Pondering Celluloids
The following clip shows the way not to get a girl’s number.
The Tarantino Mixtape
The Tarantino Mixtape from Eclectic Method on Vimeo.
If you are a fan of Quentin Tarantino’s film, this video is a classic mixtape of songs from his movies, but the visuals mix the movies up with split screens, jump cuts and sliding boxes to highlight similar themes and shots from the director of Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs.
Social Media in Film Class
I spoke with Duke Professor Negar Mottahedeh (@negaratduke on Twitter) about her integration of social media tools into her classes, especially her Intro to Film Studies class. Read more
What I Have Been Watching
Movies
Synedoche New York
Slumdog Millionaire
IOUSA
Special Showings in Theaters
Serenity
DVD
MI-5 Season 2
Hotel Rwanda
The Royal Tenenbaums
Children of Glory (imdb)
Trading Places (for Christmas)
No Talking at the Movies
While I don’t condone carrying concealed weapons into a movie theater, people do need to be quiet during a film.
From CNN:
A man angry that a family was talking during a movie threw popcorn at the son and then shot the father in the arm, according to police in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.James Joseph Cialella, 29, was charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and weapons violations, a police report said.
Cialella told the family sitting in front of him in the theater on Christmas Day to be quiet, police said.
An argument ensued while others at the Riverview Movie Theatre watched “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, according to Philly.com.
Cialella, 29, then approached the family from the left side of the aisle and shot the father, who was not identified, as he was standing between Cialella and his family, according to the police report.
The victim was taken to Jefferson Hospital with a gunshot wound to his left arm, police said.
Cialella was carrying a Kel-Tec .380-caliber handgun clipped inside his sweatpants, police said. He was arrested and taken into custody.
Synecdoche, New York
Last night I went to see the new film from Charles Kaufman, Synecdoche, New York. He is the writer of Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, and this film was his directorial debut. I went with my Indie Film movie group, which usually goes out for a drink and movie talk after the film. We don’t usually spend much time talking about the movie we just saw, but last night we did. The movie really got us thinking and talking about life, death, existence, dreams, control and many other things.
As a fun exercise (we are movie geeks afterall), we went around the table and we each had to use one word to describe the movie. Below is the list, and it is pretty wide ranging.
Laborious
Ambitious
Odd
Meta
Grey
Profound
Unsettling
Uninvolving
Consoling
Schenectady
Grim
Confused
Reflective
Frustrating
Here’s a review from The New Republic that uses quite a few words.
A Tribute to John Williams
Composer John Williams scored many movies including Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jaws. This song by a capella group Moosebutter tells the story of Star Wars through the other songs of John Williams. The video below is by Corey Vidal.
What I Have Been Watching
In the Theater
Traitor
Burn After Reading
Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist
Special Showings (in Theaters)
Hi Mom Film Festival
French Short Film Program
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
DVD
10 Items or Less
Seven Up
Seven Plus Seven
Thank You for Smoking
Battlestar Galactica Season 3
Trailer for New Hockey Mom Movie
Here’s a trailer for a new Disney movie about a Hockey Mom who becomes vice president. “I found my son’s skates, how hard can it be to find Bin Laden?”
Jewno
from Mahalo.com: Jewno is a short trailer parody of the film Juno. It is about a Jewish girl who gets pregnant, wants to have the baby, and give it to a Chinese family. The trailer is produced by Makor, an internal group of the 92nd Street Y to promote a Purim Festival featuring Lewis Black.