I have decided to make a post asking you what your all-time favourite movie is or what your all-time favourite movies are – if you have more than one. Throughout my life, I’ve been asking various people what they’re they’re favourite movie is and I am wondering what yours is. Please leave a comment telling me what your all-time favourite movie is but if you have more than one, tell me what they are.
If you’re wondering mine are, they are on the about page of this blog.
Sorry about yesterday’s missing update. I really needed to finish off some work.
Whenever you watch a movie on a DVD, do you ever listen to the audio commentary? I don’t because I prefer watching a movie where I am always able to listen to the movie’s original audio. Plus, director David Lynch never does audio commentaries for his movies because he reckons that films speak for themselves, which is something I can agree with, although it is fun to listen to peoples thoughts on the film and also hear a bit of trivia as well.
Although I will admit, I have listened to audio commentary throughout a whole film, which was the kids commentary to the movie of School of Rock. It was great commentary.
But I’m not one who is particularly fond of audio commentary. I prefer watching a movie how it was originally meant to be shown but if I were a film director, I’d be more than willing to do audio commentary because it sounds like fun.
Do you listen to a film’s audio commentary?
Product placement is a certain form of advertising where a real-life commercial product is placed by marketers in a certain media (e.g. TV shows, music videos, videogames or in this case, film). Product placement is always used in the media for profit exchange. However, if it is not used for profit exchange, it is called ‘product plug’.
Many people criticise product placement as a poor excuse for advertising - and they are right but I personally don’t mind product placement, from the blatantly obvious to the not so much. Although I must admit, the blatantly obvious use of product placement can make me cringe at times.
If you want some examples of product placement, check out the clips below.
Casino Royale
I, Robot
Spider-Man
How do you feel about product placement?
If you remember, I made a blog post on how psyched I am about seeing The Dark Knight. Well, I am still psyched but there is also another sequel I cannot wait to see called Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls.
Although I am not what you would call a ‘die-hard fan’ of the Indiana Jones saga (even though I do think that the Indiana Jones movies are spectacular), I saw the trailer to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls and it blew me away. I am so excited about seeing it.
Are you?
Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is an agressive and troubled teenager who keeps refusing to take his medication. He lives in a suburban town with his caring family: his father, Eddie (Holmes Osborne), his mother, Rose (Mary McDonnell), his older sister, Elizabeth (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and his younger sister, Samantha (Daveigh Chase).
But one night will change Donnie’s life forever after he cheats death by sleepwalking out of his room before a jet-engine crashes into it. After he sleepwalks out of his room, he sees a giant bunny rabbit that tells him the world will end in 28 days. During these 28 days, Donnie becomes fond of his classmate, Gretchen (Jena Malone) but Donnie also becomes more troubled after each day passes by.
Although Donnie Darko wasn’t succesful in the cinema, it at least became a success when it was released onto VHS and DVD. In other words, it is a cult film – and it’s an amazing one.
Donnie Darko is part of the sci-fi genre, since part of the film’s main focus is on time travel. This aspect of the film plays a huge part in the movie’s very thought provoking ending, which I can’t give away.
The characters are also quite possibly the most interesting aspect of this movie. A lot of them don’t appear to be all that normal, including some of the characters who are kind on the outside but on the inside they are not all that innocent. It is also interesting to see Donnie’s psychological journey as we see his mental state worsen. His hallucinations are also quite visually amazing.
Jake Gyllenhaal’s portrayal of the disturbed Donnie is great. It is so easy for the viewer to understand the disturbed person that he is, even through his subtle facial expressions. Such as his haunting smile that symbolises all of his happiness and joy.
Donnie Darko’s soundtrack is brilliant, containing songs like Head over Heals by Tears for Fears, Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division and most notably, Mad World by written by Roland Orzabal and performed by Gary Jules and Michael Andrews.
To put it simply, Donnie Darko is great cinema. It may not be everyone but it is strongly recommended that you should seek it out.
5 arguments over the dinner table out of 5
I’ve got a hospitality test tomorrow, so I am unfortunatly unable to do a blog post tonight but tomorrow I shall.
-Max Gettler
Today I turned 17 and tonight I celebrated my 17th anniversary of being alive. However, I’ll be celebrating some more tomorrow and next Saturday because that’s when I’ll be having my party.
So anyway, I was looking up on Wikipedia on who I share a birthday with and one out of the many names that came up was Eli Roth. That’s right, I share a birthday with director Eli Roth.
So what do I think of him? Well I’ve only seen one of his movies and that was Hostel, which was absolute crap. But as a director, I think Eli Roth is alright. I wouldn’t say he’s crap because his fake-trailer titleed Thanksgiving, as seen in the fantastic Grindhouse, was absolutely hilarious. But before I’m told that I haven’t seen enough of his material to judge him, I think I will judge him because I think he does have at least some talent after I saw the Thanksgiving fake-trailer.
Another reason as to why I think he’s alright as a director is because he is making a film that I wouldn’t mind seeing, called Trailer Trash, a movie that is nothing but 90 minutes of fake trailers. Trailer Trash is a spin-off of Grindhouse.
Overall, I think Eli Roth is alright. His previous films may have been crap (his previous films = Hostel, although I am very well aware of the fact that he made a few others, including Cabin Fever) but after I saw Thanksgiving, I reckon he does have some talent. So I think he will become much better as a director after each film he makes.
What do you think of Eli Roth? Also, which celebrity/celebrities do you share a birthday with?
I have a project in multimedia where I need to make my own website. My website is going to be a movie reviewing website. However, I’m currently having trouble as to what I should name it. I was thinking that maybe I won’t name it The Reel World because that’s what I named this blog and the name isn’t very original, either. So I really need your help as to what I should name the website.
Do you have any suggestions?
The Angry Video Game Nerd (AKA James Rolfe) has presented us with a clip of the so-called Top 10 Jackie Chan Stunts. Now seeing that I’m not much of a fan of Jackie Chan, I found this clip to be absolutely insane. Check it out!
Buster Keaton was a very good stuntman but Jackie Chan is without a doubt the greatest.
(Dedicated to Reuben, Nicolai and Nick - I’m really sorry for letting you guy’s down today.)
Remember the brilliant No Country for Old Men? Remember Javier Bardem’s performance as the creepy-ass Anton Chigurh? Javier Bardem was great, wasn’t he?
Well anyway, I had a tiny conversation with my mum last night about the movie No Country for Old Men and she told me that she reckon’s Anton Chigurh has Asperger’s Syndrome. My mum has made a very interesting observation.
Think about it: he has got no sense of humour, he is always too literal and always takes things too seriously. Another key element that is linked to my mum’s observation is that he is emotionless.
I reckon my mum is right with her observation. Even though it might not have been the Coen brothers’ intention or even Cormac McCarthy’s, who is the author of the novel that No Country is based on, I still rekon my mum is right.
Do you think Anton Chigurh has Asperger’s?
