Away We Go Clips

New AWAY WE GO clips! from Gordon and the Whale on Vimeo.

Enjoy a few clips from the movie from Sam Mendes

The Tarantino Mixtape

The Tarantino Mixtape from Eclectic Method on Vimeo.

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Edited by Eclectic Method and some damn fine editing at that. Go easy if you are watching this at work by the way, the juicy parts are not cut out (which makes it even better).

Full...Metal...Jacket

Wow people. It is the end of April and no one has been posting. I am a little disappointed but I realized that the last time I updated was February so I have no room to talk. We are all busy with school but I felt like posting a review on an older film to lighten everyones mood and help them procrastinate even longer.

I watched Full Metal Jacket this weekend and fell in love. It was brilliant and I love Kubrick. Everyone knows my stance on Clockwork but I love every other Kubrick that I have seen: 2001 Space Odyssey, Eyes Wide Shut, and Full Metal Jacket.
As a viewer you can definitely tell that this was a two part film. The first having to deal with the life of incoming soldiers and how they build as family. The tolls that the army dishes out everyone of them. The disgusting, vulgar things that the captain says to each person. These are people and we train them like animals. We want them to be animals or maybe even a robot. Humans are not humans anymore but instead they are killing machines.
We see the how Pyle, the overweight, slower character is influenced by the people around him. He wants to be like them but everyone else doesn't see him as a person. Joker has to take care of him but in the end all of the soldiers get fed up with him and give him a good beating. Pyle turns the tables when he becomes a great fireman. He can use a gun and he has a great shot. We later see how both the beating and his talent effect the story.
In the second part of the film is the Vietnam war. It is brutal and disgusting. My favorite part is when each marine is getting interviewed and giving their opinions on the war. Joker is a very complicated character. He wears a helmet that says, "Born to Kill" but on his jacket he wears a peace pin. In his interview he said that he came to Vietnam so that he could be the first on his block to have a confirmed kill. But when he is faced with shooting someone he can't do it. This is pushed when Animal Mother looks him in the eye and tells him to kill... I don't want to spoil it for you.
Anyways, the cinematography is brilliant and we all know what is in store for us when we want to watch a Kubrick film.

The Last House on the Left ('09)

Hello film fans,

This weekend I had the fortune to enjoy yet another remake of one of the most influential and controversial horror films ever made. The Last House on the Left is a remake of Wes Craven's 1972 original of the same name.

The plot is actually layered with different information for the audience to take in, different even from the Friday the 13th that marches down the same predictable path as many others. I will review the '72 version here as soon as I have time to do so. From what I understand there are some subtle differences, so I will be able to touch on that later.

The plot follows Mari Collingwood (Sara Paxton) and her parents Emma (Monica Potter) and Doctor Father, John (Tony Goldwyn) on their summer trip to their lake house, set out in the woods....well its the last house on the left, on a very long road out into the middle of no where. The plot parallels into the story of a group of murderers lead by Manson-like Father Krug (Garret Dillahunt). Their paths cross when Mari and friend hanging in town, come across Justin, who ends up being part of the gang. After the two girls face ultimate horror in the woods, Krug and the gang find refuge in a terrible storm in the home of the Collingwoods. The tale takes and epic turn of revenge in the likes of films like Death Sentence and Death Wish. Unfortunately I cannot give away any more without really giving away the rest of the movie.

Some may call this little picture torture porn, I am tired of hearing this. This film is more of a traumatic drama rather then outright horror film. Please don't listen to any one who says...uh it's just like Saw or hostel.... People are unaware that it is a remake and served as a rebellious form of artistic expression made during the Vietnam war. Some of that may be lost on a new generation, but the tension is a plenty, not a lot of 'jump' scares or overall gore. The film features a terribly detailed stabbing and uncomfortably real rape scene that will surely shake up any one, especially the women of the audience.

I will come back and give a final rating after I have seen the original. But as its own film, The Last house on the left is a terrifically terrify tale of evil and revenge and worth the hour and a quarter. Just like Watchmen, this film is not for every one, but if your are a big suspense film buff or love a great horror film...this is your kind of shindig

Take a turn on the last left...

br()wnie
Resident Horror Film Aficionado

Last House on the Left (2009)

Hey Film Lovers!

It is my duty to review every horror film that comes out...and i will do so! No one else in the society has shown much interest in the genre, so i will do my best to bring a review with every major theatrical and DVD horror release

I am about to go see The Last House on the left, the remake of the 1972 Wes Craven masterpiece (which i also just bought on DVD) so expect reviews tonight, as well as one for the '09 remake of Friday the 13th

Thanks every one

br()wnie
Resident Horror Film Aficionado

Watchmen

So I am not the biggest comic fan, and there are probably better people in the society to write this other than me. But no one has yet, and I just saw Watchmen about an hour ago. I recommend, everyone, go see it.

For those who know me, you should know that I rarely, ever give movies 5 stars out of 5. A movie has to impress me very very vividly to gain that kind of recognition in my eyes. And for those who know me, you know my DVD collection is very small and limited to only movies I feel are 5 star movies. I plan on owning WATCHMEN.

