Been busy...

I'm not having much time to update this blog due to exams and stuff... but I wanted to thank you guys for the 100+ follows! I will be back shortly posting more films you gotta see.

Short film you gotta see: Saw

Yep, Saw, the same one that spawned 800 sequels -- it all started with this short film. Did you know it? Enjoy! And Happy Halloween!

Today's Film: Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone! To celebrate, let's watch again the original Halloween movie, by John Carpenter.

This is an awesome movie. From the start, this movie sets the tone: the long pauses that builds the tension, the depiction of the teenagers as they really are (smoking, having sex, lying -- today it seems silly, but back in 1978 it was groundbreaking) and the little twist showing the origin of Michael Myers.

This scene really shocked me the first time I saw it.

And then, there's the tension. John Carpenter shows us for about an hour the life in this neighbourhood. From now on, it all happens, duh, on Halloween. Simultaneously, Michael Myers escapes from a mental institution and Dr. Sam Loomis, the psychiatrist who treated him as a kid, starts chasing him and warning the police.

This film is all about tension.

This is all I will say about the plot, in case you never saw it and want to give it a try tonight. Don't bother with the sequels or the remake: watch this one, the original. It's one of John Carpenter best works, and he knows how to direct an horror movie. It's not about the blood, it's not about the guts, the gore, the explicit shit: it's all about what happens in your head when you watch it.

Rating: 7.5/10

Today's Film: 12 Angry Men

Back to the classics! Today we have a 1957 black and white film.

It's the story of a jury that has to decide if a man is guilty of killing his own father (and going to the chair for it) or not. The jury consists of 12 men with different personalities, some of them are calm, clever, others are ill tempered, and some others just don't give a fuck and just wants to go home.

So you want a claustrophobic movie? 90% of this movie happens in a small, hot room, with 12 guys arguing. Forget Buried, rent this one. It will make you sweat for sure.

Not much to say about this one... just rent it!

Rating: 8/10

Today's Film: Speed Racer

After bashing all those movies that raped our childhood memories, I want to talk about one that, IMHO, had a very good approach.

Usually, when Hollywood adapts anything that's remotely childish, they try to make it more adult, more serious, darker, etc. They even want to translate the cartoon is "to the real world". So this movie was in serious danger of becoming Fast and Furious with a different name.

Problem, officer?

Luckily, the Wachowski brothers opted to leave it as it is: over the top, colourful, wacky and asian. They even kept the monkey! To me, this was a great choice.
Another great thing about it was the cast. It feels just right.

Speed is a little effeminate, just like the cartoon!

Yes, it may not be the best film ever made, it may even be so-so, but I celebrate the approach.

Rating: 6/10

Top 5 Movies that ruined your childhood memories

5) Transformers
This cartoon had a lot of animated movies and different encarnations, but never a live action movie. When this movie was announced, it seemed so right. The CGI were ready for the challenge of recreating Optimus Prime and his friends in 3D.

Why is he a Camaro? Why!?

The outcome: While some people may have liked it, this movie is nothing like the cartoon we all remember and love. They took too many liberties with the character designs.


4) Super Mario Bros
When I heard there was gonna be a Super Mario film, I almost shit bricks. Mario was a huge part of my childhood and the idea sounded great.

Seriously, WTF?

The outcome: They tried to make Super Mario "realistic", giving it a dark look and so. The characters came up just creepy. C'mon, guys, this is not Batman!

3) Street Fighter
Same case as above, I was super excited about this movie as a kid. Street Fighter was one of the best things that happened to my childhood.

The outcome: Same issue that Super Mario film had, but all the way around. This movie needed a darker, more realistic tone, instead of keeping the sillyness of the game (the fighters celebrating like when they win a fight in the game are just odd looking in real life), which is what the Mario movie needed.

This may be the only good thing.
And as a kid, I couldn't even  it.

2) The Last Airbender
No, I didn't watch this as a kid, but I gave it a chance when I was a teenager. It was a good cartoon, and I really liked it. The movie trailer looked cool, and I even felt that the name Avatar was taken from them.

The outcome: An akward movie. Bad acting, clumsy script. Hopefully it won't spawn a sequel.

1) Dragon Ball Evolution
Ok, I could write about this all day, but... if you ever saw Dragon Ball, just look at the picture below and try to name everything that's wrong.

Top 5 Tarantino Films

Yeah, I know: Tarantino has only 5 movies, so the purpose of this list is to rank them. Let me know how you would in the comments!

