Not talk or talk forever and still find things to not talk about...

WOW!

Here's a roundtable discussion with 5 of the best directors working today... I could watch this for hours!

Enjoy the clip (and there are others on this site) of Kathryn Bigalow (The Hurt Locker, American Psycho), Lee Daniels (Precious), Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking, Juno, Up In The Air), Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Inglorious Basterds) and James Cameron (Terminator, Aliens, Avatar) talking about the moment they became filmakers




And a little extra clip from one of my favourite movies which I think best outlines the importance of conversation!





-k

The answer my friend

I think this is actually  more about the question, but I got a laugh...






I can't wait to find out all the answers... Please don't disappoint me!!!


-k

A little mid-week music

I'm sure you have all heard of the band OK GO, and while their songs are catchy, I'd rather not have them stuck in my head when I go to sleep.

I do however have to give them props for making some of the best music video's out there.  There newest video was shot against greenscreen to allow fans to edit it with whatever background they chose in simple video editing software and post back on the web... Ahhhhh, the future...

Now if only Brittany Spears would leave the singing out of her video's!


Enjoy a few of OK GO's best...

Ok Go What To Do lyrics

Do What You Want - Ok Go Video - Ok Go What To Do Music Videos

Music Videos by VideoCure

And their newest which I can't embed: (update: read this interesting article from the band about why you can't embed their video's... and sites that get around this)

OK Go - This Too Shall Pass from OK Go on Vimeo.





-k

Lost on the brain

I can't fricken wait...




in the meantime, here's a cool little mash up of everything that went on leading up to the crash

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

enjoy,
-k

So what?!

I went and saw Youth In Revolt this weekend, and thought it was a fun movie and recommend it, but that's not the point of this entry...

It's about the complaint that everyone (myself included) seem to have about Michael Cera:

"He always plays the same roles"

We've all enjoyed him as a quiet, innocent, simple, buddy character in, well, ALL of his movies (and tv)... Superbad, Arrested Development, Juno, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Paper Heart, Year One (I can imagine but will never actually know!)... He not only plays the same character, he IS the same character...


But then I thought about it.  Who cares!

I like all of those movies!  If it wasn't Michael Cera, it would be someone else playing that same character, and would it be any better?  Probably not, because he plays that character well!

The worst thing an actor can do is make you think about the real person, not the character they are playing when they come on screen and take you 'out off the movie'.  MC doesn't do this because as far as I know, that is him on screen in real life!  He IS that guy on and off the screen

Anyway, I won't rant anymore about it, but I'm just saying; So what! Stop complaining about Michael Cera, and spend the energy wondering why their aren't more comedies about suicide bombers...





GO SEE YOUTH IN REVOLT (and read the book!)


btw, there is a character in this movie, Francois Dillinger, that is the complete opposite of a Michael Cera character... Maybe it's a sign of things to come...



-k

It happens only occasionally...

Every once in while, a movie comes around that will change the way scripts are written and movies are made.

A rare mixture of emotion, adventure, love, humor and it's all put together to make one glorious film...


I give you the trailer for Hot Tub Time Machine...






Enjoy!
-k

Glee-san

Japan has joined the bandwagon after Glee's win for best comedy or musical at the Golden Globes with a promo that reminded me of that dancing baby that was all over the net back in the day!




and as a little added Glee, here's a clip from Jane Lynch (aka Sue Sylvester), the best thing about the show..





-k

WHY?!!!!!! (and some funny)

I went and saw Daybreakers yesterday expecting to see something incredible.  As I've mentioned in previous posts, there's often nothing that can ruin a movie worse than high expectations, but I felt confident in this one. 

It was such a simple and great idea: In the 'not too distant future', Vampires have taken over and are harvesting the last remaining humans for blood.  The human race is becoming extinct and the Vampire scientists need to find an alternative... 

It starred Willem Defoe (who has experience in the genre with Shadow of the Vampire), and Ethan Hawke (who had put in his 'not too distant world' time in with Gattaca)

The trailer looked fuckin awesome:




And does this sound familiar?  It was written and directed by Brothers and the poster shows people hooked up to machines that using them to keep a society alive!

Come on!!! This was going to be the next Matrix (and I don't mean Matrix 2 or 3!!)... How could it not be awesome!!!!!!!


It wasn't. 

I don't want to ruin anything (more than the these Spierig Brothers already did!), but I will say, they did do a great job of creating this alternate world. There are tons of details that made me think this film was going to be great (and could have been).  Unfortunately, it ends up being like so many other bad movies do... Shoot 'em ups, explosions, "I'm sorry... just kidding... no really, I'm sorry...crap, too late", save the day (or should I say night!), "we should have made sure he was dead", lucky the bad guys forgot to account for the famous actor who's not in the last scene....  you get the idea!

