Dan in Real Life

'Dan in Real Life' was an enjoyable romantic comedy about a guy who falls in love with his sisters girlfriend at a family gathering. I loved the family stuff in it most. Large family cultures are wonderful to me. As exasperating and trying as they can be to the family members, there is a real comfort and warmth that I experience in the large families I have belonged to.
I also enjoyed the 'single parent' with teenage daughter interactions. It successfully captured the awkwardness of a parent trying to work out the balance between putting your kids first and managing to have a personal 'grown up' relationship.
It's a truly funny and warm film, I recommend it.

Little Children

I'd heard nothing about this film, yet from the opening scene, I felt drawn into it. The thoughts of this mother and the narrators summation of the situations were effective in creating a remarkable clarity of storytelling. It was at once emotionally engaging and quite human.

I recommend 'Little Children' and I imagine this film will stay with me for quite a duration. It was quite an experience.

Rotten Tomatoes has a range of reviews.

Footy Legends

'Footy Legends' is a light uplifting story about the rise to self esteem for a bunch of unemployed young men. It's another Australian film and I enjoyed it. Urban Cinefile has a good review by Louise Keller. I am not really a football fan and have very little understanding of the game as played in this film. I enjoyed the story though.

Noise

Noise is tense. It's Australian and I liked it a lot. I liked it at the start when I realised it was made in Melbourne. Then the characters made me really intrigued. I thought I knew who was good and bad, then I was confused. Mostly I was surprised and that's what I always like in a film. I want those refreshing surprises in my entertainment. Those glimpses of the ordinary that seem honest if somewhat unattractive.

There are some really interesting scenes, like the conversations between the fiance of one of the victims and the policeman. The film revealed the characters quite thoughtfully and I was frequently startled by the action of the film, the twists and turns of the plot, the emotion shown by the male characters, the language used and the heavy smoking. There was actually a really clear shot of a brand of cigarettes at one point and this surprised me as well. I would love to know what the cigarette company paid for that advertising.

Tinnitus is horrible and if you've never had that annoying ringing in your ears, check out this film to get an idea of how harsh it is.

This film was a 2007 official selection Sundance Film Festival. It was popular,the following are a random sample of positive reviews Stale Popcorn, Aint it Cool and Applebox.

Great Ocean Road

Click to Play

Driving along Great Ocean Road, Victoria, Australia, January 2008.  

Formats available: Microsoft Video (.avi)

Tags: travel, drive, road, ocean, australia, coast

27 Dresses

Went to flicks with my mum to see '27 Dresses' last night. It was light-hearted entertainment. Typical feel good romantic comedy. As one who has been a bridesmaid only 5 times and had thought that excessive, I could relate more to the cynical journalist than the constant bridesmaid.


I laughed a lot during this movie and that's got to be good for you. The critics may mock and demean such movies as frivolous and fluffy, but laughter is the result I look for. It was a pleasant experience.

About Heath Ledger....

I have no idea how or why. Obviously - I don't know Heath Ledger. I admire and respect his art. I loved the characters and his playing in 'Two Hands', 'Ned Kelly', '1o Things I Hate About You', 'A Knights Tale' and others.

I felt he was a good person as far as I could see from such a great distance. I feel sad about his loss for his family, friends and for film. I appreciate the work he did and am grateful for that. I hope the media is kind to those close to him.

Music and Lyrics

I have to admit Hugh Grant plays characters that I find very likeable. I wasn't expecting much from this film and I was pleasantly surprised. It was true to its genre as a romantic comedy, I felt good after watching it.

I liked the way the 'pop' star was exposed as such a fraud too, with her spiritual 'glitter', yet underneath she thought the Dalai Lama was a llama. I liked the exposure of the 'famous' intellectual author as well.

It was just what I needed to watch last night.

Changes to Media Diet

Two articles today have drawn my attention to the fact that I don't listen to the radio or watch television any more. This statement comes from RIP Radio? an article today about podcasting growth, in 'The Age':

"He sees this streaming of genres, or "Foxtel for radio stations", as the future of radio. "Unless traditional radio stations look at these models, they will quickly find that they are irrelevant because young people just don't listen to the radio any more.""

The second article, Local TV to Profit from Writers Strike from 'The Australian', sounds like a boon for Australian Television Production, but this quote is telling :

"Mr Mitchell said this could lead to an Australian season of "repeats versus repeats", leaving networks with lower costs: "Presumably, they'd charge no less in ad rates." But he cautioned against taking viewers for granted. "People could
gradually drift away from free-to-air TV to pay-TV if it happened over a period of time," he said."

My son dropped our TV whilst I was on holidays. It died. He was stressed and thought I'd be upset, I wasn't. Possibly due to the way he framed the news.

Son: I've got some really bad news.

Me(interstate): Oh no, something really bad has happened....think recent teenage rampage in NarreWarren.... Just spit it out, tell me.

Son: I've killed the TV

Me: What in some freak underage drinking gathering?

Son: No, I was vacuuming and tried to move it and it fell off the stand.

Me: Really, that's it.

Son: True

Me: Thank God.

It could have been some other activity rather than vacuuming I guess, but, I really didn't care. He wanted to rush out and replace it before I got back, but we decided to use his small TV from his room, cause he rarely uses it and do some research before buying another.

He brought the TV downstairs and put it where the old one had been. I've watched a couple of DVDs on it, but I haven't even plugged the aeriel in. I don't listen to the radio in the car now that I have my iPod. I have an adapter I use. I download ABC radio and other podcasts. I buy DVD's of my favourite TV series and watch them as I want. I go to the cinema. I hire DVDs. I watch advertising on Duncans TV AD Land. Come to think of it I don't buy any print media except the occasional specialist magazine, I read enough online. Same goes for newspapers. Anyone else notice a change in thier media consumption?

Atonement

Last night I went to the Cinema with my mum to watch 'Atonement'. When it ended I felt I'd been too emotionally drained. It was an intense film and although the room was packed full, I frequently felt that shifting in my seat was too noisy due to the absolute stillness in the cinema.

I rushed outside and lit a cigarette, the main characters smoked mercilessly throughout the film and my addicted brain craved that kind of interuption to the tragedy unfolding before me.

With a bit of space between the experience and myself I must say it was a very well made film and delivered a real emotional punch. Kiera Knightly's acting with her grace and beauty were breathtaking. The green dress has to be seen. It was vivid and so realistic I had to turn away from many of the war scenes.

Amazing Grace

I wanted to see this film at the Cinema. Today I watched it on DVD. It was an experience. I was totally inspired by the story of William Wilberforce and his passionate life, devoted publicly to abolishing slavery and privately to fully experiencing life. It is a film containing many exquisite moments. I especially enjoyed Richard the Butlers relationship with William the politician and his quotes.
There is much to see and learn in this film and I highly recommend it.

Pan's Labyrinth

Pan's Labyrinth was pretty scary in parts, but I guess that's what can be expected from fascism. The frightening captain who was the stepfather from hell to Ofelia, the child protagonist, was more than I could bear in parts. This is a fairy tale in the tradition of the Grimm Brothers. It takes you on a dark journey, which at times I doubted could end well.

There is a great selection of reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

It has a haunting soundtrack. It was beautiful in many parts though, the fantasy and natural world contained magic and spirit. This Mexican film is one of my favourites of this year. I will watch it again.

Factory Girl

Factory Girl was a sad tale, yet I enjoyed it. I have read some critiques on Rotten Tomatoes and agree with some of the complaints of the movies, yet not all. Sure there were gaps and questions but sometimes I think telling life stories, particularly recent life stories, needs to be like that.

If you have any interest in Andy Warhol, or the musician (he who doesn't want to be named), or Edie Sedgewick, it would be interesting to watch.

Once (2006)

Tonight I went to see Once. I loved it. I hadn't read anything about it cause I was in a rush before I went to the Cinema and I couldn't find a lot of info.
It was a treasure, described as a modern day musical, the music was breathtaking and fused with the story. It was a simple, yet very touching story.
It is an Irish film and has a realistic and unpolished feel about it. The lack of glamour gave the story intimacy to me. It was about broken hearted people joining to make their dreams come alive. It was uplifting.
The music was amazing. I intend to get the soundtrack as it moved me to tears in places. Glen Hansard, the main actor is also the musician on the soundtrack. He has an awesome voice.

Death Proof

I loved Death Proof. I love the characterisations and the stylised violence of this film, although parts I had to turn away from, I'm really quite chicken to the core when it comes to violence.

I am possibly too simplistic in my movie watching stance but I love the way, when I watch a Tarantino film, I know not to expect anything, yet find myself from habit having those expectations, I knew not to have splintered. I like his treatment of women. I wouldn't go so far as to say that is accurate, but it is fun to watch. I liked the references to previous films as discussed in the review below.

My favourite review: Film Intuition

Revver has Revamped

Revver has become Revver 2.0. The landing page has changed. They have brought back categories, which pleases me, because I liked having an easier way to find things of interest. There is the capacity to provide video responses, which will be interesting to watch.
The stats pages have changed a little.
It seems quicker loading to me and a lot more interesting. I like it.

You Tube Copyright Developments

In the news today is YouTube unveils copyright protection tools (The Age). I immediately wondered who would continue to go there if they couldn't find mainstream media. It would give video sites like Revver and Blip a real chance to compete.
However, YouTube has a number of record labels and other legitimate ways to include sought after video for the public. It will be interesting to see. I wonder if they will be as tight as Revver. I once submitted a holiday video to Revver that was rejected because a song was playing on the radio, that I thought was irrecognisable, and I didn't have the rights to it. I wasn't cranky about that though, if anything it just demonstrated a high level of integrity to me that I like.

Kate Bush's label, EMI UK, is publishing on You Tube so thanks to that here's a treat:

I love the latest "Arial" album and this is the single from it. Enjoy!

Tropfest Tuesday - Bad Yoghurt

"Bad Yoghurt" directed by Shaun Beagley is an experience. It's a 13+ experience by the way.



This is stylized yuck in my opinion, yet some of my students highly rate it. It's kind of shocking in a funny, revolting way. You have been warned. What do you think of it?

Tropfest Tuesday - An Imaginary Friend

The winner of the 2007 Tropfest, An Imaginary Friend by Steve Barker.




PS: Sorry about last week. School holiday funk happening.

Tropfest Tuesday - The Von

'The Von', directed by John Maverty.
This is one the kids appreciated. Not for the weak stomached though! A playground story about a boy who imagines himself a superhero, with disastrous consequences for a kid. This short stars Jacob Bicknell was the '2007 Young Talent of the Year'. 'The Von' is from the 2007 Tropfest