5) Jackie Brown

Meh. Not my cup of tea, really. Don't get me wrong, it's an enjoyable movie, what's wrong with this movie is the timing: Pulp Fiction was a tough act to follow. And the rest of QT are way better, so it's impossible to watch this without comparing.
Rating: 7/10. Not bad for being at the bottom of the list.

4) Reservoir Dogs

"4th? Are you serious?" Well, yeah, I absolutely love this movie, and plus, it's a classic, but I have to admit that I enjoyed the other ones better. It's just that, just my personal opinion. If you're too young and haven't watch this movie, please rent it tonight. You won't be dissapointed.
Rating: 7.5/10. Really good, but it feels a little old today. It's still a gem, but we know Tarantino can do way better now.


3) Inglorious Basterds / Death Proof

It's a tie! I know, these movies aren't classics (yet), but they're so enjoyable. Death Proof is just a load of fun (read my review on it), and Inglorious Basterds... well, at first I was going to put it in 4th place, but then I remembered something: 

This guy.

Best. Villain. Ever. 


Rating: 8/10. They're both very different to Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs, in a good way. It shows that Tarantino doesn't want to get stucked doing the same thing. Kudos to that.

2) Kill Bill

Yeah, both, they're one whole movie to me. This was my first Tarantino movie that I saw in theatres, and it was a blast. I couldn't wait for Part 2 to be released. And when it was, it gave me more than I expected: it gave me a deep story, a message, something else than just gory action and entertainment. And plus, it had David Carradine developing his character.

Rating: 9/10. 

It's moody, it's fun, it's visually stunning, the acting is great... I know it has some haters, but it's near perfect to me.

1) Pulp Fiction

My all time favourite film, tied with Back to the Future (actually BTTF is kinda "cheating" by using the nostalgia value). Yeah, you can tell I'm quite a Tarantino fan by now. This movie has everything, and that relies on the structure: multiple stories connecting each other, so you get tons of memorable characters and moments, all compressed in just 2 hours of pure fun. I don't think there's one scene that I didn't like, the timing is great here, proving that QT knows how to entertain.

And Uma is so fucking cute in this one.

Rating: 10/10. 

So many great characters, scenes, quotes. Oh, and it has one of the greatest soundtracks ever.

So, what's YOUR QT Top 5?

Short film you gotta see: My Best Friend's Birthday

So you thought you've seen every Tarantino film, right? Wrong! Here's his first work, My Best Friend's Birthday. You can recognize the Tarantino style in its embryonic stage here. Enjoy!

Today's Film: Clerks

So a couple of months ago I decided I had to watch something by this guy Kevin Smith. I knew him from some interviews and talks (like the one where he speaks about the Superman film he almost wrote) and thought he was hilarious. What I was expecting was a geeky Generation X comedy, but I got more than I was looking for.

This movie explores what is like to be twenty-something and feel completely stucked in life, not knowing what to do, or even worse, afraid of taking that step that will lead you to something better.

At first, it actually looks as a silly comedy, but between farts and cock sucking jokes, you'll find a deep background. That's the genius of this movie, something that its successor, Mallrats, seems to lack.

The best Kevin Smith film, IMO.

Rating: 7/10

Film School vs Learning from experience

So I stumbled upon this video the other day:



I laughed a lot. And it made me remember why I left film school years ago.
And then I remember the 10 Minute Film School by Robert Rodriguez. He's always preaching self-learning and making the most out of what you already have, as little as it may be. So here's the video:



It's kinda outdated, he talks about editing in video tapes and stuff, but you get the general idea: just shoot, get practice, get experience from real life, learn from you own mistakes, experiment, and make the most out of nothing. This is really inspirational and it makes you wanna grab a camera right now and start working on something.
Then there's also this other video, the 10 Minute Flick School, which is more up to date and he discuss things like After Effects, green screen, etc. I'll just leave you the link since I don't wanna crowd this post: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Xy9lOmbWo4

So guys, what do you think? Do you think film school is useful or would you rather just get your camera and learn from experience? 

Today's Film: Ed Wood

You know, I don't like Tim Burton. I don't like his hairdo, I don't like his glasses, I don't like the fact that he seems to be in love with Johnny Depp. I don't even like Johnny Depp and his over the top acting.

That said, I have to admit Ed Wood is a masterpiece. I'll go as far as saying that is the best work by Tim Burton yet.

Tim doesn't overdo it here. The result? An excellent movie.