So many plot holes, so much sillyness (mostly towards the end)... the only thing that could make me feel better is if there was another of those great animation news clips from China...


OHHHHH  YEAHHHHH!!!!!!





-k

Put 'em in your calendar

As it seems that television stations purposefully don't want to let you know when your favourite shows start until the last minute so that you will continue to tune in and watch whatever crappy show is currently in its place, I've done a little research and here's what I came up with:

~ LOST: Feb 2
~ Nurse Jackie: Mar 22
~ V: Mar 30
~ United States of Tara: Mar 22
~ Glee: April 13
~ The Office: Feb 4
~ Survivors (not to be confused with Survivor which starts Feb 11): LAST WEEK!
~ Spartacus: Jan 22 (If this is anything like the show Rome, it's a winner!)
~ Treme: April 11 (by the makers of The Wire)

No set date yet for the following shows, but they will be back:
~ East Bound and Down
~ Little Britian USA
~ HUNG
~ Boardwalk Empire: (Made by Martin Scorsese)


And don't forget about the Olympics on Feb 12!!!!!


While waiting for your favourite shows, you can check out what's on NBC...




-k

The only reason to watch the Golden Globes is....

....drumroll please...


Ricky Gervais making an inappropriate introduction!!!!!

(link updated as the original like was pulled from youtube)




-k

Little Jersey Shore

It could only be better with Midget Guido's!






As a bonus, here's Alyssa Milano getting her Jersey Shore makeover

Alyssa Milano's Evolution: Jersey Shore from Alyssa Milano

-k

Link me to FIGHTLINKER!

Friends of mine run the biggest funniest (see comments!) MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) site out there called Fightlinker, and I'm hoping they'll link me to their site (and maybe I'll add an 11th reader!)

A couple of things I'll have to do to accomplish such a feat:

1) Sign up for their site (and urge others to as well).  I told my friend that I hadn't already because I didn't want their spam, and he let me in on a little secret... Even if they wanted to, they don't have the capabilities.  I'll still use my 'junk mail address' just in case!

2) Write a review of something MMA related, and here it is:


Flash Point
I saw this film at the Toronto Film Festival a couple of years ago and will never forget it.  It is easily one of the best Martial Arts films out there, and I recommend it to anyone who is even remotely a fan of the Genre.

The Director (Wilson Yip) is one of the most renowned martial arts directors in the world. His previous movie, S.P.L., was loved by fans when it came to the festival 2 years earlier, and made this film highly anticipated. 

When the director came out to introduce the film, he told the audience that he took a year off to "analyze new methods of fighting and how real fighting would blend with film stylized martial arts."  He went on to talk about how he carefully studied MMA fighting and took the next 6 months to make his onscreen fights look this real.

The results are obvious.  This is not a sparring match with sound effects.  These fights look real (by that I mean, look like real fights which is rare)

I won't attempt to describe the action any further as I won't do it justice, so take my advice.  If you're a fan of Martial Arts or MMA, or other movies I recommend, watch this movie! (or buy it since you will want to watch it again!)





BTW, you have noticed that i didn't mention the plot. The reason is, I don't remember, and that fact shouldn't take away from this film!


Okay, so now I'm signed up with fightlinker and they better hook me up!

If you found this blog through their site, leave a message, and I'll pay for half of one of these sweet fightlinker T-Shirts for you....


-k

Catchy tune!

Here's a video I found that i thought you may like!

Catchy tune, and don't worry, all the nudity is censored ;)

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

enjoy,
K

Are you ready for some football?!!!!!!!

I'm a Chargers fan, and after seeing this video, I'm thinking about changing my mind!




I'm not so sure it's better than their song they released in the '70's!

Careful, you'll be humming this all day!



-k

"Quotables"

Here's one of my favourite films and easily one fo the most quotable...

(and this is only the 3 minute trailer!)




You'll have to watch the movie again to find my favourite:
"Who, that little guy? I wouldn't worry about that little guy"




-k

Better late than never

I found these two clips some time ago, and forgot to post them until now. While they aren't quite as topicle, they are damn funny!

If you've never seen or heard Kevin Smith (The Director of Zack and Miri make a Porno/ Clerks) talking about movies (well, about anything really), he's damn interesting, honest and funny. Here he is a Comic Con talking about Twilight:





I don't know what the hell they're saying, but this news clip from China cracks me up!


Chinese Tiger Woods Accident Reenactment - Watch more Funny Videos


-k

A little funny

I know that you all are busy (ie have short attention spans), so I'll stop with the long posts... Just the Goods from now on!


