Indie shot and more movies I want to see but can't...

Once - a critically acclaimed and absolutely boring movie. The small-time artist fights the odds, finds success (faster than U2 or The Rolling Stones in all likelihood), and there is a little love story thrown in. Yay. I appreciate a well-made indie film (Boy A for example), but this just isn't compelling enough to overcome it's obvious story and visual shortcomings. It has a cliched, unrealistic plot, and it doesn't help that they play whole songs that just aren't very good throughout the film. I seldom so strongly disagree with critics, but here I just can't get over the film's serious flaws to see what they (the critics) see in it.

Dan-o-Meter: 5 out of 10

In addition to the ones a few posts down:

Big Fan

Up in the Air

"Fields of Bliss"

So I just found a bunch of poems I had to write for creative writing class a few years back. I hated writing them, but some of them are kind of decent, so I figured I would post some for fun. And the funny thing is, they are all either about God, film, or the Yankees. Go figure. Here's the longest and my favorite. I'll post some shorter ones some other time.

“Field of Bliss”

The field is green with perfect blades;

The paths are carved into the earth;

The painted lines are white and straight;

For the sprint from home to first.

The sun shines down warm and clear

Upon the picture-perfect view;

And unfurls in the breeze

The brilliant hues red, white, and blue.

The stands fill up and cheers do swell:

Out come the heroes on the field

Like gladiators of this age,

But wooden are the swords they wield.

“Play ball!” The cry rings out so clear,

Throughout the place it does resound.

The batter steps towards the plate

As the pitcher climbs the mound.

The first duel begins in such a way:

The pitcher stares in for the sign.

The batter swings his club around;

Living for this very time.

All watch and wait for one to throw

The white sphere at reckless speed.

From the front to third deck up

All eyes follow that small, white bead.

In heaven are fifty thousand fans

In the time that follows this.

Watching the battle on the field

Is for them three hours of bliss.

On this field are legends made,

And on this field is sorrow felt.

Tears of loss do stain the dirt;

And shouts of triumph do ring out.

Times of joy and times of pain

Are what many must endure.

But in these trials is there found

A bliss of sport, oh so pure.

The field is torn and is now brown;

The blades of grass have gone amiss.

For this is the price it pays

To become a field of bliss.

I made a wallpaper...

So I was bored and looking for a new wallpaper for my computer. All the ones on the google were either lame or weren't widescreen, so I cracked open Photoshop and made this one. I just desaturated it and made the font, but it came out pretty good. At least I think so anyway. Latika is no longer my wallpaper, but she will always be the background of my heart...

That made no sense at all. Whatever. If you haven't seen The Hurt Locker (or Slumdog for that matter), go see it.

The Hurt Locker and other stuff

THE HURT LOCKER

Finally saw The Hurt Locker last week. It was intense and awesome, but also a bit different. First of all, there was pretty much no conventional plot. Just three soldiers defusing bombs in Iraq. Although it may have gotten bogged down a few times in between action scenes, that can mostly be blamed on waiting for next adrenaline rush, which is totally worth it, as director Kathryn Bigelow will have you gripping the armrests for most of the film.

Also, it wasn't really about the Iraq war. After the crapfest of Iraq war movies the past few years, it was nice to see a modern war film that didn't make a political statement. In that way, it is similar to Saving Private Ryan. Although that is a superior film to The Hurt Locker, both use the wars they are set in as a backdrop for in-depth looks into what causes a soldier to go to war and what keeps them going as they live through what could be the closest thing to hell on earth.

The film also confirmed what a film nerd I am. I thought the music sounded a lot like the score from 3:10 to Yuma, so I wasn't surprised to see in the credits that it was the same composer. And when the main character, Sergeant James, was shopping for cereal in the grocery store, was I the only one who noticed the camera pan from Life cereal to Lucky Charms? The scene says more in one minute than all of Michael Bay's movies combined.

Bigelow made what many are calling a masterpiece and there are numerous scenes like the one I mentioned above that speak to the level of quality filmmaking this movie reaches. I wouldn't be surprised to see it listed in the future with movies like Apocalypse Now and Saving Private Ryan as one of the great war films of all time.

Dan-o-Meter: 9 out of 10

Other stuff...

I think Joba read my last post. He is on a tear since the all-star break. Hopefully we can beat Boston this weekend and hold on to 1st place. No comments on Big Needle-y, I mean Papi, except to say that I am not at all surprised, and to be honest, don't really care. It's always fun to make fun of Red Sox fan's though, so I won't say a part of me didn't enjoy the news...

Joba to the 'pen? and movies I want to see but can't...

Joba Rules?

Should Joba be still be starting? His struggles continue to mount; his ability to win ball games, or even give the Yankees a chance to win, has decreased steadily as the season has progressed. As the Yankees head into the second half of the season with holes in both the bullpen and the starting rotation, some serious consideration must be given to what exactly should be done with Joba. His ERA+ is barely above average at 104. His walks per 9 are way up and his K's per 9 are way down, as is his velocity. Known the past few seasons to have a fastball that reached up to 102 mph on the radar gun, he now struggles to reach 94-95. Granted, he obviously conserves some energy in the starting role, but even last year his velocity didn't suffer that much. His WHIP this season is a paltry 1.56 and his innings pitched has dropped to 5.2 per start. Is it the growing pains of becoming a starter? Or is he simply not as dominant when stretched out? And what should be done with him as the second half gets under way? Or in general, considering the future of the Yankees?

A probable cause for the struggles of Joba this season are that he is simply adjusting to starting at the major league level. A pretty good pitcher named Johan Santana had numbers worse than Joba's his first two seasons in the big leagues. It takes time to develop into an ace and it is unrealistic to expect Joba to pitch dazzle right out of the gate. He has shown flashes the past few seasons of what he is capable of; now he just has to harness that in the starting role. Still, the one thing I do find troubling is his lack of velocity. If he can't recover that, I don't think he can reach his full potential.

A good starting pitcher is generally more valuable than a good reliever. A healthy starter can pitch over twice as many innings as a reliever. If given the choice, you would obviously want a good pitcher to be a starter. But Joba has merely been passable in the starting role. Not going deep into games taxes the already thin bullpen and affects future games as well. With Mariano ready to give up his position in a few season, the need for someone the slam the door in the 9th will quickly become apparent. Joba has shown that he can be as dominating as anyone in the late innings. Could he be a possible replacement? As much as I like to think about it, I don't see it happening. The front office has high hopes for young Mark Melancon. Joba was a starter in the minors and they want him to be one in the majors. Still it is something that I hope will be considered, especially if Melancon doesn't pan out.

The question still remains about what to do with him this season. With the Yanks in the playoff hunt, is it worth it to continue developing him and suffer those setbacks every five games, or should he be relegated to the bullpen until a more opportune time? As of now, I am leaning toward keeping him in the rotation. With Wang ineffective and injured and Pettite struggling as of late, the Yanks really need to fill the holes. Hughes is thriving in the bullpen and moving him back and forth from 'pen to rotation only hurts his development, in my opinion. Although Mitre, and even Igawa, could be called up to make some starts for Wang, that doesn't fill all five spots and I would rather continue to develop Joba in that fifth spot than waste the arm strength he has built up. Still, it is a tough decision. The Yanks need to make the playoffs and keeping Joba in the rotation is a possible hindrance to that goal. But the future seasons could also depend on his continued development, so, as hard as it is, it is important not to be to near-sighted.

Definitely not Transformers...

Just a few films that I really want to see, but can't due to limited theatrical releases. Hopefully I can catch them eventually. If only I was in LA...

- Captain Abu Raed. I even know someone who worked on the score for it, which I was surprised to see on IMDB. Looks fantastic.

- The Hurt Locker. I saw the trailer before all the positive reviews came pouring in and thought it looked like a good film. The critics clearly support that notion.

- The Way We Get By. Just watched the trailer. Wow.

Public Enemies...

I got lucky enough to test screen Michael Mann's latest film, Public Enemies, a few months ago. It's going to be released in a couple weeks, and I am curious about how much, if at all, the film has changed. Obviously the special effects, score, color correction, etc. have been polished, but there are some key story and editing elements I am hoping have been touched up as well. I'll just write down (kind of popcorn style) what I liked and didn't like about the film as the points come to me and we'll see how it matches up to the film in a few weeks.

