The PC has been out of pocket lately, working on lesson plans, taking a hubristic stab at a Dostoevsky-meets-McCarthy-meets-O’Connor novel, and just generally neglecting to review films. However, he has been watching movies and so would like offer a quick run-down of what he has seen (complete with ratings). He apologizes in advance for the lack of detail, but figures this is the best way to catch up:

1. Two Lovers (dir. James Gray, 2008): 4.5/5
2. We Own the Night (dir. James Gray, 2007): 3.5/5
3. The Yards (dir. James Gray, 2000): 4.5/5 (In general, Gray seems to borrow a lot from Scorsese, but that’s a good thing)
4. Henry Poole Is Here (dir. Mark Pellington, 2008): 3.5/5
5. Frozen River (dir. Courtney Hunt, 2008): 4.5/5 (Amazing performance here from Melissa Leo)
6. Eastern Promises (dir. David Cronenberg, 2007): 5/5 (Interesting, well-acted, and surprisingly underrated)
7. Adventureland (dir. Greg Mottola, 2009): 4/5
8. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (dir. Sidney Lumet, 2007): 4.5/5
9. In Bruges (dir. Martin McDonagh, 2008): 4/ 5
10. Mongol (dir. Sergei Bodrov, 2008): 4/ 5

Jeg er egentlig veldig opphengt i IMDB-prosjektet mitt, og hvis jeg skal se en film for tiden, så blir det ofte til at den blir valgt eller forkastet ut ifra om den er på top250. Men idag ble det til at jeg så en film som jeg har lånt av broren min, som heter Eastern Promises. Den syns jeg var skikkelig bra. Det er akkurat som om jeg er i en listetåke der jeg glemmer at det finnes supre perler utenfor mainstream amerikaniserte stemmelister.

Så jeg ville bare dele det. Eastern Promises bør dere få med dere. Den var til tider veldig vanskelig å se på, da volden var så ekplisitt og grusom at man noen ganger helst bare ville lukke øynene. Men den var også spennende, uventet, vakker og interessant.

Den handler om en jordmor som opplever at en ung,russisk pike dør mens hun føder sitt barn.  For å finne ut hvem denne jenta er, havner jordmorden etter hvert i en skummel, mørk verden der russisk mafia regjerer, og prositusjon, vold og mord er en del av hverdagen.

Superspennende film, der både Naiomi Watts og Viggo Mortensen gjør en superb jobb. Kanskje spesielt Viggo. Bare se:

Ikke en fyr du vil messe med, eller hva?

I was generally in a good mood yesterday. My friends were fun to be with as always, performance tests and presentation went well, I didn’t eat too much or little and took care of things that I should have, assignments, applications, studies, essays, orders. I felt good about the things I’ve wrote, said and bought. Phone calls with parents and friends were all very delightful.

I am generally in a bad mood today. My friends are obtuse as always, classes sucked, ate too much chocolate, my stomach isn’t feeling well and I am very tired right now. Even my roommate went home to take TOEFL tomorrow. Clothings I ordered arrived and they are fine, it’s just that I am not perfectly satisfied with my body now. I think I gained weight in the last ten days or so. So even the 139,000 won worth of clothes failed to make me happier.

It is around 8 right now. I have two choices.

I can take a short sleep, for about half an hour, and study from then. I think I can afford that but the danger with this is that I might not wake up precisely at the time that I wanted to.

Or I can fight off the dreariness and start studying now. The downside of this choice includes less efficiency, dizziness, possibility of additional sugar consumption and worsening of headache.

You know my choice.

11:54. Watched ‘Eastern Promises’. Viggo Mortensen is great. The movie was way too explicit for me but strangely enough, cleansed my languor. To me, it proved that description of extreme violence in movies can convey something human, which, also, is the reason I wasn’t so petrified after such  scenes in which Viggo Mortensen, bleeding naked, stabs  right into the eyeball of an assassin with the assassin’s Turkish knife.

Movies provide a nice escapade time to time. As for the work, I guess I’ll tire myself during the weekend.

It has been way too long since we saw a hot man bein’ hot of the day around here. Vincent Cassel, take it away!

Brilliant oddball Vincent Cassel is married to a personal heroine, Monica Bellucci — ten years in August. Impressive! He is a director, actor, writer and musician. Generally he plays maniacs and bad guys (I love crazy).

He has said of his being typecast in tough guy parts, “It’s all right. I like playing baddies.” The first role in which I ever saw him was as Gilles de Rais in Luc Besson’s 1999 film The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, which for my Catholic, action-movie-loving, Milla-Jovovich-adoring money is one of the best freakin’ movies evah.

