Friday, September 23, 2011

Queue Tips: Despicable you.

I actually don't have Netflix anymore.  I cancelled it over a year ago.  A friend of mine actually lets me put some DVDs on his queue and lets me watch them.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe he's nice or something.

Let me summarize some reasons why I unsubscribed from the service.  The main reason I moved on was really when they raised the price.  At the time, it was really just around $1 more a month.  But why should a pay even a penny more when the service I'm getting is dwindling?

I had been getting many scratched and even broken DVDs.  When this happens, I would sometimes get a replacement, but then I would have to wait another day or two for it.  Or I won't get a replacement at all.  It would go on short wait.  Or long wait.  Or extremely long wait.  Or the "saved" section, which means they don't actually have it.  Or they used to have it, but the DVDs broke and they don't want to replace it.

What really appealed to me about Netflix was the selection of movies and TV shows they had.  Blockbuster, Hollywood or that little store around the block simply didn't have as much to choose from.  I got to see many films by my favorite directors without having to take a train to the city to a Kim's Video branch (which is now, as far as I know, out of business).

One reason that really made me irate is the stripping of the extra features.  Taking away the audio commentary really angers me, to be honest.  The additional audio track only takes a few megabytes on the DVD, so why not just leave it in there?  The company took all this effort to re-author a disc in order to deprive a customer of what they used to get.

What really infuriates me is what I found on "Despicable Me", for example.  I knew they stripped DVDs of extra features, so I didn't expect to find any bonus materials.  After watching the movie, the DVD automatically when to the extra features menu.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that.  There were a handful of bonus choices.

So I clicked one.  It went to a page that essentially said, "This DVD does not have extra features.  Get the Bonus DVD for the extra features."  Or something to that extent.

So I moved on and clicked the next option on the menu.  It said the same thing.  And so did the others.

So my question is, why even put the damn extra features menu page on  the damn disc?  Why even put the different bonus choices on there?  The company is essentially taunting me.  It actually re-authored a DVD just so it can show me what they have that I used to get for free.

I'm not even going into the whole silliness of the Qwikster thing.  I am eagerly looking forward in anticipation of the downfall of this company.

Anyways, I did find "Despicable Me" enjoyable.  Timeout boy liked it, but it's not really for two year olds.  I would say it's more for grade school kids and older.


Thursday, September 22, 2011

Queue Tips: Disguise the limit.

Can someone please explain Jim Jarmusch to me?  I just don't get it.  I don't understand how he keeps making films.  Where is he getting the funding from?  Are any of his films making any money?

I've tried to like this guy so many times, but every time boredom overcomes me.  I thought "Dead Man" was okay, as well as "Broken Flowers".  "Ghost Dog" was one of the most boring movies I've sat through.  Even the fact that it was shot in Jersey City and that I recognized some of the locations did nothing for me.

I put "The Limits of Control" on my queue because Gael Garcia Bernal was in it.  I didn't know it was a Jim Jarmusch film.  By the time I realized this, the DVD was already on the way and I decided to give it another shot.

I had to stop and start this thing so many times.  I couldn't get through it in one sitting.  I always try to see the whole movie, including credits, no matter how bad it is, in the hopes that there is one redeeming thing about it.

I definitely enjoyed the first few minutes.  I loved the composition.  Any film not shot in handheld is rare nowadays, so that was refreshing.  And then it went nowhere.  Just the usual boring Jim Jarmusch stuff.

I really hoped to be able to appreciate it, but I don't know.  Maybe I'm just dumb.  Most of it is over my head, I guess.  I'm glad I didn't somehow end up watching this in the theatre.  I don't know if I'd be able to stand all the pretentious people who would appreciate this.

He's some sort of experimental genius.  I get it.  How many films does he have to make to prove this? In the DVD extra, he says that althought there are a limited number of stories that can be told, there are unlimited ways of telling them.  Unlimited boring ways.

"The Limits of Control" references other films.  Which Jim Jarmusch must have seen.  Didn't those films entertain him?  Okay, he's seen all these films and photos and heard all this music, and all that inspired him to be as flat as possible?  I just don't get it.

Don't directors pusue filmmaking because of how the movies have made them feel?  Didn't those stories touch him in some way?  But instead he decides to just make films that no one likes.  I just don't get it.

David Lynch and Michael Haneke are also auteur type directors but they can make their films watchable.  They are also making a point about the medium itself, but not in an utterly boring way.  I mean, if you refuse to connect with your audience, what is the point of creating a medium?

I wonder if Jim Jarmusch ever actually rewatches any of his films.  I don't know.  He's a pretty odd fella from what I can tell.  He probably jerks off to them.

Even the nude woman being all nude and bare naked couldn't erase my disinterest.  Why waste your money on sleeping pills?  Put this DVD on your queue.

And now here is a "Family Guy" clip:





My sentiments exactly.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Queue Tips: Hesher

Apparently, "Hesher" is not a movie about chocolate candy bars.  It's a pretty good film starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Natalie Portman.  Also, Rainn Wilson is in it, but I totally didn't realize it was him.  John Carroll Lynch is in it as well.  You might recognize him from such films as "Fargo" and "Beautiful Girls" (also with Portman) and "The Drew Carey Show".

It's not for everybody, I guess, but I thought it was awesome.  The main issue with it would be that some of the events are a little far-fetched, as far as character choices.  But not too hard to believe that you can't just go along with it.

There are some heavy metal music in there, as the lead character is sort of a metal head.  That's my real problem with it, I guess.  Most of the song choices are typical, like Metallica and Motorhead.  No Slayer, as far as I know.

Apart from that, I thought the child actor Devin Brochu showed great talent as the lead.  Either that, or the director Spencer Susser did a great job in motivating him and cutting together a terrific performance.  Or both.

Lastly, I was surprised that Netflix didn't strip the DVD of its special features.  It was nice to see the outtakes and behind the scenes.  I especially love watching a low budget indie-type film being made.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Queue Tips: I am dumber for...

I am dumber for having watched "I Am Number Four".  It's about a teenager who's actually an alien trying to blend in with normal people.  I don't think I'm really giving away anything, because all that is explained in the first few minutes.  Via voiceover.  If you're just going to narrate to me, why don't I just turn off the movie and read the book?

The filmmakers don't seem to understand that what makes this kind of genre work is letting the audience discover that your protagonist is special, not letting the cat out of the bag immediately.  Take for example Harry Potter, or Charlie Bucket or Luke Skywalker.  They start out as regular kids and gradually we find out they are special.

So giving it away right away kind of makes it lame.  And that makes all the crazy alien ways even lamer.  It's all so ridiculous, like some little kid making up stories before bedtime.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Memory Gland: Ten Years Ago

I wanted to write about some memories of mine.  With today being the tenth anniversary of the WTC attacks, I figured I would start out with what many people are talking about.  No one can forget where they were when it happened.

The New York Times recently posted this interactive feature of some recently released 9/11 tapes.  You can listen to them while reading the transcripts and notes at the same time.  They also track where the four planes where as you are hearing the calls.

While all of this was happening, I was sound asleep.  I was in college and scheduled all my classes on a Thursday.  I may have slept the whole day before.  I woke up when the phone rang and immediately answered it, just in case it was the girl I had really liked.  It turned out to be a buddy of mine.

"Go down to Liberty State Park," he said.

"What?" I said.  I was still kind of groggy.  We had been going to LSP to toss the football around.  But that was in the afternoons.

Why would he want to play football in the morning?  On a weekday?  And did he not know that I wouldn't have the car because my mom was at work?  And why didn't he just pick me up on the way instead of asking me to meet him there?

"You don't know what happened?"

"What happened?"

"Turn on your TV."

Okay.  Apparently a plane hit the World Trade Center.  Was this an accident?  Some amateur flew into it?  No, both buildings were hit.  Okay, that's no accident.

I don't remember what my friend and I said after that, but it was brief.  He was at work at Garden State Mall.  He said there were some people panicking there, afraid the place would be attacked as well.  After he hung up, I sat there in my mom's bedroom watching the news.

It was on WCBS, the only channel the TV could get.  All the other stations broadcasted through the towers except for Channel 2.  Just as in the 1993 attack when I came home from school and found out what happened, I sat there in front of the TV alone.

Okay, so the buildings are on fire.  Don't they have helicopters that could douse it with water.  This would be interesting to see.  I can't believe these assholes are so stubborn and stupid to keep going after these buildings.  We'll put the fires out, and we'll rebuild it.

I was taking a photography class at the time, so I decided to take a camera and go outside.  We lived on top of a hill in Jersey City, and we had a great view of the New York City skyline.  I walked one block to a street next to a small cliff with an unobstructed view.

There were a handful of people there.  I didn't say a word to anyone.  I may have had my headphones on, listening to AM radio on my walkman.  I took a few pictures.  A few minutes later, one of the towers crumbled, and my heart sank.  And then the other one went down, too.  I couldn't believe it.  I was numb.

I developed the pictures, but I never published them.  Even at class, I didn't tell anyone about it.  I'm not sure why.  I shared them with some close friends, but that was it.  At the time, I was interested in exploring photography as a career, maybe even becoming a war photographer.  After the semester, I didn't pursue it any further.

I ended up as a video editor in New York City in 2005.  I can't say much about it, but I have had the privilege and honor of working on some important things.  Some were not always easy to watch or hear. And all this time these things were happening, many of us were blissfully unaware.

I wish we could have kept on sleeping.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

indieVisible: Sequence 11

Here is what I've been working on recently:



This is something that I've been wanting to do for years.  It's been in my head for so long.  I just thought it might be interesting to cut together.

This was not my first music choice, but I think it works very well.  They are two music tracks by the band Shadows Fall.  I like it because you wouldn't necessarily know that they are a heavy metal band from hearing this.

Youtube wouldn't allow my original choice because the copyright owner doesn't get along with them.  But I did get a bit teary eyed from that version.  However, I think the way it is now is more reflective, perhaps even hopeful, than the other.

Growing up in Jersey City, I used to always see the twin towers.  They were just always there.  Walking around New York, it used to be our guide for getting home; when we were lost downtown, we would just head toward the World Trade Center because we knew the PATH Train would be under it.  When I first got my license as a teenager, I would sometimes use it to know which way I was going.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who can say that the buildings had become a part of me.

I had only been up there once.  That was when my older brother came to visit during Christmas in 1992. We went around the New York City spots with him.  I had been living in America for a year, but we never did that stuff.  I guess because I would be a resident, and my brother was only on vacation.  I was 12 and he was in college and the plan was for him to finish school and come back in a few years to get a job.

I remember the long line in the lobby.  And then going into a huge elevator, the biggest elevator I've ever been in.  And then going around the viewing area upstairs.

A few days later we watched "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York".  I remember my brother asking during the movie if Duncan's Toy Chest was a real store.  I think he may have wanted to visit it.  I shook my head and whispered, "No, I don't think so."  But that shot of Kevin on top of the tower is an unforgettable one for me, and I'm so thankful to the filmmakers for producing that.

In 1993, I was in seventh grade and I hated it.  I couldn't stand all the nonsense.  Most of the time I would daydream and look out the window.  At history class at St. Aedan's I could always see the New York City skyline.  I remember I would sometimes stare at the light on top going on and off, almost putting me in some sort of hypnotic trance.  My eyes would just fix on it while my mind would wander.

I remember one specific time I stood observing the towers absently.  I was standing by the window, and not sitting, because we were doing some sort of project where we were all scattered about in groups or something.  And then I remember coming home to find I couldn't watch the Disney afternoon on Channel 11.  We didn't have cable, and there was no signal.  I flipped through the channels, and there was nothing.

Until I got to Channel 2 and found out the towers had been attacked.  All the other channels had been broadcasting through the towers.  I think WCBS used the Empire State Building instead.

In 2000, our professor for our art class took us on a trip to Battery Park in lower Manhattan.  We took a ferry across the river, the first time I've been on the water since going to Ellis Island eight years before.  Anyway, there were little bronze sculptures all around, and I think our professor wanted us to discover them and find inspiration or something, so that's why we were there.

But I remember wandering into one of the building lobbies.  It turned out to be the Winter Garden Atrium.  It was domed, and I never realized until I entered it that you could see through the glass on top of it.  It was a complete surprise for me to spend the day looking down at the ground searching for tiny bronze statues, enter into a building, look up, and see that the World Trade Center towers were up above me.  For people who have been there many times, it may have been a common sight, but for me it was indescribable.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Queue Tips: Limitless

I watched "Limitless" recently.  I wasn't sure why it had been on my queue.  It was more like "pointless" to me.

It's about a guy who finds a way to use his brain more efficiently, and is able to learn quickly and so on and so forth.  Because of his newfound abilities, pretty much anything can happen.  The problem with movies like this is, something does happen.  And usually that something is a letdown.

I'm not going to give away the plot, although I might as well in order to give you as little incentive to watch it as possible.  But anyway, what the character decides to do kind of has its limits.  So the title is not apt.  It's not.

About half an hour into it, I realized why I wanted to see it.  Robert De Niro is in it.  For only a few minutes.  So that, too, was kind of pointless.

In addition, everything is spelled out via narration and overtly expositional dialogue.  For a movie that touts increased brain activity, it pretty much doesn't challenge the viewer to use their minds either.

And now here is "Frank's 2000 Inch TV" by Weird Al Yankovic, because it has a line about De Niro's Mole: