The Loved Ones
Posted in Trailers on August 30th, 2010 by Peter Wells – View CommentsI really can’t wait to see The Loved Ones again. In the meantime, here’s the trailer.
Film / Tv
Election Night Drinking Game
Posted in tv on August 20th, 2010 by Peter Wells – View Comments
Here’s a nice simple drinking game to make the election coverage tomorrow night a little more enjoyable. It’s all based on the amount of times Eden Monaro is mentioned by the TV pundits.
Background
Eden Monaro is a big arse seat in southern NSW that stretches from the Southern Coast to The ACT. Because of this, it covers almost every demographic and swing voter in the land, from surfers to miners to farmers to loggers to hippies to working class Queenbeyan residents and middle class ACT beauracrats. Since 1972 the good people of Eden Monaro have always voted in the overall winner of the federal ballot, making it darling of federal election TV coverage.
Beginners
Or those wishing to remember tomorrow night, should drink whenever these facts are brought up, Eden Monaro is mentioned as the ‘bellwether’ seat, or pundits laugh and say things like “As Eden Monaro votes, so does Australia”. More recently the phrase “Australia’s Florida” can be added to the drinking list.
Advanced
Or heavy drinkers should simply drink whenever Eden Monaro is mentioned. Remember; it’s a big arse seat, it takes a long time for all booths to send in their results, you will drink all night and often.
Good luck tomorrow and may the best woman win.
Sucker Punch Trailer
Posted in Film / Tv on July 28th, 2010 by Peter Wells – View CommentsI have no idea what this movie is, but it works for me on many levels.
Inception Aftermath: Theories, Thoughts, Oscar Buzz & More « FirstShowing.net
Posted in Film / Tv on July 27th, 2010 by Peter Wells – View CommentsA nice round up of theories, including this handy flow chart!
Inception Aftermath: Theories, Thoughts, Oscar Buzz & More « FirstShowing.net.
Inception Review (Spoiler Free)
Posted in Film / Tv on July 21st, 2010 by Peter Wells – View CommentsThe following review is designed to be as vague and spoiler-free as possible.
From Christopher Nolan, the “do no wrong” director of The Dark Knight and darling of internet film fan sites comes Inception, Hollywood’s last great hope for the summer blockbuster season. Nolan himself is probably the biggest name of the project, his star outshining leading man Leonardo DiCaprio. The rest of the cast is made of indie stars Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon Levitt and Cillian Murphy, with Michael Caine and Pete Postlethwaite thrown in for good measure. The message is clear from the casting alone, this is not your Knight and Day blockbuster fare.
Inception follows DiCaprio’s Cobb, internationally renown thief, who invades the dreams of his victims in order to steal secrets from them. He’s hired by a shady mulitinational billionaire boss for ‘one last job’, to enter the dream of another billionaire and plant an idea in his head. Planting an idea, or Inception, is the ‘cross the streams’ of dream invasion apparently, but Cobb takes the job anyway, as it may just allow him to clear his name and return home. These little cliches are perhaps used to ground an otherwise very confusing film.
To further complicate things, Cobb has to deal with his dead wife constantly invading the dreams, or is it memories, he’s creating. Or something.
To be honest, the plot isn’t all that important. This is a classic heist movie, one part set up, one part execution of the heist. The first half of the film is devoted to training Ellen Page’s Ariadne, the young architect brought on by Cobb to build the dreamscape of the heist. Inception take almost an hour and a half training Ariadne, setting up the final caper and explaining the rules of the dreamscape it will take place in. It should be boring, constant exposition and explanation is the cardinal sin of movie making, but it all moves along at such a cracking pace and with such visual flair you really don’t have time to notice.
The disappointment is the final dreamscapes are not nearly as inventive as these training dreams. After watching whole cities crumble into the sea and streets of Paris fold over onto themselves, the heist itself, for all its space time trickery, is really just a series of action sequences. The ripple effect that links the various layers of dreams together is impressive, but at least for me there was no real sense of tension. You kind of get the feeling that the heist had been written and rewritten by Nolan so many times that all the pieces would have to eventually fall into place. He wouldn’t allow anything else.
It’s no surprise from the trailer that the further DiCaprio, Page and Co enter this world the more we’re left wondering where reality ends and dreams begin. Is it all just a dream in the end? Does any of it make sense? To be honest i have no idea. I’d say that will only become clear after a third or fourth screening. I can say i was riveted from the first to the final frame.
With The Dark Knight, Nolan brought a level of psychological terror and philosophical pondering to the superhero genre, a genre not exactly known for such adult themes. Here he brings the same level of sophistication to alternate reality Science fiction films like Total Recall and the to the ‘bullet time’ conventions of The Matrix. That he manages to pull it off is remarkable.
Its not the achievement of The Dark Knight, its not even as good as that other summer blockbuster Toy Story 3, but like Avatar it is a wholly original work by a master film maker, and as such should be seen in a cinema. Nolan’s vision, flawed as it may be here, deserves the biggest screen possible, and the box office needs to reward Hollywood for allowing Nolan the artistic freedom to dream.
Griff Rhys Jones ‘Great Cities’ Lands in Sydney
Posted in television on July 14th, 2010 by Peter Wells – View Comments
And is now available on iView. Charming viewing..
Movie Extra Webfest Competition
Posted in Film Making on July 14th, 2010 by Peter Wells – View CommentsGot a tonne of Facebook friends and a short film idea?
MOVIE EXTRA is set to launch an exciting new competition for passionate and aspiring filmmakers on 30th July, 2010 – MOVIE EXTRA WEBFEST.