Some fun Vincent and Monica facts from the imdb:

Some of Vincent’s english-language credits from which you might recognize him include Elizabeth, Ocean’s Twelve, Ocean’s Thirteen, Eastern Promises, and the forthcoming Darren Aronofsky picture Black Swan, which will also star Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Winona Ryder, and Barbara Hershey (freaking awesome).

A musician among his other many talents, Vincent performed the song “Step Da Step Krugom” in Eastern Promises. He also appeared as the voice of Monsieur Hood and sang the gay, snappy little Merry Men number in Shrek — you know, the scene in the wood where Princess Fiona kicks their asses all Matrix style.

Final shot featuring bonus heat from one Mister Viggo Mortensen (of course) from the set of Eastern Promises:

Before we start Part 4 of the NBA, a word from our sponsors:

Smurf the Yankees.

Ok, now that that’s out of the way, let’s continue with The Kids Don’t Get It NBA 09-10 Season Preview: an in-depth look at each NBA team this season, The Kids style: high on hilarity, low on substance. Sort of like Barack’s presidency so far.

Ok, whatevs, let’s do this!

Is there room for KOBE BEEF?

uno….

dos….

tres…..

….and here’s cuatro.

Northwest Division (Denver, Oklahoma City, Portland, Utah, Minnesota)

• Denver Nuggets: The Denver Nuggets are the All-Tattoo team of the NBA. I mean, there’s a lot of people in the league with tattoos–even Commissioner David Stern has a tramp-stamp that says “KOBE BEEF” with a
  

  Chris Anderson looks into his future.....

  down-arrow–but the Nuggets probably take the cake. There’s the two biggest offenders: JR Smith and Chris Anderson. JR Smith is a guy so covered in ink he’s black by default. Then there’s Chris “Birdman” Anderson, who looks like he spends his weekend chasing colored kids away from his trailer. Together these boys look like they should have been cast in Eastern Promises. Anyway, the Nuggets drafted Baltimore’s own Carmelo Anthony to be their franchise star, and for the last 6 years, Carmelo’s had to deal with not only his Eastern Promises teammates, but going from Charm City–home of Ray Lewis Shanking Club–to one of the worst Real World locations ever. And his wife is named “La-La”. Does that seem fair? I guess it must be fun to at least say “I’m in La-La…….land.”

• Oklahoma City Thunder: Annie get your gun–there’s NBA playas on the loose! The Oklahoma City Thunder were originally the Seattle Supersonics–through a series of mishandlings and poor planning–with a healthy dose of evilness–they were displaced and relocated faster than you can say “Katrina”. The Oklahoma City Thunder are led by Kevin Durant, who is about as muscular as Olive Oyl–but smooth as a baby’s behind. Because they’re a new team though, and extremely young, the Thunder have been pretty bad since moving to OKC. Last season the OKC Thunder only won 23 games out of a possible 82, giving them a win % of .280 and enough losses to win “Prized Pig” on NBC’s Biggest Loser. This year, they’re projected to win more games, but even if they don’t, they at least have a cute personality.
• Portland Trailblazers: are one of the youngest teams in the NBA. Or so it would seem. Upon closer look though, the ‘Blazers are getting older, and weirder. Sure, you have young’un Brandon Roy–he’s the team’s
  

  First freed Black man, Greg Oden.

  

  Shouldn't that say "Pryor"?

  leader and franchise player–and you have LaMarcus “I have to be in the NBA with this name” Aldridge at PF. But then the Blazers made two decidedly un-youthful moves over the last couple of seasons. First, they got Greg Oden who is supposedly a 21-yr-old 7-ft’er from Ohio State, yet strangely looks like a cross between a Tree Ent from the Lord of the Rings, and a black Benjamin Buttons. When man discovered fire, Oden was

  the one rubbing the sticks. Then, this off-season they signed former 76ers PG, Andre Miller, who I’m trying to collect DNA samples from to prove that someone’s actually cloned Richard Pryor and asked him to run point. All this and a town of self-righteous hippies who’d rather listen to NPR make this Portland team one to watch.

