man aging backwards run into the rest of the world’s time passage.

4. Gran Torino - It seems to me that Gran Tarino examplified battle that ended violently but with peace at the same time. A bit ironic I think, but just goes to show how poetic the ending of first time screenwriter Dave Johannson’s script was. Eastwood’s character used one big act of violence and sacrifice to end further chaos with the gang that terrorizes the local neighborhood. Perhaps sometimes that is what it takes. What would other people like the priest have him do? Let the police handle it? They can do nothing without witnesses, and if Eastwood simply pumeled them back, they would have came back even harder resulting in a perpetually escalating war. But one act of unselfishness, one act of altruism and display of love for the peace of a people, and the conflict was settled. Eastwood was fantastic in his performance as well.

5. Wall-E - its pixar, the only sure thing in hollywood. what else can i say, a beauty to look at, funny, endearing, provoking, wonderfully fun movie for all ages, creeds, genders, everybody with a heart.

 6. Milk - With gay marriage’s being banner shortly before this movie came out, it became all the more relevant. An event that could end up being a great shame in American history, (denying the rights of people), Milk provides insight into a culture not many people understand, or worse, are willing to understand. Sean Penn puts on a wonderful performance, exuberating the charm of Harvey Milk, you can’t help but root for him, which makes the end drama all the more heart wrenching.

7. The Wrestler - Randy the Ram screwed himself a few times in the movie, but you can’t help for feel sympathy for him because of the strength of Rourkes performance. I enjoyed Alberti’s camera, constantly following Rourke from the back as if he is always about to enter the ring. He is the wrestler, it is his only joy, and reason for himself to keep going.

8. Man on Wire - I think this doc was beautiful. First of all, I never knew it really happened, it somebody told me I would never have believed it, its surreal. Especially, younger people like me, who don’t know pre-9/11 new york all that well and only understand the tight security and all, this phillipe would never have been able to do that today. It was absolutely fascinating watching this man explain his dream of walking between the two towers. It became profound for me, listening to this man talk about this dream of his with such passion and fervor, I feel all somebody really needs in life is to have that kind of unrelenting passion that phillipe has to live a fulfilled life. seeing the shots from ground level, where you can quite make out the wire, so it looks like he is just walking on air, are breathtaking.

9. The Visitor - I found this picture to be very endearing and thought Jenkins gave a wonderful first leading man performance. I also found the visitor, Haaz Sleiman, a very alluring character. Tell me you don’t want to play the bongo drum after watching this movie.

10. Burn After Reading - I just love the Coen Brothers sense of humor, they always have a great cast, and some crazy offbeat story. Pitt and Clooney were hilarious, the whole cast was, not as funny of Lebowski for me, but I did enjoy this coen brothers movie, in fact I have yet to see one I have disliked.

honorable mention

Role Models - I thought this movie was hilarious, hopefully Rudd and Scott will continue to work as leading man.

Appaloosa - Thought was a great western from ed harris, mortenson with another wondefully reserved performance.

 Religulous- i will never move to Arkansas after seeing this movie.

Frost Nixon - Fascinating watching the account of the debate challenge between frost and nixon.