I can still tell you, without a doubt, that this is the stupidest review of the movie that you will read.
You’re welcome. 
Having neither read nor seen The Hunger Games…
– March 28, 2012
Movies Archive
1
Japanese movies: like American movies, but Japanesier
– March 22, 2012
That post title doesn’t make any sense, but fuck it. The first Hunger Games movie comes out this weekend, and even though the books were goddamn addictive, and even though it’s already broken online movie ticket sales records, and even though the movie currently has an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing, and even though I already have tickets for Saturday, and even, umm, though… crap. Yeah, I don’t know where I’m going with this. The point is, there’s been some pseudo controversy surrounding the trilogy ever since the first installment was published because it’s similar to a 1999 Japanese novel called Battle Royale that was also made into movies soon after. Except those movies were made in Japan. By the Japanese. And that means they have trailers like this:
Which, as you can see, is friggin’ disabled, but is a little grittier than this next one, which was re-cut for the recent Blu-ray release:
They also make sequels with trailers like this:
And reading it back, I can see how this post might sound almost racist, which is too bad, because the punchline was supposed to be, “Now instead of going to the theater on Saturday, I’m moving to Japan.” But instead it’s this stupid meta-commentary that nobody wants to read. Meh.
(I am interested to see how an American director plans on showing kid after kid killing one another though. The books certainly don’t pull any punches in that respect, but I feel like too much directness could turn off American audiences.)
2
Best movie of 2012 so far
– March 19, 2012
(which YouTube says was from 2011, but no one cares what YouTube says)…
– VERBOSE EFFUSIVENESS ALERT –
It’s got this amazing quality you only seem to see in work coming out of the developing world — a totally un-self-bound narrative perspective that frees the viewer to let a diverse mix of extremely particular and human characters reveal themselves and what it means to be both other and a person, coping with an ominous, starkly beautiful but cruel and senseless world. You start to really love them in a way that feels authentic. Even the slap-stick comic-relief character was given the space to reflect on existence, and does so profoundly — which really took the edge of cruelty off all the laughter at his antics. Affectionate laughter. And the movie made subtle but sharp fun of the tropes of Hollywood, and the expectations that we’ve been inculcated to have. Titillating melodramatic developments are portended, then put casually aside. They’re not so important, we realize. Life goes on. Not so important at all.
In other news, buds on trees and blooming purple flowers! It’s true. Linked-to shots taken yesterday. (NSFW if you work for Jadis — the Winter Queen character from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe who would presumably be infuriated to see signs of Spring and might either fire you or turn you to stone.)
0
Live Blogging the Oscars
– February 27, 2012
…awww, shit. You mean this thing was last night?! I thought we all agreed years ago to start broadcasting this boring-ass programming on Monday mornings.
Thanks for keeping me in the loop, Tom.
0
The Oscars are on television tonight
– February 26, 2012
But it’s all a goddamn sham and I won’t be watching (as I didn’t last year) because Melancholia didn’t get nominated for anything, and that’s a goddamn crime. Let me tell you something. Melancholia? Has got to be better than a movie about a goddamn horse.
Goddamnit
0
The Most Important Movie News You’ll Read All Year
– January 30, 2012
Monty Python. Back together. (Minus the dead guy.)
You’re welcome.
0
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm
– December 15, 2011
Saw the below yesterday at Of Swallows. It’s one of those experimental movies that succeeds in being consistently absorbing, which only makes you feel its provocations more keenly.
I don’t think anyone could pull off a movie like this any more. It would collapse into annoying hipster self-indulgent bullshittiness. No one involved would be able to keep from sustaining an ironic distance that would take away any sense of there being actual stakes at risk in the project.
The below doesn’t seem indulgent to me at all. It seems earnest and engaged. And I’m still a bit shaken by the last scene.
Watch it:
Jason (dude who runs Of Swallows) said he might try to get Greaves up to do a workshop. I’d be keen.
Additional thought: The way Greaves cuts — abruptly and just ahead of the beat — seemed really similar to the way Trier’s tended to cut in his last few movies. Contributed a lot to the kinetic feeling. I wonder if there’s a line of influence there.
0
Motherboard interviews Werner Herzog
– December 1, 2011
This is Ben’s beat, but I just got an email from Sean, assistant editor over there, pointing me toward the interview, so I figured I’d pass it along. I can’t watch it at work, and by God if it autoplays I’m going to take the damn thing down and just leave a link to their spot.
Moment of truth…
OH: And just so we’re clear, NB Reilly, I know I spelled Werner “Warner” in the title the first time, and that this typo is what was automatically tweeted out into the world. My bad. There’s no need to GChat me over it, okay?