- Johnny Depp. He's a fantastic and versatile actor. He is brilliant in this film as expected. 'nuff said. Verdict: Good

- Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale). He was good, I guess. Didn't really see much of him in this. I don't understand why he took such a minor role. Or I guess I don't understand why his role is so minor. His character is introduced with a bang, but is one of the flattest characters imaginable. He makes inconsistent, unexplained choices and seems to just be in the movie as the necessary antagonist, but the character is too weak to even fulfill that role. Not really Bale's fault, but a shame all the same, since it doesn't appear fixable at this point (April, I think) in the production process. Verdict: Bad

- No 35mm? Shooting in digital (the CineAlta F23 to be precise) rather than the conventional 35mm was an odd choice by Mann, especially since it was very easy to tell. To be fair, the movie wasn't finished yet, and it may be touched up in post to give it a more filmic look. But still, my roommate Josh made a great point that a period piece like this should be shot in 35mm to being with. When nearly all the drawbacks of digital cameras are something a film like this should be trying to avoid, why even bother trying fix it in post? Shoot it right the first time and make it look like an actual film. Verdict: Bad (disclaimer: possibly fixed in post)

- The Cabin Scene. A prolonged shootout in a secluded cabin is overlong and confusing. I don't want to drop any spoilers, so I'll just say that hopefully it was cut down by 10 minutes and also cut differently so one can actually make sense of how the scene ends. Verdict: Bad (disclaimer: possibly fixed in post)

- The Climax. Gripping. Can't spoil it, but it is one of the strongest parts of the film, in my opinion. Verdict: Good

- Story. Another very disappointing aspect of the film. It could have been so much more than the glorification of a malicious criminal who scoffs in the face of justice and the law, but it's not. To make it even worse, Mann bashes that message down your throat with a few title cards at the end of the film that make it clear that Dillinger (Depp's character) is supposed to be the hero, while Purvis (Bale) and the rest of the cast who pursued justice are the real villains. And what does Public Enemies mean anyway? That public servants and enforcers of the law are the real enemies, not the crooks who rob and kill for selfish gain and pleasure? Verdict: Bad

I probably made the film appear worse than it may be, but I was really disappointed in what could have been an insightful and thought-provoking film. Instead it is pure Hollywood. A lot of exciting action sequences and gunfights (Mann is clearly adept at these), but lacking in the character and plot department. Hopefully some of these problems have been addressed since I last saw it, but even my superficial understanding of how films are made tells me that isn't likely.

Premature Dan-o-Meter: 5 out of 10

Short thoughts and 2 foreign film shots

It's been a while since I've written anything. I'm not a big "blogger" I guess and I already know most people don't really care what I think. Still, it's a way for me to express myself so I'll update once in a while when I have the chance.

"Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse."

A verse from Phillippians that I think can is a good guide for how I as a Christian should approach both viewing and creating films. Sometimes it's easy to see a well-made film and say it's great without stopping to think if it contradicts any of the values listed above. Just something I try to keep reminding myself. Now onto some films...

Das Leben Der Anderen - A brilliant and beautiful look at how involving yourself in the lives of other allows you to be changed in ways that are otherwise not possible. This film tells the story of a lonely German Stasi police officer who's job of spying on a suspicious playwright is really an attempt at finding intimacy. The nature of the story allows from some truly exciting and intense moments, as well as some touching and heart-rendering ones. Although it is paced a little slowly at points, especially the third act, it is a wonderful story about the value of human relationships.

Dan-o-Meter: 9 out of 10

El laberinto del fauno - Otherwise known as Pan's Labyrinth, it tells the story of a young girl, Ofelia, and how she copes with the horrors of the Spanish Civil War by entering into an alternate "fairy-tale" world throughout the story. Masterfully directed by Guillmero del Toro with gorgeous cinematography and an awe-inspiring score, this film highlights the importance of imagination and child-like faith. Del Toro makes his point in brutal and powerful fashion, showing that despite the film being a fairy-tale, it's message is definitely not confined to children.

Dan-o-Meter: 10 out of 10