I make things on the internet
I’ve been tagged for four things by Matt, it’s been awhile since one of these meme’s floated around. The site has more readership now and I’ve been slacking with the personal sections, so here goes.
Update: The movie is now playing in North American theatres under the title District B13. Go see it on the big screen. June 2, 2006
I don’t post that many movie reviews anymore, but sometimes the people need to know. Banlieue 13 (imdb) is a French flick, so it’s not something you’re likely to find in Blockbuster or your local cornerstore. You’ll probably need to send a letter to your local movie distributor asking them to shape up or buy an import.
The movie’s pacing is intense; if the first five or ten minutes doesn’t have your jaw settled nicely on the floor you can have your money back. Banlieue 13 is set in the near future, in a gang-controlled Paris suburb that has been walled off from the rest of the city. Leito needs to team up with a cop to save his kidnapped sister and rescue the inhabitants from a neutron bomb detonation. Good setup? Sure, why not.
A Scanner Darkly trailer is out
The new movie by Richard Linklater uses the same technique he used for Waking Life and is based on a novel by Philip K. Dick.
The Oscar nominations are out for this year, and there aren’t a whole lot of surprises, at least not for me. And I’m happy to say that there’s no possibility of musical winning best picture this time around. There are always movies that you saw that don’t get any nominations, yet you think they were fantastic. I saw a fair numbers of movies this year, thanks in no small part to Bittorrent. I really liked Buffalo Soldiers, but it’s not much of an Academy movie. There was also American Splendor, which managed to pick up a screenplay nom. And City of God, which managed to do quite well for itself. I don’t know about Sea Biscuit for best picture, I just found it a bit cheesy. Johnny Depp got a best actor nom, that’s good news.
Back in Brockville for a few days over this reading week break, nothing too exciting going on. Before I left the other night, I watched The Pianist, one of the films up for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. I thought it was a really good movie, a little bit long but it’s to be expected from the type of movie. There are similarities and comparison that can be made to Schindler’s List, I think I liked this one better (although I guess it could also be compared to Life is Beautiful, another good one). Black and white is nice and artistic but I find that the visual part of my brain likes looking at colour. The Pianist has that. It also comes from the perspective of one man, rather than a more sweeping look at was going on. And the dark comedy elements, the things you think probably shouldn’t be laughed at, but do anyway because that’s what it was intended for. Adrien Brody did an excellent job as the lead character and is deserved of his Oscar nom.
Just finished watching Raging Bull, directed by Scorsese, staring Robert DeNiro. I enjoyed the movie, job well done. It’s older, but was one of the movies on my list of movies to see. It was made in 1980, DeNiro won an oscar for best actor for his performance. In my opinion he definitely deserved it, he did a great job.
Pretty lazy day today, had a couple quizes that i didnt do to well on, oh well, i didn’t really study for them at all. Stayed afterwards and did somework on the yearbook, i think i’ve figured out who’s going to be design editor next year, so i can start training him. It’s great to know that they’ll be covered next year.