• Utah Jazz: Next to Milwaukee, Utah, specifically Salt Lake City, must be the
  

  PF Karl Malone.

  worst possible place to end up if you’re a young black NBA stud. Actually I  think it might be worse just because they’ve got Mormons there. And once Karl Malone retired, not only did the state’s black population decrease 100%, the time there scarred him so much he’s living in the woods now! Nowadays the Jazz have PG Deron Williams and PF Carlos Boozer, though fans like to interchangeably call them “Karl Malone”. And by “like to” I mean “they think he’s still

  

  PG Karl Malone.

  playing”. Because there’s so few blacks there. And because they’re a whole lot of white people.

Waiting for the train some guy who looked like he’d been chroming asked me for a light. His hands were stained with paint, but there was nothing around his mouth. I told him no, then watched him walk up the platform and sit by the vending machines. A few minutes passed. He was looking at me. Then he came back and squinted to sight me through a tiny aperture he was making with his fingertips, and went back up the platform.

Later at a cafe I picked an outdoor table off the footpath. Behind me there was a loud group of young guys with styled hair and fitted T-shirts, and at another table there was a blonde woman by herself. I asked her for the ashtray she wasn’t using then went into my bag for my cigarettes, but didn’t bring them out because a homeless man was coming and I wanted to wait until he was gone. But he stopped and said to me, “Why’d you cut your hair off?”

I shrugged.

“No one does anything for no reason – what’s the reason you’re going to die?” 

The guys behind me were listening.

“Why did you die and come back?”

I was silent.

“For money!” He barked, disgusted with me, and walked off.

The blonde woman’s hand was now curled around an unlit cigarette, and she was pretending to read a newspaper. The guys behind me started talking again. 

A girl stepped off the footpath and grabbed the table next to mine. She looked friendly enough to say hello to, but by then I was in the wrong mood. Instead I went to JB HI-FI, bought Eastern Promises and Observe and Report, came home, opened the blinds, nice day, and watched the movies. Eastern Promises was cool, and I liked Observe and Report. With the rest of the afternoon I made this video:

A. Stamboultgis

Poster Pontypool

Buenas, después de mis grandes dosis de películas en Sitges y sus consiguientes horas de sueño, vuelvo a las andadas.

La peli que hoy os traigo se llama Pontypool, del director Bruce Mcdonald (Roadkill, Highway 61, Dance me outside, Hard core logo, The Tracey fragments) nos viene esta historia de infecciones víricas un tanto raras, de la cuál ya tenemos programada una secuela para el 2010 llamada Pontypool changes, sinceramente, la esperaré con ansias

Grant Mazzy (Stephen McHattie)

Nos presentan al elenco principal en nuestro único escenario, la emisora de radio CLSY en el pueblo perdido de Pontypool. El locutor de radio Grant Mazzy interpretado por Stephen McHattie (A history of violence, The fountain, 300, Watchmen), este locutor, recién contratado, no tiene pelos en la lengua. La jefa Sydney Briar, interpretada por Lisa Houle y por último, la bella Laurel Ann, interpretada por Georgina Reilly.

Estamos viendo en vivo la emisión del programa de nuestro locutor Big Muzzy, ah no, Grant Mazzy (broma para niños torturados por sus padres con el inglés), nos conectan con Ken Loney, nuestro “hombre en el aire” para que nos diga como se ven las cosas desde el “helicóptero”, a parte de pequeñas claro. A media conexión nos clavan al asiento con la locución de unas escenas que esta presenciando Ken justo delante suyo de una muchedumbre de gente con malas intenciones acumulándose en las afueras del pueblo al rededor de la consulta del Doctor Méndez (Hrant Alianak).

Nos van dando información sobre un brote de violencia que se va contagiando entre la gente, con llamadas telefónicas de vecinos, conexiones con Ken, todo a cuentagotas, dentro de la emisora, encerrados y con la sensación de que en el exterior se está armando una revolución de gente que va matando y comiéndose a la peña y que además se va propagando la “infección”. Una atmósfera claustrofóbica muy bien conseguida.

El sistema de transmisión de la infección, que no voy a revelar, es de la manera más rebuscada, increíble, absurdas y genial al mismo tiempo. Un aplauso por mi parte aunque es una película que tienes que mirar en serio para intentar pillar la idea final y sin esperar ver grandes dosis de sangre aunque la situación lo permitiría, eso si, rompería la atmósfera conseguida.

Una paja mental en toda regla, muy interesante, con buenas ideas, toques de humor perfectamente encajados y en la dosis justa, una peli que recomiendo si queréis pasar un buen rato con una buena peli.

Laurel Ann (Georgina Reilly)

Apuntes de la película:

- Esta película fue estrenada el 6 de setiembre de 2008 en el festival internacional de Toronto.
- Los productores escogieron producir esta película en Febrero del 2008 y en 3 meses consiguieron el dinero para producirla yendo de puerta den puerta pidiendo pasta a los colegas.
- La película se basa en la novela “Pontypool changes everything” adaptada por su propio escritor Tony Burgess.
- La emisora donde transcurre todo es el sótano de una antigua Iglesia, dónde también se grabó el piloto de la serie Fringe. Se tardó 3 semanas en acondicionar el sótano.
- La película se grabó en 15 días y secuencialmente.
- La película se grabó en la nueva cámara HD “Red One”, que opta a ser la sucesora de los 35mm y que convierte a esta película en la primera película canadiense hecha en este formato.
- Los efectos visuales están hechos por “Mr. X special effects house”, culpables de Max Payne, Resident Evil, Eastern Promises, Dawn of the dead.

Naomi Watts

Jennifer Connelly

By Belinda Goldsmith – Reuters

Australian actress Naomi Watts, who starred in “The Ring,” “King Kong” and “Eastern Promises,” is the actress who provides the best return for a film studio, according to a list by Forbes.com.

With cash-strapped studios looking for return on their investments, Forbes.com compiled a list of the 10 actresses who provide the best bang for their buck.

They found actresses who commanded the highest prices, like Angelina Jolie who topped Forbes’ list of the best paid actresses after banking $27 million in a year, were outranked by those earning around $5 million and under for a film.

Watts, 41, topped the list after the analysis found she helped the boxoffice make an estimated $44 for every $1 she was paid for her last three major films.

Rachel McAdams

Jennifer Connelly, star of “”Blood Diamond” and “He’s Just Not That Into You,” came second with her films earning about $41 for each dollar she was paid and Rachel McAdams, of “The Notebook” and this year’s “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” came third with $30 for every $1 earned.

Fourth was Natalie Portman of the new “Star Wars” movies and “The Other Boleyn Girl” with her films making $28 for every $1 she was paid followed by Meryl Streep who made the top five due to the massive boxoffice success of last year’s “Mamma Mia,” earning $27 for every $1 paid.

Rounding out the 10 were Jennifer Aniston ($26 per $1) while films by Halle Berry, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway and Hilary Swank all made $23 for every dollar they earned.

Forbes.com said it compiled its list by looking at the 100 biggest stars in Hollywood. To qualify each actress had to have starred in at least three movies in the past five years that opened in more than 500 theatres.

They looked at the star’s estimated earnings, each movie’s estimated budget and boxoffice, DVD and television earnings to figure out an operating income for each movie.

Amazon Specials!

Weil es bei diesem Projekt ja um mich geht, stell ich euch heute einfach meine Top Ten Lieblingsfilme vor(ohne die typischen Klischeelieblingsfilme wie Pulp Fiction, Fight Club, Fear and Loathin in Las Vegas etc.).

Und schon gehts los:

Platz 10: Dogma(1999)

Wahnsinnig, provokant und extrem lustig.
Blasphemie hat nie mehr Spaß gemacht.

Platz 9: Eastern Promises(2007)

Genialer Einblick in die Aktivitäten der russischen Mafia in London.

Platz 8: The Big Lebowski(1998)

Großarige Komödie zwischen einem Alt-Hippie namens “Dude”, Nihilisten und Vietnamveteranen.

Platz 7: The Secrets of NIHM(1982)

Wunderschöner und zugleich sehr düsterer Animationsfilm, der die meisten Disney-Filme in punkto Atmosphäre um Längen schlägt.

Platz 6: Die fabelhafte Welt der Amélie(2001)

Eine phantasievolle und romantische Liebeskomödie, mit einem großartigen Soundtrack von Yann Tiersen.

Platz 5: Garden State(2004)

Das Regie- und Drehbuchdebut des Scrubs-Darstellers Zach Braff, eine skurrille Konfrontation eines lethargischen Schauspielers mit seiner Vergangenheit, mit großartigem Soundtrack.

Platz 4: Muttertag – Die härtere Komödie(1992)

Die beste und absurdeste österreichische Komödie aller Zeiten: I sogs glei, I wors ned!

Platz 3: High Fidelity(2000)

Eine musikalische Beziehungsstudie, nach der Romanvorlage von Nick Hornby, mit den genialen Performances von John Cusack und Jack Black.

Platz 2: O Brother, where art thou?(2000)

Eine Odysee durch Mississippi während der Weltwirtschaftskrise mit George Clooney als flüchtenden Sträfling Ulysses Everett McGill.

