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Viewing entries tagged with 'movies'

Be Careful What You Wish For

Coraline

I'm usually not the biggest fan of Flash sites but this one blew me away: Coraline

Also, the film is absolutely brilliant and it really annoys me that I missed the 3D screening in cinemas. I hope that one day I can make up for this. Perfect stop-motion animation and a beautiful dark story.

Here is the trailer.

Incredibly Strange: Movie Marathon 09

It seems I survived the 24 hour Incredibly Strange Movie Marathon over the weekend. Here is the lineup:

The Secret Four/Kansas City Confidential (1952)


(opening sequence)

Zombieland (2009)

Road House (1989)

Forbidden World (1982)

Vice Squad (1982)

Paranormal Activity (2007)

Maidens of Fetish Street (1969) part of The Abnormal Female

Maidens of Fetish Street (part of The Abnormal Female)
(Couldn't find a trailer but here's a photostream on Flickr)

Mill of the Stone Women (1960)

Night Train to Terror (1985)

Night Train to Terror
(Watch the trailer here.)

The Visitor/Stridulum (1979)

The Informant! (2009)

Creature From Black Lake (1976)

Creature From Black Lake
(Couldn't find anything on this film.)

Howling II: ... Your Sister Is a Werewolf / Stirba: Werewolf Bitch (1985)

Commando (1985)

That's all folks.
Including some very short breaks it lasted about 25 hours nonstop.

Here are the instructions for this year's movie marathon:

And if you still don't have enough here are some trailers for the Movie Marathon itself. Enjoy!

A million thanks to Ant Simpson and everyone involved for a fantastic weekend!

The Rabbit

The Rabbit by Rosalie Osman

Sweet. The animation The Rabbit by Australian animator Rosalie Osman is now available online. I love it. And a very nice style, too. Thank you for letting me know about the update!

Rosalie Osman

I came across this animation showreel by Rosalie Osman. I love the style and the stories look very interesting, but there's only one film out there to watch completely: The Kitchen Drawer

I would be quite keen to see her other works:  Bibliomania and The Rabbit.

Rise and Fall

This is a 30 minute version of the movie I.O.U.S.A, a film about the rapidly growing national debt of the United States, the long-term ignorance of the problem and it's occurring and looming consequences.

Quite interesting in this regard is Arnold J. Toynbee's A Study of History about the rise and fall of human civilisations. According to a Wikipedia article Toynbee "argues that the breakdown of civilizations is not caused by loss of control over the environment, over the human environment, or attacks from outside. Rather, it comes from the deterioration of the 'Creative Minority,' which eventually ceases to be creative and degenerates into merely a 'Dominant Minority' (who forces the majority to obey without meriting obedience). He argues that creative minorities deteriorate due to a worship of their 'former self,' by which they become prideful, and fail to adequately address the next challenge they face."

Sounds familiar? You make up your own mind.

Read the full post

Atama Yama

I just rediscovered a fantastic animation I have seen a couple of years ago at the Melbourne International Film Festival: Atama Yama (Mount Head)

I started to work on a new animation which is in very early development (the first story draft was three days ago). Looking at Atama Yama today I wonder if it may have had some influence on my new idea.

Enjoy the show.

Persepolis

Looks like an awesome film: Persepolis.

Here is the trailer (there is an English version, too).

Today at my local bookshop (small yet the best bookshop around) I also flicked through the original autobiographical graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi about her memories of growing up in the Iranian Revolution and later moving to the West. I am sure I will buy the book (but probably after salary day).

Happiness Only Real When Shared

Chris McCandless

A really nice and somewhat different film I have seen recently was Into the Wild. It is very slow pace, not too much happening. In other words: Die Hard enthusiasts stay away!

The film is based on a real story: Chris McCandless, who after graduation at the age of 22 leaves family and career behind and in pursuit of his happiness travels the United States under the name Alexander Supertramp. He donates $24,000 that were given to him by his parents to charity, burns the last bank notes he has, and leaves his car behind. He meets a number of interesting people on the road. He is not a loner, and as portrayed in the film seems like quite a social person; not anti society but simply looking for freedom, independence and truth. At the same time he seeks solitude far away from society. His dream to spend some time in the tranquility and lonelyness of Alaska grows bigger and bigger.

His body was found in an abandoned bus in Alaska in 1992, at age 24. A note that he wrote into a copy of Doctor Zhivago short before his death says: "Happiness only real when shared." This realisation sums up the film in a beautiful way.

This movie, directed by Sean Penn, is brilliant to watch, slow moving, poetic, yet not overly emotional. The story kind of flows along, revealing more and more of McCandless life and the significance of his experiences and realisations. To watch the film you probably need to be in the right mood though. Recommended.

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