DVD/Videos Reviewed - Food Films with Fellini's 8-1/2

So for 2009's New Years Eve I made plans to have a low-key evening with my girlfriend and I told her of an idea to have a dinner inspired by the movie we had already discussed watching for the evening. We were going to watch Federico Fellini's 8-1/2 to prepare for seeing Nine in the theaters soon. I looked for something to make besides a pasta that would be plain and uninspired, and I came across a dish that I knew would be a hit with her because of her love of mushrooms. I visited www.tuscanytonight.com and their recipe for Chicken Breast alla Carmine was just the ticket. With just enough time to prepare the food before she came home from her long day at work, I put the finishing touches on just as she walked in. Moments before midnight we started dinner and had the movie going on the television. The first bite of the new year was amazing. The Chicken was tender and juicy and the sauce wasn't too heavy. There were just enough mushrooms for every bit of chicken. I added some bow-tie pasta along side to savor every bit of the creme sauce.

As for the film, "8-1/2" was an amazingly visual ride through one directors journey toward making his next piece. Marcello Mastroianni Plays Guido Anselmi, a director who guides the movie audience through his conscience towards making his next film within the movie. Fellini was having a difficult time writing his next movie when the idea came about to write a movie about a writer. Proving difficult visually how to show the writers frustration, he changed it to a director because there would be a more outward appearance of the challenges he faced. A great deal of the scenes were shown as daydreams that Guido was having of what he wanted in his movie, but couldn't express them so others could understand it. The scenes were beautifully crafted and well shot. This movie has inspired many film makers and has been noted as Terry Gilliam's inspiration for all of his movies, including Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

Film Review - Paranormal Activity

Sitting in a dark room with total strangers just waiting to be scared is a total rush. This movie was made for a measly $11k and has already surpassed that by 7x's in it's two weeks in theaters. It had premiered at Slamdance's 2007 film festival and has been waiting for the right moment to be released. Oren Peli directed, wrote, edited and produced the movie, but with such a small budget we don't see him in the movie. The fact that there wasn't any credits to the movie at all was surprising. I waited through to the blue ratings notice at the very end and there was nothing.

The reaction was amazing at the payoff. There wasn't anyone that left the theaters from where I was sitting. The people I talked to outside afterwards said that their first two times seeing it people walked out in the last 5 minutes. There was a great deal of nervous laughter in the audience when things would happen. I felt that this was what Blair Witch should have been back in 1999. There wasn't as much shaky camera movement as Micah Sloat put the camera on a tripod for most shots. His fiancee Katie Featherston was the "subject" of the movie.

Go check this movie out, but "don't see it alone"

Film Review - Whip it

So, there wasn't a wait in line forWhip It like I thought there would have been only a week after it came out. I got to the theater about 15 minutes early and I was the only one sitting to see what I think was the most heart-warming story I've seen this year, so far. Not ever having played roller-derby, I could still relate to the message in this movie about defying the "normal" way of life. Just like Ellen Page's character, I am paving my own path with the career I've chosen to study. This movie isn't like your typical boy-meets-girl romantic girlie movie. This was about standing up for what you believe in, or what you want to do with your own life instead of letting people choose for you. I nearly cried when character Marcia Gay Harden's character read the note from her daughter.

This was a perfect directorial debut for Drew Barrymore, who also played a character in it who happened to be on the ground more than skating in the movie. She has a knack for being a more physical comedian than people give her credit for. It was also good to see the likes of Daniel Stern, and Juliette Lewis who played Dad and one of the rival skaters respectively. There were so many awesome real life derby girls that were in it as well.

If you haven't seen this movie yet, what are you waiting for? Go see it... And remember, you CAN do anything if you put your mind to it!

Film Review - Jennifer's Body

After getting to the theater already playing the trailers before the movie, I had to deal with the only other group of people talking over the intro of Jennifer's Body. This is the latest by writer Diablo Cody who has such a way with her dialogue that I can understand it, even though I can't necessarily relate to it. There are subjects like girl problems and high school social issues that Megan Fox's character and Amanda Seyfried dealt with that I could relate to on some level being a guy, I felt sympathy for both.

Ultimately in the end I enjoyed the movie for it's story and some of the scenes, but mostly the dialogue. It seems like such a fresh take on how the "youth of today" speaks that it's very believable. Wonderfully directed by Karyn Kusama who has only three movie under her belt, but we should take note for future projects.

Film Trailer - Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day

WOW!!!! All I have to say is WOW. I saw the first movie a decade ago and loved it. I was impressed even more so that the guy that directed it was a first time director. What impressed me even more was that his story was documented and shown as a how not to work in Hollywood for myself and the classmates I go to school with right now. I'm a junior in film school and I was blown away to see the trailer for the sequel when I got home from my "Day job" for the movie of the fall now. I didn't hear anything about it until squeaking onto IMDb, where the trailer below, came from.

Mark your calendars, go see this movie!!! It comes out two days before the actual All Saint's Day this year on October 30th. Pretty clever I might add. I think the only reason it doesn't come out on the true date is that it's a Sunday.

Check this out!!:

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi404357657/

DVD/Videos Reviewed - Snakes on the Plane

The title should be "Snakes on the MF'in Plane" Cause even though this was my first time seeing this movie, I knew that was going to be a line in the movie based on who the main character was being played by.

I didn't see this movie in the theaters and I missed out on the audience jumps and screams I'm sure. This is the type of movie I end up watching through my fingers, and there are many reasons for that: First, I didn't know just what the combination of humor/action there was going to be until I saw one of the co-stars. Second, the stereotypes are abound in this movie, almost as bad as in Soul Plane (and I saw THAT in the theaters cause I knew what I was getting into) but I wasn't aware there were going to be the cliches. And lastly, I watched through my fingers because I was one of the people the director was talking about in the behind the scenes documentary of people's biggest fears. I hate snakes!! That's right, me and Indiana Jones are brothers in that hatred of the reptile community.

Check this movie out if you get a chance. It's funny and scary in a good way. The extras are pretty fun too. There's even a music video for the movie that is pretty cool too!

Check out the trailer from IMDb.com :
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi612630809/

Film Projects - Coke Ad filmed for school project

I am a junior in film school and this is my final project for the Cine 1 class I was in last semester. In Cine 1 we get our first exposure to a 16mm camera and we film in black and white. Our final project is a short film or an ad for a project and I chose to film a commercial for Coke. Because my schedule was so tight I couldn't find a full crew to film with, all I had was a few actors (one of which was also a film student), me, and my partner.

What we came up with was pretty cool, considering that this was my first project where I was working on my own. My crew, as it were, was terrific. I made a few mistakes along the way (not turning the adjustable exposure open, a lot), but it turned out alright. Especially when I put it to music. I found a piece of very experimental music from one of my favorite frontman's side projects General Patton V.S. The X-Ecutioners.

Check it out and let me know what you think.