I don't want to give away any details for those of you who haven't seen it. But the movie is far from perfect, but also far out in terms of revolutionary direction, special effects, plot, undertone, character development and overall mood and feel. If you don't like blood (I don't really mind it in movies or my own blood, I cringe when I see other people bleed in real life situations) I will warn you. The blood spot on the movie poster is not the slightest bit close to how much you will see in the film. It is pretty graphic..which I like. What can you expect though from the director of 300? (Another movie I felt was revolutionary enough to grasp a 5 star from me)

Watchmen is good, if you appreciate movies with taste, content, and vision. See it, especially in theaters. This is going to be an instant classic. Unfortunately, nothing this good ever goes untouched by idiots who want profit, so we all will see some annoying shit poppin out of Hot Topic very very soon.

I do have a few gripes about the movie..First off...casting the girl who got naked in Harold and Kumar go to white castle, bad move. Second off, there are a couple scenes in the middle that just are pointless and ruin the mood and flow of the movie. Should have been cut. Other than that, I'm open to everyone else's opinion.

The Film Society's Short Film

Hey, everyone.

I hope we still have people who still check this out. I think it is an important tool for us to utilize and communicate through the web. 

Obviously, the reviews are going well. As Luis had said before, we probably should keep them a little shorter, just to get the point across quicker.

We have a tight little group going right now, and we have talked about some of our plans here in the future. Mainly being the short film we are going to attempt to make, we should be on our way to having a script before the next FILM SOCIETY MEETING. Which for those who don't know yet, will be on the 12th of March. Thursday at 8 PM top floor of CRANE. ROOM TBA. 

The main way we will be communicating will be via EMAIL, so if I don't have your email, please get that to me so we can create a list to go by. 

That is all I have for now, more updates coming soon.

Restructuring coming

Title says it all... Stay tuned for the regular reviews, times have been limited but I personally have a couple reviews to write, so they should be up soon

Fanboys
Friday the 13th (2009)
The Unborn

The 81st Academy Awards

"Art will always be our universal language" -Penelope Cruz

Well, ladies and gentlemen this was the most captivating Academy Awards in a while and all I can say is, "Oh, God .... "Oh, God" (please try to do this in your best Kate Winslet voice).

The set was breath-taking, Australians can sing,and no one fell asleep. There were hardly any montages and when they actually did come on screen, they were brilliantly done. It honored the other non-nominated films even if it was only for a few seconds.

The speeches were beautiful and short. The performances were wicked and held that classic style which needs to be brought back. It was very creative as to how the actors and actresses were announced. Thank God I am in a screenplay class because I appreciated what they did to announce the different films . Oh, and Coldplay subliminally took over the show.

The winners
(Every film was brilliant. Every artist puts their heart and soul into their work, so please appreciate everything that was nominated and not nominated)

Sean Penn won best actor for Milk. He is and always will be pure brilliance. He truly becomes every character that he plays.

Heath Ledger won for best supporting actor in the Dark Knight. His family gave a lovely acceptance speech on his behalf and it touched the hearts of many.

Kate Winslet didn't hyperventilate too much when she won for best actress. She greatly deserves it because she is phenomenal but everyone knows that Meryl will always win in my heart.

Penelope Cruz won best supporting actress and was "genius" in Vicky Christina Barcelona.

Pixar has done it again. Wall-E won for best animated film and I stand by the fact that it should have been up for best picture.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button won Art Direction. The colors, set, lighting, etc. were amazing in this film and it is great that it won.

Slumdog Millionaire won for Cinematography.

The Duchess won Costume Design. Is anyone else sick of corsets winning best costume design? They might be hard to make but honestly the one thing you need to show the time period of the nineteen hundred's is a corset. Give us a challenge, please.

Danny Boyle walked away with Best Director. He was so excited! The job is tedious and all of the weight rests on your shoulders. It could have went to any of the directors but only one person can be recognized.

Man on Wire won best Documentary Feature. That man can balance.

Smile Pinki won for best Documentary Short. Can't say that I have seen any of these so congratulations.

Slumdog Millionaire won for Film Editing. One thing I think would make me go crazy, editing a film.

Departures won Best Foreign Language Film. Again have not seen any of these ...woop.

Make-up of course went to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Phenomenal.

Slumdog Millionaire won Best Original Score and Best Original Score. It was something that was finally different. Indian culture is where it's at. Jai Ho!

Short Animated Film went to La Maison en Petits Cubes. "T-ank you Academy." Greatest speech ever. (This was not to be sarcastic, I really liked it.)

Short Animated Live Action went to Spielzeugland (Toyland). The Academy loves those Holocaust films and the director/producer/maybe writer? gave a magnificent speech.

The Dark Knight won Sound Editing. Luis guessed this.

Slumdog won Sound Mixing.

Visual Effects went to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Apparently while making this film the technology wasn't even developed when they started filming or something along the lines of this statement.

Screenplay, Adapted went to Slumdog Millionaire. Insane.

Screenplay, Original went to Milk. Dustin Lance Black's speech was great and he really showed how much this award meant to him.

Slumdog Millionaire won Best Picture of the year. It was stunning. It left your heart just uplifted and really let you into the slums of Mumbai. The other films were just as great but I am ecstatic that my favorite film this year won.

The greatest night of a film lover is over but I am just so excited to see what is in store for us next year. I am happy that we got a lot of people to watch it and I think they enjoyed it just as much as I did.

On a side note I learned a couple of things as I watch the Awards: Gracie can guess everything, Ahmend had a beautiful portfolio, Luis is a minority, Bollywood is an actual thing, my really good friend looks like Robert Downey Jr., I can not predict anything and I should never gamble on anything unless Pixar is up for best animated, and you are considered married if you live with someone for seven years.

"Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto"