Done with work for the week? Why not sit down, relax and have a poke at some of the cool things I found this week at the deep end of the interwebs. Enjoy your reading and/or watching!
“Cheap Thrills” director gives some cool tips for aspiring film-makers and there’s a good lot of do’s and don’t of shooting on a shoestring budget. Very interesting!
The guys over at The Playlist list 25 greatest films never made.
The All-American disillusionment of “Captain America – The Winter Soldier” – a very informative piece about the historical background and relevance in modern times of one of the oldest comic book superheroes. The article goes very well with the more academic piece on the same topic from the FSR crew. (My review of “Captain America – The Winter Soldier”)
By the way, Marvel seems to have plans on their ever-expanding cinematic unvierse that’s more or less laid out up until 2028, which goes very positively against my own fear of the ‘origin story repetition rut’.
Bilge Ebiri at The Vulture discusses how even after 15 years, “The Matrix” continually refuses to age.
And here’s the cherry on this week’s cake – an insightful discussion that erupted after the head of NATO (National Association of Theater Owners; don’t get any ideas) came out and said he refused to watch “12 Years a Slave” on the big screen, because ‘it was too upsetting’ and he’d prefer to stay in control over the film and pause it or leave the room when things get nasty. In return, Noel Murray from The Dissolve pointed out the sad fact we now live in times of ‘on demand entertainment’ where we – the viewers – would like to stay in control of how we watch films. Then, Sam Adams from Criticwire came out and without dancing around said how it was – ‘if you stop “Schindler’s list” for a fucking taco break, you are, in fact watching it wrong’. He then went on to remind us the films are not only entertainment, but also (and more importantly) someone’s artistic output and the least we could do is to devote the time and effort to ‘see the world through the artist’s eyes’. I’ll admit, the man has a point and we should really strive to watch the films start to finish without interruptions (which with a baby in the house and other things becomes a bit of a challenge) and surrender to the story and the visuals.
If you are still having problems forcing yourself to watch the difficult (but important) stuff, do what Julia Turner at The Slate did – throw a party for friends, make guacamole and make your guests sit through “Schindler’s list”. I wouldn’t, but to each their own…
Here are some other trailers released this week that are definitely worth having a look at:
“Blood Glacier” (dir. Martin Kren) also known under the title “The Station” – a creepy horror that looks like an homage paid to John Carpenter, David Cronenberg and even Ridley Scott.
“The Expendables 3” (dir. Patrick Hughes) – the cast of hard-boiled ninja commandos get teleported back from the 80’s to kick ass and chew bubble-gum… And they’re all out of bubble-gum.
“The Angriest Man In Brooklyn” (dir. Phil Alden Robinson) – Robin Williams thinks he has 90 minutes before he dies of cancer or something. I don’t know, but based on the title alone I was hoping for something more akin to “Falling Down”, which I now I think I’d like to revisit in order to see someone really pissed off – just because at the end of a long week there’s nothing more soothing than watch somebody blow his lid…
“Wolf Creek 2” (dir. Greg McLean) – a sequel to a wildly entertaining Aussie slasher (sprinkled with some torture porn), which looks to be a rather interesting journey into the outback. It sort of looks a bit more self-aware than I’d like it to be, but horrors can withstand much before they become ridiculous…
See also:
Talking About Film 