MOVIE EXTRA WEBFEST is an opportunity for filmmakers to win a $50,000
production budget to produce a seven part web series for MOVIE EXTRA.
The winning series will premiere online at www.mnc.tv and broadcast on
MOVIE EXTRA itself in 2011.One of the first competitions of its kind to be hosted entirely within
Facebook, MOVIE EXTRA WEBFEST leverages the power of social media by
creating an interactive forum where entrants are encouraged to get their
social networks working for them and entry is simple. Filmmakers pitch
their original web series via a treatment and a 60sec trailer uploaded
to the MOVIE EXTRA WEBFEST competition site and the amount of friends
who ‘like’ and comment on their work, will play a role in the judging
process. Entrants are encouraged to engage with as many forms of social
media in as many different ways to promote their entry online and
increase their chances of winning.“Movie Network Channels is committed to fostering new storytelling
talent, wherever it may reside, and we believe this competition will
provide the catalyst for a new breed of emerging filmmakers to break
into the exciting transmedia landscape.” says Emma Moroney, Supervising
Producer at MOVIE NETWORK CHANNELS.Official competition registration opens TODAY at
www.facebook.com/movieextrawebfest
and entries can be submitted from 30th July 2010.
Madman Reel Anime 2010 Festival
Posted in Film Festivals on July 14th, 2010 by Peter Wells – View CommentsMadman Reel Anime 2010 Festival Details Released:
This September, Madman invites you to experience the visual splendour, unadulterated joy and eye-popping thrills of anime on the big screen for REEL ANIME 2010.Featuring a hand-picked selection of animated feature films from Japan, REEL ANIME 2010 is a wholly different kind of event, with each film showcasing the best that the new wave of anime has to offer.SUMMER WARSWhen timid math genius, Kenji is asked by his crush, Natsuki to join her at the family’s Nagano home for a summer job, he agrees without hesitation. Upon arrival, he discovers Natsuki has only invited him to keep her grandmother happy. As Kenji attempts to keep up the ruse, he receives a strange email containing a math problem which, naturally, he can’t resist solving. Unbeknownst to Kenji, his attempts to solve the equation will unlock a dangerous gateway to the parallel virtual world of ‘OZ’ and throw him into a battle for the fate of the world.Nominated for ‘Best Animated Feature’ at the 2009 Asia-Pacific Screen Awards and voted number two Most Popular Fiction Feature at Satellite Venues in the Showtime Movie Channels Audience Awards, 2010 Sydney Film Festival – this quirky, beautifully animated tale from the creators of THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME, the breakaway hit of Reel Anime 2008, delivers a lavish and unforgettable experience that rivals the best that Studio Ghibli has to offer.EVANGELION 2.0: YOU CAN [NOT] ADVANCEThe epic rebuild of the NEON GENESIS EVANGELION saga continues in this second feature film, taking us in a frightening, thrilling and cinematically stunning new direction and featuring all-new characters, including Maki, an Eva pilot, plus new Evangelion units. The story of Shinji, Asuka and Rei – the three chosen children who fight to save Tokyo-3 from monstrous creatures known as Angels – is given startling new dimensions that are both light, and dramatically dark. Piloting the mighty Eva will demand more of Shinji and those around him than any of them are prepared for.Also screening at REEL ANIME 2010: EVANGELION 1.0: YOU ARE [NOT] ALONE – see where the bold new direction of the EVANGELION rebuild begins!REDLINEA world exclusive to REEL ANIME 2010, screening before its theatrical debut in Japan, REDLINE is about the biggest and most deadly racing tournament in the universe. Only held once every five years, everyone wants to stake their claim to fame, including JP, a reckless dare-devil driver oblivious to speed limits with his ultra-customised car – all the while, organised crime and militaristic governments want to leverage the race to their own ends. Amongst the other elite rival drivers in the tournament, JP falls for the alluring Sonosee – but will she prove his undoing, or can a high speed romance survive a mass destruction race?A white knuckle ride to smash the senses, REDLINE is “the most insanely exciting, visually exhilarating anime film you’ve seen in decades. Incredible fun.” (Anime News Network). It leaves Hollywood efforts such as SPEED RACER choking on its exhaust, and in a post-modern style, recalls the heyday of edgy, cult anime features of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.KING OF THORN‘Medusa’, a deadly virus, becomes a worldwide epidemic. In order to escape from almost certain death, a handful of people are chosen to be put into a cold sleep, laying in a capsule housed in an ancient castle, hoping for a future cure. Among them is teenager Kasumi who eventually awakens, along with others, only to be attacked by horrifying creatures, and like the tale of Sleeping Beauty, to a castle covered in thorns.KING OF THORN is an action horror-thriller that, true to form, will keep you gripped and guessing on who will make it out alive!
The REEL ANIME 2010 program begins September 2nd and is in cinemas nationally.
2010 Primetime Emmys Nomination Announcements Video | Emmys.com
Posted in Film / Tv on July 9th, 2010 by Peter Wells – View CommentsThe dreamy Joel McHale co-hosts, but Community doesn’t get a nomination…
2010 Primetime Emmys Nomination Announcements Video | Emmys.com
Hating the Player, Losing the Game: The Armond White Meta-Review | The House Next Door
Posted in Film / Tv on July 9th, 2010 by Peter Wells – View CommentsA great article about Armond White, the critic who hates what you love and loves what you hate.
Hating the Player, Losing the Game: The Armond White Meta-Review | The House Next Door.