So here it is... Who doesn't love reality TV?!?! And while I don't watch this show, this clip is too good to miss. Enjoy

Bacon is Good For Me - watch more funny videos

-k

Up in the Air!

I read a lot of books that have been adapted into movies. More often than not, the books are far superior. There is simply too much information in a book that can't be portrayed on screen in a reasonable time.

Generally they (Directors) take a great book (Often too grand in scale to literally adapt in full), take a single storyline, copy a few of the best moments and make a decent adaptation (Catch 22, Wonder Boys), sometimes they take a good book (Generally having a much more simple narrative to a Great book) and are able to stay closely to the entire narrative, enhance the best parts that I mix the two together (Fight Club, The Road). Sometimes it's a bad book made into a bad movie (DaVinci Code - Sorry Dan Brown fans). More often than not, they simply take any book (Good or Great) and fuck it up (Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Stardust)

Then there are the bad books (although they may have redeeming qualities), where the true skill of a great director comes into place. Up in the Air is a perfect example of this.

I won't review the book, but know that while it had some of the same themes as the movie, that fact that Jason Reitman turned it into a great movie is an amazing achievement!

Now, my point is that I read this book before watching the movie, and was expecting a light film about a man who spends most of his life on the road and is within arms reach of his one million frequent flier miles, and what it all means to him. What I got was so much more!

A film about a guy who flies around for more than three quarters of his life, who's most real human connections was firing people could be, at the very least, an extremely depressing film. I imagined the laughs to be about (to quote Fight Club) "Single Serving Friends", and the firings to be about people freaking out and breaking things (haha).

Instead, the traveling man (George Clooney) is logical and content with his life, the firings (actually recently fired people) are touching.

I don't want to give any of the film away, but I will say that, like many good books, Jason Reitman has made a touching, funny and moving film that has well rounded and complete characters that are real and a story and narrative that is unusual, surprising and fun. Go See this movie (and root for it during the Academy Awards where it should be recognized!)


BTW, The Director also did this with another average book (Thank You for Smoking), so I shouldn't have been surprised!







-k

Welcome back!!!

To start off the new year, I'll put up a list of my favourite films of the last decade (in no particular order):

1. The Dark Night - The Best Comic book film in a decade that was full of them (X-Men, Spiderman, The Watchmen)

2. Children of Men - In my opinion, the best movie of the decade. Every detail and shot, every word of dialogue, the acting and music make this a masterpiece

3. City of God - So much better than the MANY other 'gritty street' movies out there

4. Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind - My favourite move. Brilliant.... Everytime I watch this, I notice something else about how the director visualized memories... no other director could have pulled this off

5. Almost Famous - I could just listen to this film for both the music and dialogue

6. High Fidelity - John Cusack is a god (and welcome Jack Black!)

7. The Fall - See my review a couple of weeks ago

8. Lord of the Rings trilogy - Didn't let me down

9. Memento - Brilliant. Watch the movie when the chapters are in order and you can really appreciate the brilliance of the editing

10. Old Boy - not enough people have watched this. One of the great movies of all time

11. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon - When the first fight seen was finished, it was one of the few times I have wanted to stand up and cheer in the middle of a movie!

12. Best in Show - Easily the most watched movie in my collection, and I laugh every time I see it

13. Unbreakable - Every scene is shot like a page from a comic book, they constantly tell you that he is a superhero, and yet, the end is still a surprise... amazing film

14. Kung Fu Hustle - funny, fun and kick ass! Can't ask for more!

15. Brokeback Mountain - The acting puts this on the list.

16. Into the Wild - the scenery, music and acting draws you in and makes you feel every aspect of the characters journey

17. The Departed - Complicated enough to be interesting and characters to make it cool. Based on the Hong Kong film/ trilogy Infernal Affairs

18. Across the Universe - to put this movie together based on The Beatles catalogue of music is shear brilliance

19. Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner) - see my review from a few weekes ago

20. Shaun of the Dead - started a new Genre, Zom-Com )and introduced america to some of the best british comedians out there

21. The Hangover - I walked out of the theatre with tears in my eyes I was laughing so hard

22. Tigerland - gritty and realistic, a new take on a part of the Vietnam war, and welcomed in Colin Farrell

23. Training Day - Made bad guys cool, and Crime dramas about more than CSI and the lawyers

24. Super Troopers - One of the funniest movies of all time

25. Idiocracy - A future where darwinism has gone awry, and people have bred themselves stupid... HILARIOUS!  And please note, they are all wearing crocs!

26. Bad Santa - The only true must-see Christmas movie!