Saturday 28 February 2009

(%BY REQUEST#~

So yes I went to Paris for 6 days to meet up with some of the nicest and sweetest people this world has to offer to just spend time together and discover a bit of the city (yall know whom I'm talkin 'bout ;)). Miss you guys like I always do, but it's true, we need to look further, not back. Good to have seen all of those lovely faces. Now I'll go m back to my boring life :) Of course that's a bit of an overstatement, but it's true that it's much and much better having all of you around. I'm not there right now to see the Eiffel tower by night or to go and ice skate with you if that was still a plan. Monday it's time to go back to uni, have to finish this take-home exam tomorrow. Probably go and lock myself up in a cinema in the morning, still have catching up to do, so many films still to see. Will be busy with my MA thesis, meeting my supervisor this week and this Saturday I'll go to Arnhem for an audition for this drama school thing, the third and last one I'm trying this year. Had a good and safe trip back home. Next time Berlin?

^_^

Sunday 22 February 2009

-(WHO STOLE MY TIC TACS?#@

I should go back downstairs to the supermarket! You know those mints called Tic Tacs, I just bought some and on the plastic package thingy it says: 100 Tic Tacs. So to see if they're right I counted them and guess what?! I'm missing three of them!!!! UNFAIR! :(((

Saturday 21 February 2009

&#REALLY?|]

The list of winners for the 2009 Academy Awards has been leaked, or so they say.
This list below apparently is the list of winners. To know if this is correct you have to watch and find out tomorrow though. This list, however, could be the definite one, but then again anyone could have predicted this. Only real standout is Amy Adams' win for best supporting actress for her role in Doubt. She has been nominated before so a win could be the case. However, so far Penélope Cruz as well as Viola Davis have been the favourites, not miss Adams. Departures win for foreign language film over big names such as Entre Les Murs and Waltz With Bashir seems unlikely though...

Actor in a leading role: Mickey Rourke
Actor in a supporting role: Heath Ledger
Actress in a leading role: Kate Winslet
Actress in a supporting role: Amy Adams
Animated Feature Film: Wall-E
Art Direction: The Dark Knight
Cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire
Costume Design: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Directing: Slumdog Millionaire
Documentary feature: Man on Wire
Documentary short: The Conscience of Nhem En
Film editing: Milk
Foreign language film: Departures
Makeup: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Music (Score): Defiance
Music (Song): Down to Earth (Wall-E)
Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
Short film (animated): Presto
Short film (live action): Auf Der Strecke (On The Line)
Sound editing: Wall-E
Sound mixing: The Dark Knight
Visual effects: Iron Man
Writing (Adapted screenplay): The Reader
Writing (Original screenplay): In Bruges

Friday 20 February 2009

_$JUMP IN THE POOL:"

I had fun last night.

&!IF I EVER+_

If I ever were to publish a magazine it would probably look something like this and be called THIS.IS.NOT.A.REVIEW. magazine, 'cause I'm tired of reviews...

Wednesday 18 February 2009

!%LEON MARK + JOLIJN SNIJDERS#~

More pictures, gone with the text! Photos from one guy Leon Mark and from this Dutch girl Jolijn Snijders whom I've been checking out for quite a while and who also has her own online magazine called I ♥ FAKE. These two show why fashion photography looks real cool + that a good model is key to get a great image. And for those who smoke don't ever quit just make sure you do your best to look cool doing it else it's no use...

Leon Mark






Jolijn Snijders









_#THE SELBY I LIKE|}

Too much text on this blog so here some pictures and a link to one of my favourite websites which is The Selby (http://www.theselby.com) It's a website showing photographs from the houses of all kinds of creative people to see how they live as a home can say a lot about a person. Also every person who's featured is asked to fill in several questions on a sheet of paper sometimes even having to draw funny stuff. It's very inspiring especially when you consider a home makeover. Have a look. Here are some pictures I really like.






Monday 9 February 2009

*$I'VE SEEN GOMORRA~!

Last night Milk now Gomorra. I had some catching up to do. The Wrestler arrives this Thursday as well as Slumdog Millionaire which will most likely win the Academy Award for Best Picture of the year as it already has won so many other awards. But Gomorra. Lots of buzz. I can see why. However, I felt it didn't flow that well and never really got into it completely. Perhaps too many characters whom you never really get to know. It just presents bits and pieces, never really takes you in completely. It's okay, but not as amazing as I've felt a lot of people find it to be. An aspect I liked is how the camera stays real close to the characters their faces. But overall it's quite predictable and I was really missing some good character involvement, you don't get to really know any of them so you don't really feel for them and I felt that to be really able to get immersed in all the stories, getting to know these characters is essential. I expected a bit more and at the same time I didn't as I never felt it would be that great, or at least I never expected it to really overwhelm me. So in a way I got exactly what I expected.
Wouldn't be suprised to see a Martin Scorsese version of this in some years, faster paced and with big name actors.

Sunday 8 February 2009

*&I'VE SEEN MILK()

Finally I saw it. I thought it was great, I loved the way it looked especially the beginning. Kind of felt that started as a showing of where Van Sant had been the last couple of years, his last couple of works, with very intersting camera angles and beautiful close-ups during James Franco and Sean Penn's intimate moments. Oh and the coloured intertitles were so My Own Private Idaho-ish! Nice to have spotted Van Sant, he always seems to make cameos like Hitchcock used to do. Diego Luna and Emile Hirsch were real fun, Josh Brolin was good too. His role slowly develops.

But where were the aliens?!