Why? First of all, Burton doesn't abuse his "weird looking visuals" in this movie. It's quite subtle, but at the same time, the decisions are strong enough to make it unique (i.e., making it black and white).
As for the acting, one of the best things about this movie is Martin Landau playing Bela Lugosi. He won an Oscar for it and it's well deserved. Also, Johnny Depp playing his usual retarded role is quite adequate here and it's not annoying at all. Heck, it's even funny!

Johnny Depp doing a good job and Martin Landau being awesome.

And funny is what this movie is all about, because there is a great plot behind it all: this is a biopic about a young director called Ed Wood, famous for the ultra-bizarre, Z-class movie Plan 9 From Outer Space, a movie that's so bad it's good.

What kind of person can possibly conceive a film like that? Well, that's what Tim Burton shows us, and that is the main reason this film is so great: the main character is so weird, so fucked up, yet so naive, so mediocre yet so energic... you just gotta love him.

Rating: 7.5/10

So make sure you see it, if you haven't. I know I will be watching it again anytime soon.

Top 5 movies to watch stoned

Yet another new section... the Top 5! I'm gonna do this from time to time and feel a little like John Cusack. Feel free to give me any suggestions for upcoming rankings.

Note: I'm not focusing on "stoner movies" like Half Baked, just movies that have stunning visuals that will catch your eye and keep you "in trance".

5) Paprika


Paprika is about a girl detective that can enter in people's dreams... no, it's not Inception. This is an animated movie with some amazing, onirical images.

This image speaks for itself

4) 2001: A Space Odyssey


I know, I already talked about this movie... but, c'mon, man, just look at this screencap. Also, since this is a slow paced movie, a joint or two may help you to pass it.

Trippy stuff.

If you don't wanna watch the whole thing and just want to get the best experience, there's a video that synchronizes Echoes, by Pink Floyd, with a sequence of the movie. Here is parte one:

3) Mulholland Drive 


Well... anything by David Lynch is quite a trip. And if you don't understand the plot... you can always blame the ganja.

2) Yellow Submarine


It's psychedelic, it's fun, it's light hearted and it has the Beatles music! Definitely worth your flying time.

1) The Wall


Well, this will provide a different kind of trip. A deep, mindfuck kind of trip. But hey! Don't let it be a bad one. This movie has some of the greatest visuals of all time, with the animations by the great Gerald Scarfe and the amazing Pink Floyd music.



That's it. So light a joint and enjoy!

Today's Film: The Thing

I have to admit that this movie surprised me. Being that The Thing is directed by John Carpenter, same guy who did the Halloween saga (the original one), I thought this was gonna be a cheesy space-monster slasher movie. Much to my surprise, it's more related to Ridley Scott's Alien than Halloween.

Disregard the cheesy monster-flick title.

The plot: A shape-shifting deadly creature makes contact with an isolated group of people living in an Antartic base. The paranoia explodes as no one is able to know if someone in the group is actually the creature in disguise.

The audience doesn't know, either. And that's what's this movie is all about: suspense. It will keep you in the edge of your seat the whole runtime.

This is just an action figure based on the movie, but it gives you the general idea.

But that's not all. After all, this is a horror movie, not Twelve Angry Men. You won't just be seeing a group of men being suspicious of each other: you'll get to see tons of blood, flamethrowers, and some of the weirdest and fucked up images ever created on film.

Carpenter considers this as the first of his "apocalyptic trilogy", consisting of Prince of Darkness and In The Mouth of Madness. I haven't seen those two yet, but I think I will very soon.

So go watch it, if you haven't!


Rating: 7.5/10

Short film you gotta see: Doodlebug

Did you know about this? Doodlebug is Christopher Nolan's first work. Enjoy!

Today's Film: My Neighbour Totoro

Another animated movie, this time, directed by the genius Hayao Miyazaki.
What can I say? This one is a timeless classic. It's about two little girls living with his father in a forest and meeting strange, ancient creatures.

Totoro is so iconic, he became Studio Ghibli's logo.

But that's not the point of the film. The best thing about it it's the mysterious atmosphere, the beautiful artwork, the magic, the surprises.

 Mind blowing artwork.

Do yourself a favor and go watch it! And if you have kids, show them a real masterpiece at an early age.

The credits are so cool... you'll be singing this song for days.

Rating: 8/10.

Trivia: Back to the Future

New section here! Let's begin with one of my all time favourites!