Und wie könnte es anders sein – Platz 1: The Blues Brothers

Der beste Musikfilm aller Zeiten, nicht nur wegen den Gastauftritten von Kalibern wie Aretha Franklin, James Brown, John Lee Hooker und Ray Charles, sondern vor allem wegen John Belushi und Dan Aykroyd und der besten Car Chase Scene aller Zeiten.

So meine persönlichen Highlights der Filmgeschichte, ich hoffe ich habe euch damit auf den einen oder anderen Film neugierig machen können.

Night on Earth es la cuarta peli de Jim Jarmusch que fue realizada en 1991. Anoche me la ví en DVD, después que me llegaran en versión Criterion Collection, esta y otra más.

De no ser por los costos de producción para montar las filmaciones en Los Angeles, Nueva York, París, Roma y Helsinki se podría decir que es una peli de corte serie B de bajo presupuesto. Es de saber que muchos de los actores que trabajan con Jarmusch no necesarimente cobran sus astronómicos sueldos cuando trabajan al lado de él y por eso podemos encontrar en esta peli a Gena Rowlands, Winona Ryder o el mismo Roberto Benigni. Aparte de ellos se puede reconocer a Giancarlo Esposito (Do The Right Thing), Armin Mueller-Stahl (Eastern Promises), Isaach De Bankolé (Casino Royale) y Béatrice Dalle (la bellísima Betty Blue) lo que la cataloga de una como una peli independiente (indie).

Jarmusch nos tiene acostumbrados a una sensibilidad filosófica por la humanidad y los interrogantes existencialistas que esta se hace. Esta peli no es la excepción, cinco taxistas exploran sus planes de vida, sus principios fundamentales, sus morbos, sus miedos, sus rabias, sus creencias y nos esplican que el mundo no es diferente para nadie, que tan sólo somos seres que aleatoriamente fuimos repartidos en un uso horario específico.

Muy parecido a Wenders, Jarmusch está cautivo por la escencia humana posmodernista y en ese juego involucró maravillosamente a Tom Waitts con sus letras y su música. Qué bien que suena ese circo y qué bien que la música aglutina todas las ciudades en sus historias.

DAVID CRONENBERG

Remakes are all the rage these days with all of the advances in visual effects these days so it’s not too much of a stretch to hear about a remake of a remake being remade by the director who did the remake of the original as well. Got all that? And one more for you to throw into the mix as well… Cronenbergs ‘VIDEODROME’ is also being remade – although not by him – as mentioned in a previous THRALL WORLD post. Read about that HERE.

David Cronenberg is again buzzing with “The Fly.”

The auteur is in talks to develop a reboot of the 1986 classic with Fox, the studio that released that film, writing and potentially directing the new pic.

The move marks an about-face for the Canadian director, who in the past has said he did not want to be involved on a remake of the film.

Read more HERE and watch the 1986 trailer for the Cronenberg directed ‘THE FLY’ below.

Movie Poster for the 1986 'THE FLY' Remake

DAVID CRONENBERG recently confirmed that he is “moving forward with an ‘EASTERN PROMISES’ sequel which starred VIGGO MORTENSEN. Read more on that HERE.

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Hospital’s wunderkind has done it again. No not High Contrast the other one, Logistics. His new album Crash, Bang, Wallop! has just surfaced and it’s another cracker. Following on from the spacey and slighly experimental Reality Checkpoint this LP see’s Logistics firmly back in rave territory. Tracks such as Eastern Promises and Platinum are rife with anthemic vocals and big room breakdowns. Thirteen tracks with your hands in the air would get a little tiresome and a number of other sounds can be found in the record. With the grit and stomp of Murderation to the minimal sounds of When It Rains, It Pours all bases are covered with effortless skill. A testament to the drum and bass long player format and one of the years best.

Logistics – Platinum

and for old times sake from his amazing Space Jam EP

Logistics – Together (VIP)

Website

Hello everyone Jourdan here posting some old blog post of my favorite films of 07 that I did on my Myspace. I am putting this up to give you an idea of what you can expect from me if you are not familiar already. You can find all my previous reviews their http://www.myspace.com/jourdanwitau .

Top Movies of 2007

I know it’s almost February but here it goes my top movies of 2007…That I was able to see.
1 No Country for Old Men-

This film has everything in it from a tight script, great direction, cinematography, and damn good performances from everyone (particular a Javier Bardem iconic bad guy with his own set of rules or guidelines to life). This is pretty much a modern western that is commenting about mortality. The Coen Bros are so dead on what they are doing with their film, which makes me eagerly anticipate what they have next. Whether you like this movie is if you understand what they are doing which basically goes with how this movie ends. The end is perfect to me, but I can understand that people won’t like it if they don’t understand the movie

2 310 to Yuma-

Yet another western that has made my top list that has a deeper meaning to it. This is pretty much how every remake should be done, make it better or make it just as good but making its own. The direction, Russell Crowe, Christian Bale(if you know me you know I have man love for Bale), supporting cast (especially Ben Foster as Crowe’s crazy, and score are all great. The score reminds of the old spaghetti westerns but still sounds modern. This is a movie of mans worth and family. Crowe and Bale both come from the same tree, but separated on some branch down the road. The action scenes are pretty good in this movie too.

3 The Mist-

First non-western on the list and the most downer of a movie of 2007. Frank Darabont (the Green Mile, The Shawshank Redemption which are both Stephen King story which this one is) is perfect in this film. I think if anyone else did this film it wouldn’t come close. Even though this movie is a horror movie about people trapped with monster waiting out side, but the inside look at what people do in an extraordinary situation is what makes the movie. Warning though, the special effects are really not that great besides some nice creature designs.

4 Sunshine-

This movie took me by surprise; by the fact I thought it was just another Sci Fi movie. One of the best ensemble cast of 2007. Danny Boyle (28 week later, Trainspotting, Millions) always comes with something different every time and is just a really good director. Score is great; it is very grand up scaling.

5 The Bourne Ultimatum-

It’s the same formula as the previous movies they just up it up a bit. I think Matt Damon is a bonafide action star and I also think he would make a really good Captain America when ever Marvel does that movie. The fight scene is the best of the series and one of the best I have seen in 2007.

6 Stardust-

I pretty sure this movie will have a cult following to it and I think I might be in that cult. I just love this movie I think it is a great companion film to the Princess Bride.

7 Juno-

This film might be this high on my list because I watched it recently who knows. Besides that this is a pretty damn good movie with great dialog. Looking forward to Diablo Cody’s next script/movie.

8 Zodiac-

Anything that David Fincher has lined up I will want to watch. This film being my third favorite film of his right behind Se7en and Fight Club. I think this movie is much better when I saw it again because it is a pretty long movie. It is much better if you are in the mood to watch this movie. One last thing is that this movie is based in the bay area and if you love or life in the bay you should watch this.

9 Knocked Up-

Judd Apatow is straight up deep fried comedy Twinkie gold bars. Seth Rogen is pretty much the same boat too.

10 Superbad-

Gotta say the same here for this movie. The only reason that this movie is 9 not 8 is that I think Knocked Up was a better made as a whole film. I must add that Jonah Hill and Michael Cera are pretty damn funny.

11Into the Wild

Sean Penn’s new film I must say one of his best directorial efforts. The cinematography is beautiful. The score by Eddie Veder of Pearl Jam is really good and should win for movie song.

12 Hot Fuzz-

Funniest movie of the year that had nothing to do with Judd Apatow or any of his collaborators. Edger Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost I will watch anything they make by them selves and especially together. Movie does start slow but when it starts going its one after the other.

13 Grindhouse-

Now I know this movie is not for everyone, but I sure movie studios tried harder to give us our moneys worth. This movie fits into my type of humor so that is why I like it so much. Plus it had pretty funny faux trailers with it.

14 300-

You are just watching this movie for the imagery that’s all. Whether you’re watching the buff ass dudes or the cinematography. It is the only comic book film that made my list which makes me sad.

15 Eastern Promises-

This makes the list just because of the Viggo’s nude fight scene alone. Seriously the movies is good and just all around well made.

16 I Am Legend-

This film just flat out surprised me, granted I wasn’t expecting much from it. One of the first Will Smith movie in which I didn’t feel it was the Fresh Prince. Out of all the movies on my list this is the most flawed but you know what I still really liked this movie.

So that’s my best of 2007 list, I know it’s more the 10. It was a really good year for film that’s why its 16 not 10. There may have been 17 or 18 if I was able to watch There Will Be Blood, Michael Clayton, and Atonement. There is a bunch of indie and international movie that came out in 2007 that I couldn’t watch for the fact that I didn’t have access to those films. Black Snake Moan and Pan’s Labyrinth would have made this list but technically they came out in 2006.