Edit: there were none. Never have been any. A while ago I took at a look at InContention.com a site which follows all the awards chatter and something they happen to do is choose the top 10 best shots of the year from films. There was a shot from Milk and I quickly looked at it. I had mistaken it for something with aliens I guess, seeing some kind of UFO i thought. But no. :)

Wednesday 4 February 2009

Tuesday 3 February 2009

&$FOUR@!

The best four I've taken so far. I bought a new film a while ago, still have 8 more left, will spend them wisely...






I'll go see Friendly Fires March 2nd, Beirut May 5th! + Maybe Women February 24th

Train to Rotterdam...


Sunday 1 February 2009

(*DEAR ROTTERDAM...|'

...thank you for the most wonderful 11 days. I'll miss you! We watched lots of movies and partied together until early morning. Next year again perhaps.
These are all the films I've been able to watch during the IFFR:

Bronson (Very funny, great powerhouse performance by the guy playing Charlie Bronson, never heard of the guy but apparently he makes the UK jails unsafe, much better than I expected, glad I saw it as it would not have been a choice of my own when I would have read its description, I assume especially the youth will enjoy this)

Tiro En La Cabeza (No dialogue at all except for one sentence, interesting premise, but soon becomes boring, too experimental-ish)

Identification Marks: None (Great cinematography, didn't pay much attention to the story)

Walkover (same director as film above, again, cinematography is pretty awesome)

Nulle Part Terre Promise (started watching it without much interest, but it pulled me in near the end making that I quite liked it, in the end I did feel a connection with the main female character)

Awaydays (has that typical British coolness, a bit Control-like, not perfect, but definitely worth seeing, soundtrack is brill, acting by the two leads is great to watch)

Je Ne Suis Pas Morte (over three hours long, very fresh and original feel to it, feels also very French meaning lot of conversating, philosophy, questioning love, life, death, has a great close-up at the end of a girl which last for quite a while, made me ask a question during the Q&A to which the director answered a simple: no)

The Strength Of Water (will remind you of Whale Rider for multiple reasons, it's good not great, very sweet, liked the openness of its ending)

La Frontière De L'Aube (Features a none smoking Louis Garrel which is such a shame as I find him the number one person who makes smoking look tremendously cool so please Mr. Garrel never ever quit, takes a while to really get going but once it does it really wins you over, great performances especially from Laura Smet)

Breathless (mix of brute violence and comedy working surprisingly well, best film I've seen at the IFFR, fresh, funny, daring, great acting, especially from the actress playing the female lead, perfect from beginning to end, a triumph!)

Pomegranates And Myrrh (at first too much of a reminder of films such as The Syrian Bride, but gradually wins you over, has too much of a heart which can't be ignored, not fantastically great but still really good)

The Coffin (horror, I didn't see all of it, but what I saw was okay, am not a big fan of the genre, did't scare me at all, seemed to have a big budget because it looked very expensive but images to me looked too stylish)

I Am From Titov Veles (watch if you want to see a film with great composition and great use of colour, a little bit like Amélie, but a bit too vague, it's a good film but with flaws)

Blind Pig Who Wants To Fly (just very strange and different, which isn't at all a bad thing, one of those films that are hard to compare to anything else out there)

That's It (film student made film, low-budget a la In Search Of A Midnight Kiss also reminiscent of 2 Days In Paris as well as Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, a talking walking type of film, very funny, very charming, sweet, nice performances as well)

April Showers (although I fell asleep a bit so can't really say I've seen it, but from what I've seen it's confusing, pretty boring, too serious)

Jerichow (second film I've seen by director Christian Petzold, first one was Yella, expected to be a bit of the same so started to wait for a big surprising film which would throw me into surrealism, but none of this at all, it's a very straightforward drama, still very good though, but not as fresh as I thought it would be, but still really very good, just solid and done well like it should, kept looking for underlying meanings but couldnt find them)

Unmade Beds (My personal favoutire, has some flaws 'cause it doesn't work completely, but Alexis Dos Santos has won my heart, love his vision which is like mine and thought his style was great, very nice performance from girl from L'Enfant which I mentioned before)

Rachel Getting Married (very solid film, great camerawork which gives you the feeling you're real part of the diegetic world making that at times you want to clap when people are giving speeches on screen, you really feel like you're there, Anne Hathaway's Oscar nomination is very well deserved, a great meaty role to show off your acting skills, it's funny and very recognizable, very well written)

Exhausted (the most horrible film I've probably seen so far in my entire life, shot completely in super 8 which is the only cool thing about it but makes watching it pretty exhausting hence the title??, the rest seems useless, strange strange strange, no clue why we had to endure this, nipples are being cut off and a fetus pops out from a vagina)

Wrong Rosary (exquisite lighting in this film, so dreamy, and that the entire film long, great close-ups and angles, sweet story though doesn't feel to work completely, still very enjoyable and great, but mostly the cinematography is amazing, what a great looking film)

Native Dancer (okay film, ends up being a bit too Hollywood-ish with kidnapping and stuff, expected something more intelligent)

Still Walking (very different from Nobody Knows, but still good, like Nobody Knows this one also ends up feeling to be a little bit too long, funny, charming grandma character, presenting a Japanese family, differences between new and old generation)

Pranzo Di Ferragosto (very charming film with very funny characters, very solid and enjoyable, simple premise done well and turned into much more than it could have ended up being, shows you don't need much to capture an audience's attention for 70 minutes)

That makes 24 films.
Here are the ones I liked the most and/or thought were the best:

Breathless
Unmade Beds
Wrong Rosary
Awaydays
Rachel Getting Married