Have you ever noticed this? I really haven't, and I watched this film hundreds of times...



Did you know that the final scene of BTTF1 and the beginning of BTTF2 are NOT the same scene? It was re-shot. Here you got a comparison, you can notice the small differences. Even the actress playing Jennifer is different!



Bonus: This will surely crack you up if you're spanish speaker. Michael J. Fox is impersonating a chicano here, insulting in spanish. ("Eh, puto!!", meaning "Hey, fucker!!").

Today's Film: Death Proof

Yeah! Have you seen this one?

It's all about vintage cars and hot chicks.

Death Proof is a hidden gem. Although it's very recent, it feels very fresh, as if it was Tarantino's first movie. I bet he felt very confortable with the idea of making a low-profile movie, you can tell by seeing how much he got to experiment.

Awesome character.

The movie is full of hot girls, unexpected characters, car chases, and TONS of Tarantino's trademark dialogues. Yep, if you enjoyed Pulp Fiction, make sure you check this one out.

Oh, and there are lapdances too.

My rating: 7.5/10

Today's Film: Mind Game

Today we have an animated film. A japanese animation film. No, don't get me wrong: this is not anime. Seriously, it's not. Now that I made that clear, let's move on.

Many different techniques are used in this movie.

Mind Game is an amazing film. It will keep you surprised from start to finish. The plot is somehow bizarre, and since I don't want to spoil anything, I recommend you to go watch this movie knowing absolutely nothing about it.

The text in the cell phone is one of the film's topics.

Mind Game could as well be known as Mind Fuck. Because that's what this movie will do, it will rape your brain. In a good way. So, is this movie for you? Let's see. If you enjoy crazy movies with twists, a fast pace and lots of room for interpretation, please watch it.

And yes, it makes a great "stoner movie".

Rating: 9/10

Today's Film: Dreams

Today we have a snobby film! Yeah!

This film, by Akira Kurosawa, is totally amazing. The film is divided in 8 unrelated chapters, all based on dreams the director had. Some of them are nice, warm and even funny. Others are dark and downright disturbing.

Stoner movie? Yeah, maybe.

Dreams is ideal if you ever wanted to see a Kurosawa film but you're afraid of getting bored, cause it's very fast paced and entertaining.

The snow chapter, on of the weirdest.

So, I have no rating for this one. Maybe it's for you, maybe it's not. Check the trailer and you'll see.

Today's Film: The Secret In Their Eyes

Well, I might start writing about movies that are not widely known, i.e. this one.
The Secret In Their Eyes is an awesome film. A film that will keep you thinking about the plot and the characters for days. At least, that's what happened to me.
The plot is about a retired counselor that decides to start writing a novel about an old case. The movie will keep jumping between past time (somewhere around 1970) and present day.
There's a lot more to it, but I don't want to spoil anything. The acting is superb. This film even has Guillermo Francella, a comedian, doing his first "serious" part, with excellent results.

Go watch it. Now.

9/10

Today's Film: 2001: A Space Odyssey

Today's film is 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Stanley Kubrick.
I'll start by saying I'm a huge Kubrick fan. Some people may think this movie is boring... but, hey, give it a try. Just don't watch it expecting a fast-paced movie.

Amazing color palette...

Symmetry plays an important role in this film's visuals.

And yes, there are very trippy scenes, you pothead.

Some trivia for this movie:

Originally intended as a road show release, with Overture, Intermission, and Exit music (all with curtain warmers) and a 35mm b/w prologue of interview with experts on the possibilities of extra terrestrial life. Despite the fact that the Overture, Intermission, and Exit Music were not used, the film still went out as a roadshow release, and still had an intermission. When Stanley Kubrick learned this, he not only ordered where the intermission took place, but had his film's composer record specific music for the intermission, and requested that the theater be plunged into darkness for a minute before the film restarted. 

Incrementing each letter of "HAL" gives you "IBM". Writer Arthur C. Clarke claimed this was unintentional, and if he had noticed ahead of time, he would have changed it. HAL stands for Heuristic Algorithmic Computer. IBM product placements appear in the movie as well, including the computer panels in the spaceplane that docks with the space station, the forearm control panel on Dave's spacesuit, and the portable viewscreens on which Dave and Frank watch "The World Tonight". 

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog! Here I will write about my other passion: Films! I'll review some of my favourites and recommend some others that you guys may not know about. I hope you stay and follow me :)

Just to tease, a screencap of one of my TOP 5 films