in this vampire/post-apocalyptic film called Day Breakers. Its 2019 and due to an "outbreak" nearly everyone on the planet is a vampire while the non-vampires are hunted and harvested for their blood. Underground "subwalk" tunnels replace sidewalks, curfew starts before dawn, and so on. Edward played by Ethan Hawk is a vampire with ethics and believes it is wrong to exploit comatose humans for their blood. Edward was probably a vegan in his prior human life, now he's a vampire with a conscience. Its a world where the vampires commute to work at night, drink blood mixed lattes and wear business suits with ties. At times it took a lot to not laugh out loud on what was on the screen but the occasional quick shots of gore or objects flying at you keeps you on your toes. Honestly, this film has some nice visuals, some pretty funny lines courtsy of Willem Dafoe and wasn't long enough to completely bore you out of your seats. Rent it on DVD or watch it for free on TV.
The trailer for Oliver Stone's new sequel to Wall Street, "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" (really, with that title?) has just been released. It looks kind of meh. A funny scene of Gordon Gekko getting released from jail, but besides that not much else going on. I've been rooting for Oliver Stone lately. His last few movies have been such a bust (Alexander, World Trade, and W.) it seems like his mojo just ran out in the 90's. He really needs a comeback film. Who knows...sometimes the initial trailer is misleading. I'm hoping this film is a lot more fun than it looks so far. Check it out...
It seems like we're on a roll with the do-it-yourself material these days. The clip above gives a really good example of how to make a dolly using PVC pipe. We've actually used this method before with pretty good results. The video is a little on the cheesy side, but the tip is worth it. Enjoy!
and we finally received our Canon Vixia HF S10. Right out of the box I can tell you that its a lot smaller than it looks. Its roughly about the size of a soda can and probably weighs about the same as well. However, despite its size, it feels pretty solid and appears to have everything we need for a more portable/light weight backup HD camera. We will post a more thorough review this weekend including some indoor and outdoor test footage. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, here is a review that we found interesting.
This Friday 7 - 8, be sure to tune into KSDT to listen to "A" of El Roberto discuss film, music, art, and politics with DJ Ian on Artepolitik radio. Should be a lot fun. And speaking of film/art/politics, the world famous yet elusive street artist Banksy between installing "fake" paintings in art museums has found the time to produce a film called Exit Through The Gift Shop. The trailer looks great and we can hardly wait to see it.
My trusty 2nd gen Ipod is nearing the twilight of its life. The lighted screen has mysterious dark smears running through it, the clicker only works clockwise, and the sound only plays through one ear. Thankfully A was awesome enough to buy me a sweet new Ipod Nano. Now, not only do I get to hear Grizzly Bear's "Southern Point" in melodious stereo sound, but I also can make videos! That's right, the nano shoots video. At first I was skeptical because c'mon-how great can a device smaller than a pack of gum record video? Turns out pretty well. Above is a video test of the Nano I found on youtube. As you can see it records a decent picture and sound.
"The Book of Eli" is not the best post-apocalyptic film, nor is it the worst...Immediately after exiting the theatre, the echo of the long and drawn out mini-moog sythn's parts combined with cgi-enhanced deserted landscapes brought sci-ci epic Dune to mind. Again this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but along with the overused CGI and mediocre acting provided by some of the supporting actors, I wasn't completely blown away with the film. Yes the action scenes were well choreographed and Denzel was great of course, but overall, the film is worth seeing but I would probably wait for video.
And what have we've been up to lately you ask???...We are filming some projects this week and will have some new footage posted soon. Stay tuned.
We bought a new camera today! Yeay! We were looking for a small compact HD camera. Something that didn't lack quality but wouldn't break the budget either. Since Canon is coming out with upgraded versions of all their compact HD cams, B&H is having a HUGE sale on the old versions. So we took advantage and were able to get the HF-S10 at a good price. Although small and compact it's a pretty good model with high HD quality. Crank 2 was actually filmed using one of the smaller Canon models that was even lower quality than the one we've just bought, so I'm pretty confident the SF10 won't disappoint in image quality. Plus, if we ever need to film a scene in a public place like a library or grocery store, there's less chance we'll get caught with this tiny camera instead of our giant XHA1. Haha, sneaky, I know ;) Above is a youtube video showing the image quality of this camera. Why do all youtube videos showing test footage always have to be boring static shots of flowers, trees and parks? We watch a lot of youtube camera test videos for research and they're all the same. I think for the SF10 we'll make a fun test video that shows actual human beings doing things, which is what we all normally film with our camcorders, right? Anyways, that's my schpiel for the day. G'night :)
Checkout with Roger Ebert had to say about filmmaker Eric Rohmer's many accomplishments in cinema. Below is a trailer of one Rohmer's best films Ma nuit chez Maud/My Night at Maud's.
