Thursday, February 25, 2010

The Hey-day of Disney Animation



For anyone like me, who grew up trying to mimic Ariel's iconic burst out of the water in their backyard pool, and sang every lyric to Beauty and the Beast, this movie will be a big treat. Can't wait to see it. Just seeing the sketches of my favorite Disney cartoons is getting me all excited to watch the film.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Monday is almost over....

but here is a DIY Filmmaking tip!!!!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

It's Sunday

and we are busy editing a Citybeat project we shot this past week. We will have that video posted this week. So far this year we have been busy working on a lot of different projects. C has been working on some scripts, and I have been busy recording new music with The Transient Music Project and talking shop on Friday nights 7 -8 with Artepolitik radio KSDT. More project news coming soon.

Now this looks both interesting and redundant. It almost seems that a proper Doors documentary is longtime overdue but there have several attempts to do this since the 80s which incorporated "never before seen concert, home movies, and footage from Jim Morrison's psychedelic desert flick Hwy: An American Pastoral. But the new documentary about the Doors When You're Strange looks pretty good. How bad can it be with Johnny Depp narrating???

Thursday, February 18, 2010

BMW Films


The Hire were a series of short films produced by various hollywood directors over a 2 year period for BMW. These highly popular shorts always featured Clive Owen as the driver with cameos from Gary Oldman to Madonna. The films were used as part of their TV ad campaigns back in 2001 and 2002 and you had to go to a BMW dealership or their website to view them or pickup a DVD. Executive produced by Tony Scott the Hire series were high stylized shorts with A-List cast and crew. These films laid the ground work for Tony Scott's surreal/experimental action films Man on Fire and Domino.

Despite all this success, in October 21, 2005, BMW stopped distribution of The Hire on DVD and removed all eight films from the BMWFilms website just four years after the first film debuted. The series was abandoned, because the project had become too expensive to afford. In the end, the series had been viewed over 100 million times in four years and had changed the way products were advertised. The films continue to grow in popularity on youtube and other viral sites and remain an interesting study of advertising and film.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

The White Ribbon


looks a great flick...we are definitely planning on checking it out this weekend. Checkout a review here!.

DIY FILMMAKING TIP OF THE DAY: DIY LIGHT KITS!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Shutter Island


is coming out this Friday and already the good reviews are pouring in....Checkout what Rollingstone says about the film.

DIY Filmmaking tip of the week :

Free Sound Effects resource!

Monday, February 15, 2010

DIY Filmmaking Tips!!!



In case you have heard of Banksy's Film "Exit Through The Gift Shop," here is an early review.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

2 More days till...


The Wolfman is released. Based on the trailer, this film looks pretty awesome...well at least its visuals do...hopefully everything else aka the story is solid as well. I used to be able to rely on Roger Eberts reviews but he has missed the mark the last couple of years...here's what he has to say about The Wolfman

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

The Baader Meinhof Complex


As part of our recently collaboration with Artepolitik talking shop on the Just Ian weekly radio show, we were tasked with reviewing The Baader Meinhof Complex. First off I would like to point out that the film is great cinema and well worth checking out despite what some reviews have say. Directed by Uli Edel, the film retells the formation and early years of Red Faction Army (RAF). The film has been criticized for glorifying the violence and its members and for not presenting the material objectively. In our opinion the film tries to do justice to the terrorists as well as to the representatives of the German state by describing both sides with an equally objective distance opposed to being completely one sided. If anything the only shortcoming in the film is that mainly focuses on a few of the members of the RAF and does not properly develop new characters as they introduced in the film. More specifically, I found that its often difficult for the viewer to relate to any of the supporting characters in the RAF or the antagonists aka members of the German Government which supports the criticism by some that the film is one sided. Regardless, we highly recommend this film. Its available for streaming on NETFLIX, so you be the judge.

Sunday, February 07, 2010

The Snow & Ashes

trailer below looks a solid film from first time director Charles-Olivier Michaud. Here at El Roberto we are always looking for filmmakers whose work inspires us, and based off this trailer..we are excited to see this film. Check it out.


Ever wondered on how to get that film look with video...here is a DIY film tutorial that can help...

Friday, February 05, 2010

Listen....


Hey Y'all,

One half of the El Roberto team we'll be on ArtePolitik's radio show tonight, discussing popular political films, music, and much more. You can listen tonight here at 7pm PST. Have a great friday!

Thursday, February 04, 2010

Neil Blomkamp Interview

Here's a great interview with Neil Blomkamp of the Oscar-nominated film District Nine from Filmmaker Magazine

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Shutter Island


is finally being released this released this month and has already been receiving positive reviews...checkout what Peter Travers thinks about the movie being pushed back until this year.

Monday, February 01, 2010

And the winner is....

Katherine Bigelow who defeated her ex-husband James Cameron to win Director's Guild Award for the Hurt Locker. Anyone seen this yet???