I decide to post my top movies of last year. Not sure how many I will post. Here we go!
This was an amazing movie. I think it’s my favorite of the year. The acting is superb and will be rewarded in the Oscars. One thing I liked about the film was a look at history that I wasn’t really aware of. We hear a lot about Churchill, but not King George the VI. Check this film out and you’ll enjoy yourself.
Darren Aronofsky is all I really need to say. I’ve been excited for a new film from him for a long time. This movie didn’t disappoint at all. Darren showed us that drugs can mess your life up and now I think he showed us that ballet can mess your life up. Everything in moderation I guess. My only issue was with the delightful Natalie Portman. I know you’re thinking she can do no wrong and I agree, but her part she played too much at times. The timid little ballerina act I think showed through just a touch. However, don’t look for it though…it’s not really there. I’m looking forward to more work from both these two. Check some of Darren’s next movies…me thinks we are in for a treat!
This was a movie that was a great follow up to Ben Affleck’s directorial debut Gone Baby Gone. Probably a little less emotionally powerful than GBG, but had it’s moments. Kind of reminded me of a few other bank robbery movies, but I think it still had legs.
The Coen Brothers never cease to please me with their movies. They have a great style that can’t be matched. This film is a pretty straight forward movie in the tradition of No Country for Old Men. The ambiguity lies in the characters rather than the story line. The contrast being A Serious Man where the story line can be a little convoluted and the main character is simple and complexity surrounds him. I might not be making any sense or I’m probably not even getting it right so I’m going to move on….you should go watch this!
Little shout out to my homie burgersmoke. He made a great game version of this wonderful movie. The only downside to this movie is it’s a little too much the same as the others. Woody is smart he’s the leader it’s alright to listen to him. If you want to shed some tears for some toys go check it out.
Some might not like this selection, but I thought it was great. If you like video games or comic books then you’ll appreciate this movie. Edgar Wright, the director, has a true love of movies. I think this film really shows that he just had a good time with this movie and was able to achieve what he wanted. Coming off some other great films I think it gave him more liberty to let loose even more. I’m excited to see what’s next for him. My only complaint with the film is the love interest. She doesn’t seem to deserve Scott’s admiration (even though Scott is a bit of a douche). Also, it has Jason Schwartzman…nuff said!
This is a must see for the year, but if the give Wahlberg anything for this film then I’m not seeing what he’s doing. His shitty, boring, timid acting might be so many layers deep that I’ll never understand it. Anyway, he is out shined by every other person in the film. His sisters are a little over the top, but great. Christian Bale might win something for this and I would be happy to see him do so.
Very creative way to capture the film. You are entertained the whole time. They make you feel the one graphic scene. For you that live in Utah a lot was filmed in the old Granite Furniture in Sugarhouse and I heard the set was amazing.
I had a lot of fun with this movie. I think it has a wider audience than Scott Pilgram. My only quibble with the film is that is drags for a bit at the end. They should have trimmed it up just a bit.
I liked this film, but didn’t love it. The reason I put it up here is because David Fincher did an amazing job directing. Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay is very tight. I think that some of the back and forth in the film detract from some of the fast thought out dialog. They captured a young awkward genius pretty well.
I thought it was worth a watch. I maybe would have cast someone other than Julianne Moore. I think she is a little old for the character that they portrayed on screen. Seemed a little forced at times.
I had a lot of problems with this movie, but it’s still very enjoyable. Maybe I’ll do another post about this movie. That van took forever to fall off the bridge.
Honorable Mentions:
Fun comedy…easy watching.
There is some good music and a few great scenes.
Scorsese is a great director, but it would be hard to come off a film like The Departed.
I still want to see Biutiful, Rabbit Hole and How to Train Your Dragon. Let me know if I need to see anything. These lists are always hard to make because I watch a lot of movies and forget what I’ve seen. Feels like a weak list hopefully this year is a little better.
Filed under: Art, music | Tags: Art, Beatles, girl talk, Jay-Z, mashups, music
I’m a fan of mashups in any form. Creating new art from existing art is sometimes very incredible. Not sure if you have had a chance to listen to Girl Talk, but you should. He has a great talent for beatmatching. He mixes rap with rock and pop. Very fun music! I saw him in Seattle at The Capitol Hill Block Party. He was the most energetic act and was able to get everyone dancing (If you look closely I might be somewhere in that video). There are other great examples of mashups: The Beatles and Jay-Z, A Plus D, and another I just discovered Kutiman.
I wanted to highlight his first video on his site.
He is amazing! He scours youtube for your videos, okay probably not your video because you are like me and have no talent…sad. He will take a beat from a song that anyone has put on youtube. It might even just be a chord or a note. His work speaks for itself. He has a few techniques that he employs. He sometimes speeds up or slows down the video to get the timing right. He says that you can experiment yourself by just opening different windows in youtube and play the videos simultaneously. I have tried that accidentally and it is very annoying. Keith Olberman talking about how Glen Beck sucks and a live performance by The Avett Brothers don’t always mix.
Give me some feedback and tell me what you think of Kutiman. Also, follow me on Twitter @filosofer
I wanted to just make everyone aware that there is a sort of evil that is taking advantage of our evil nature. The evil nature that I am talking about is you stealing music. Everyone does it, but don’t worry too much. You’re more likely to get struck by lightning than sued by the RIAA.
Bittorrent is the newest tech for sharing music. The Pirate Bay and other torrent sites are very popular. The evil that takes advantage of us is the very evil RIAA. They host bittorrent sites of their own. When you download from them they send you a letter to pay up! They have done the math and it is more profitable to pirate the music and send letters than it is to actually market and sell the music in stores. They only count on 25% of people to respond to the letters they send out, but the minimum per song is around $750 dollars. Sometimes the profits are 100 times that of regular album sales.
Capitalism will find a way to squeeze every dollar out of you. The people that really lose are the artists. They don’t see these profits. Screw everyone is the RIAA motto.
If you like a band go to their concerts maybe even buy a t-shirt at their show. Hopefully a new model for the music industry will emerge and make everyone happy. Unfortunately, we are too used to getting it for free.
I have been pondering what to do with my blog for a while now. A huge part of my life is devoted to science and research. Okay, not anything glamorous like going to the rain forests and finding new species of spiders, but personal, internet research. For me – it’s great. Sucking in as much information as I can about genetics, chemistry, physics, and biology. By the way, dark matter has some possible new headway in detection.
Another huge part of my life has been devoted to skepticism and atheism. I think for this blog I am going to focus on general science info and whatever non-abrasive topics that interest me, but let’s face it science is really a slap to god’s face anyway so, I’ll get you christians one way or the other with my blog.
Interjection — Spell check wants me to capitalize christians. Even WordPress wants me to respect religion. I’m going to capitalize Skeptic and Atheist, but some other words I probably won’t from now on.
I’ll have a link for my other blog soon, but for now I’ll start posting what I want here.
So far I’m not ‘Almost Internet Silent’ I am Internet silent. Hopefully that changes soon. I actually have a draft saved of something to post. I sometimes say funny or scientific things on twitter so follow me there. @filosofer
Jason