Hope youre all well and such, just a short post .
Lots of nostalgic posts recently so i will refrain !
Spent the last weekend painting like heck to get my major work done on time while watching crappy saturday daytime tv . Oh and i watched police academy 2 hahahaha the guy who makes the sounds is cool I kind of miss watching old movies with their not so great special effects and wack humour.

I also miss my old pez dispenser, a mad winnie the pooh one that my mother threw out , so now i have a capitan jack sparrow one lols and he looks weird .

I also recently watched Eastern Promises, one of the most kickass movies evur !
Viggo Mortensen is mad.

Today I also got my Ls finally after 1 yr 3 months HAHA
Full marks in 10 minutes baby

My photo looks like a mugshot .

That is all ! (:

PS, anyone else noticed how fast everyone is growing up ?

Bad lighting so the first one looks really yellow,
but thought i`d share a couple with you guys (:

The fruits of my labour .

Check out this cool photoshoot Chace Crawford did for Interview Magazine. He’s posing as the Russian criminal, Nikolai, from the 2007 crime drama Eastern Promises, played in the movie by Viggo Mortensen.

Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” is a powerful, evocative story about a boy and his father in a post-apocalyptic world struggling to survive. It’s one of the most unique and powerful books I have ever read. When I found out that it was being made into a movie, I was worried. The book has very little action (but a crap-load of suspense) and is more about the father’s love for the boy than anything else. Little action + deep, affecting emotions + a post-apocalyptic setting = Hollywood usually crapping out an action-packed doomsday turd. Having seen the trailer, it doesn’t look like Hollywood has changed its ways. Or has it? The trailer makes it look like a cross between “The Day After Tomorrow” and “Mad Max.” But I’m not worried.

I came across an article in Esquire about the movie (read it here) and was elated to read that it has maintained the mood, tone, and the heartwrenching undercurrent that flows through the McCarthy novel. Throughout the book we know that the father has a gun with only 2 bullets in it. If anything happens to the father and his son, well, you know what will happen next. That knowledge haunts you through every chapter of the book. We know the father is able to turn the gun on himself. After all, if it weren’t for his son, he already would have. But would he be able to take his son’s life? Does he love him too much to do that to him? Or does he love him enough to do that to him? Like I said, heartwrenching.

The book doesn’t touch much on the mother/wife, but writer Joe Penhall and director John Hillcoat seem to have taken the liberty of making her a more important character and handed the role to Charlize Theron. Viggo Mortensen stars as the father and Robert Duvall and Guy Pearce have roles in the film, as well. Viggo Mortenson is a fantastic actor that I don’t think gets enough attention. David Cronenberg’s “Eastern Promises” was one of my favorite films of 2007 and it was largely because of Mortensen. This will be Hillcoat’s first major film (I’m assuming that because I haven’t seen any of his other films) so it will be interesting to see how he can handle the delicate material. I loved the book and hate to compare film adaptations to their novel counterparts, but with a book like this, it will be hard for me. But if the article in Esquire is correct, I won’t be disappointed. Look for this to hit theaters on October 16th.

Check out the trailer below. Edit: Well, they took down the trailer that I had linked to, so you’ll have to click on the video and it will then make you click on a link to view the official trailer. Why don’t these companies allow embedding? People will still see the trailer. Yeesh.

“Then they set out along the blacktop in the gunmetal light, shuffling through the ash, each the other’s world entire.” – Cormac McCarthy (from “The Road”)

David Cronenberg is still making great movies to this day. Many people know him mainly for A History of Violence, Eastern Promises or even his classic The Fly, which is just simply one of the best horror movies ever made. But let’s not forget about one of his most frightening films from the late 70’s. The Brood. There is always something completely eerie and off about his movies and this one thrives on both. In fact throughout nearly the whole movie you you’ll be trying to peice things together that clearly seem to make no sense and don’t fit.

The plot is a strange one indeed. An bizarre psychotherapist creates a technique called “psychoplasmics.” His patients suffer through radical sessions with him allowing their negative emotions to cause physical changes to their bodies. The first patient shown was a man abused by his father and  develops welts over his body as an expression of his pain. Other patients develop strange tumors in reactions to the psychoplasmics. 

The therapist is also treating a woman, Nola who’s dealing with negative emotions from her childhood involing her mother and her separation with her husband Frank who watches over their 9 year old daughter Candice. Strange killings start happening by what appear to be dwarf-like creatures and the rest of the movie is simply awesome. The final act of the movie is Cronenberg at his best and when everything syncs together you’ll best truely awe-struck and completely grossed out.  

If you’re looking for a good horror flick to rewatch check this out. It’s just as good a second or third time. What I was suprised most about is how many of my friends had never seen this movie. This was Cronenbergs breakthrough movie in 1979 that set the stage for his filmaking to be truely appreciated by the masses.It gatehred alot of controversy that year for it’s fianl sequence. This film made Bravo’s “100 scariest movie moments” list at #78 and made the list on the “Chicago Film Critics Association’s “100 Scariest Movies of All-Time”. With them both I will have to agree……

Eastern Promises: the fact that an ‘everywoman’ nurse and her plain old family are part of the main cast I thought this film was going to be a at least a bit realistic… but when things like the sci-fi violence hits the screen it’s comically out-of-place. At least there’s a shower scene you’ll never forget. Also, why cast French, American, German and British actors to play Eastern Europeans? Vincent Cassel… the most quintessential french bit-part actor… a Russian?!?! Overall, I was pretty disappointed that the guy who brought us sci-fi classics like Videodrome, the Scanners, Dead Zone has ended up going down the road of mundane Steven King type ‘thrillers’. Just couldn’t connect with any of the ridiculous characters or take it seriously.

Score: 3/10

I can’t get this movie out of my head.

Viggo Mortenson is an amazing actor.

Viggo starring plus David Cronenberg directing?  Looks like our next movie night will be “A History of Violence.”

Director: David Cronenberg

Starring: Viggo Mortenson, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel, Russians

Seriously, I saw A History of Violence and thought Viggo was a total fuckin’ champ and this movie only strengthens my belief. He totally dominates this film from beginning to end. He basically plays a low level Russian mob guy trying to work his way up from being a lowly driver. He is under the wing of Vincent Cassel who plays the son of a Russian mob bigwig. Cassel does a sweet job in this film of being the spoiled fuck-up son of a prominent mob boss.

But back to Viggo… in this film, Viggo has some spine-chillingly badass moments. I’ll try to divulge as much as I can without giving away the multiple plot twists as there are a few. So, in one scene, Viggo has to take care of a body by removing fingertips and teeth. He does this with a simple pair of pliers and at one point his facial expression just exudes a calm sense of “I don’t give a fuck about anything and I’ll do what I have to do, anytime, anywhere.” He goes about his business in such a methodical way that you’re literally scared of him after 15 minutes on the screen.

Next, and this is probably my favorite little scene from the film, is a quick shot of Viggo threatening another character. After the other character verbally berates him and ultimately spits in his face, Viggo calmly removes a rag from his pocket, wipes himself off and then looks at the man with a dead stare. He then takes two fingers, puts them up under his own chin and then points to the other man. It’s easily the best non-verbal threat I’ve ever seen. I think I’m going to start doing this more often. Just in everyday situations: when I get bumped into at a bar, when I catch someone’s eye at the gym, when my mom tells me to get a fuckin’ job. You know, just casually. If it were verbally translated it would probably be something along the lines of “I have absolutely no qualms about ending your life, just so you know.”

This film also provides one of the finest fight scenes I’ve seen in a long time. Honestly, the Wachowski brothers should watch this and take notes because yes, a fight scene can be mindblowing without the use of wires and cables. Now, I won’t say under what circumstances the fight takes place as that would sort of be a bit of a spoiler, but let’s just say that Viggo, again, proves his testicular fortitude (an apt term for this fight) and then some. He literally dismantles people. This really is the fight scene of all fight scenes. I know I’m probably overhyping it but I truly found it to be one of the best I’ve seen in quite some time. My one detraction, and I’m totally playing devil’s advocate here, is towards the end when Viggo is near one of his opponents who has been down for quite some time. Viggo gets near his hand and the guy grabs Viggo’s neck with his eyes still closed and his body still lifeless ala the Undertaker circa 1995. But that little oddity aside, it’s still tops.

The film itself is excellent as well. The plot is clever with a few twists here and there that are never too far fetched. The background story is original and entertaining. The performances from Watts and others are top notch as well. Especially the guy who plays the character of Semyon, the mob boss, I found him to be very convincing. There is one line from Watts that does elicit a bit of laughter. She is addressing her uncle and says “You were never in the fucking KGB!” Her pronunciation of “fucking” for whatever reason is pretty comical. She says it like a ten year old who got permission from her parents to say it just this once! Whatever, its good for a chuckle.

Personally, I’ve seen this film a few times now and I’ve liked it more and more every time. It’s one of the few films that has come out recently that I can say that about. I ranked this film number 3 in my top ten of 2007 and I give it 8 Viggo Mortenson death threats out of 10.