imdb.com has the release date set for December 1, 2010.
And here I thought the film might be a bit boring from the synopsis and the trailer is more f*cked up than I could have imagined. Guess Aronofsky won’t break into the comedy genre anytime soon considering this path of trauma that is his filmography.*
*Comments aside, love his work.
Posted in News
Tagged Black Swan, Cinema, Darren Aronofsky, Drama, Film, Horror, Mila Kunis, Movie, Natalie Portman, Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler, Trailer, Vincent Cassel
It’s harder to find straight up action packed cinema these days, with more and more studios walking the PG-13 line for bigger box office figures. Notably, Bruce Willis couldn’t even say his catch phrase in Live Free or Die Hard because an F-bomb is an R-rated offense. In contrast, The Expendables is a violent swearing sailor that pisses drunkenly on these sad sods that call themselves “action films” – but that doesn’t make it the best. Continue reading
Director Edgar Wright plans to team up once more with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, to round out their Cornetto Trilogy with The World’s End (the first two Cornetto films being Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz). Until then, Wright has produced a fine comedy action film to whet our appetites. Continue reading
Posted in Reviews
Tagged Edgar Wright, Graphic Novel, Hot Fuzz, Michael Cera, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Shaun of the Dead, sonic, The World's End, video games, zelda
Back in February I had a chance to talk with one of the crew members from Inception. Turns out that hallway fight scene was not CGI, they did that for real:
However, more interesting were his comments on Christopher Nolan (a bit chaotic in his shooting style), since he worked with him on Inception and The Dark Knight. He showed me a video of the rig they used for a hallway scene in the film, which was larger than a semi-truck’s trailer, that completely rotated. He went on to explain that they rubberized everything inside and painted it so the actors inside could roll around and fight. They also locked down a camera inside the hallway and used a camera crane that could go inside the moving rig. Evidently I’m one of the only guys outside of the film industry to see his little cell phone video of this rig.
Posted in News
Tagged CGI, Christopher Nolan, Fight Scene, Hallway, Inception, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Practical effects
SPOILER ALERT!
A good chunk of us who have just seen Inception have started debating over whether Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Cobb is still stuck in the dream world. The film’s final shot is his totem spinning on the table and before we see if it topples (a sign of being in the real world), it cuts to black.
Throughout the film we regularly see flashes of Cobb’s children as he remembers them right before he goes on the run. His young daughter appears in a light red dress and his son in some plaid shirt. Now, if we are to apply the A Beautiful Mind theorem, we might be able to deduce whether Cobb is awake or dreaming.
Posted in Articles
Tagged A Beautiful Mind, Christopher Nolan, Ending, Inception, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Caine
The main maxim of big budget Hollywood filmmaking is “Make it Safe.” Don’t stray from basic storytelling tropes and structures, and don’t be too smart in case you go over the audience’s head. In the end, you want to ensure that you will get a return on your investment. Thus, the prospect of losing hundreds of millions of dollars makes a lot of mainstream films ride along in the mediocrity lane of the film freeway. Continue reading
The original Predator (1987) is one of those films that is a defining moment for masculinity. I saw Predator when I was 8 years old and the mixture of mass muscled men, “bad” words, bullets, and bravado introduced me to what it meant to be male. The film is not a traditional work of art, but like director John McTiernan’s Die Hard, Predator is a quintessential action/sci-fi film. Continue reading
After almost two weeks of festival events and screenings, I have posted over 30 items about the festival. So here is a breakdown of all the films, ranked along the scale: Awesome, Good, Eh…, Bad. Click the title of the film to read the review.
Posted in Edinburgh International Film Festival, News, Reviews
It has become a standard documentary trope to bring cultural clarity by focusing on an otherwise unknown subject (often poor, non-white, oppressed); we get to know these people personally and therefore break down cultural barriers . What happens, then, when the character doesn’t even know himself? The Oath‘s analysis of Osama Bin Laden’s former bodyguard, Abu Jandal, is fascinating for, if nothing else, Jandal’s ability to deliver self-contradiction with such sincerity. Continue reading
The Filmsmith
The Filmsmith 
Arvin Chen discusses filmmaking, writing, and New Wave influences for Au Revoir Taipei
1 Comment
Posted in Edinburgh International Film Festival, Filmmaking, Interviews
Tagged Arvin Chen, Au Revoir Taipei, Billy Wilder, Breathless, Comedy, Director, Edinburgh International Film Festival, EIFF, film production, Filmmaking, French New Wave, Interview, Joon-ho Bong, Lawrence Ko, Memories of Murder, Romance, The Apartment, Wes Anderson, Woody Allen, writing