In case you haven't seen it yet, below is the trailer for the A-Team remake...
Looks awful right??? Joe Carnahan’s film, is an adaptation of Steve J. Cannell’s classic A-Team series, with Liam Neeson as Hannibal Smith... I was even more surprised to find out that Riddley and Tony Scott are producing this stinky turd...can't wait for it to be released.
As it turns out, The Book of Eli isn't your normal everyday post-apocalyptic genre film, according to Reuters, "This film, the first from the Hughes Brothers in nearly nine years, instead is an intense, surprisingly serious study of a man making his way through a wilderness of catastrophic destruction and human cruelty like a latter-day prophet. An overlay of spiritual themes doesn't always work, but "Eli" is that rare Hollywood film that posits a Christian man as its hero." The Book of Eli is in line with neo-Western terms -- a solitary gunman comes to a town and confronts the corrupt sheriff and his maniacal deputies -- so the movie fits comfortably within the confines of mainstream studio moviemaking. And Denzel Washington is one of the few Hollywood stars who can pull off a larger-than-life character who can dispatch a gang of cutthroats with a nasty blade yet maintain an air of saintliness." We are definitely looking forward to checking it out, and as always will post a review.
We have been looking for a secondary camera and found this on B&H. The Vixia was used along with our other camera the Canon XH-A1 to film Crank High Voltage. So far, all of the reviews that we have read about it have been positive and the results look pretty impressive. Checkout the trailer below.
Now, we haven't completely made up our mind yet and will be testing out other cameras before we make a final decision. Stay tuned.
and we spent the evening authoring dvd's for a corporate project, organizing, and watching Man vs. Wild. We currently looking at picking up a secondary HD camera that is small enough for hand-held work and with professional features to use in all of our shoots. Show presenter Bear Grylls often uses a small hand-held camera on the show. Below is a clip of Man Vs. Wild, anyone know what cameras they use?
So we finally saw Avatar yesterday. We'd been up in Northern California on vacation for the last two weeks and decided to wait until we came back to SD, to watch the movie in IMAX 3D. You'd think after all this time, there wouldn't be a long line to see this movie on a tuesday night..wrong! We came 45 minutes early to the IMAX theater in Mira Mesa and there were still at least 30 people ahead of us in line already. On a side note, IMAX theaters are EXPENSIVE! They charge six dollars for a small popcorn. Can you believe that??!! All in all, after buying the IMAX tickets, ordering two small waters, a small popcorn and twizzlers the total bill came to 60 bucks for two people. What is this world coming too??!!!
Ahem, sorry for that. Back to the movie. I was excited as I'd never seen a movie in 3D before besides Captain EO (which they're bringing back soon-yeay!), so I didn't know what to expect. It turned out to be one of the most visually entertaining experiences I've had at the movies.
The story is set in 2154 when earth has started mining other planets for resources. The main character, Jake Sully, is recruited by the government to infiltrate a group of feisty natives on a planet being mined for precious minerals. He goes undercover by inhabiting an alien form identical to the natives...and it goes from there. The CGI effects in this movie look great, which is more than you can say for a lot of movies these days (I'm looking at you, cheesy CGI gophers in Indiana Jones IV). But I think a lot of that has to do with the fact they used Weta the effects house Jackson used in Lord of the Rings. There are some great visual scenes, such as the one when Sully first inhabits his alien body, and when the humans begin attacking the natives. Also, the landscapes and creatures dreamed up in this movie are vibrantly colorful and dynamic.
The story has a good, basic plot that had some timely themes running through it, though nothing too distracting. The dialogue was a little corny at times, but I think that like Titanic, Cameron stuck to a simple plot so he could keep the focus on the main star of the film-the effects. Go see it!
Here's an interesting video about the making of this movie
In Jim Jarmusch’s,The Limits of Control, Isaach De Bankolé portrays a traveler surrounded in mystery, engaged in a series of encounters, which eventually leads him to Bill Murray and even more plot confusion. That said, overall, the film is a minimalist exercise seen through the eyes of cinema’s men with no names, credited only as the Lone Man, which this time is played (and walked and walked) by Isaach De Bankolé with a determined gait and inscrutable gaze that initially reveal almost as little as the elliptical storytelling. Like Mr. Jarmusch, the Lone Man doesn’t share his intentions until he reaches the end. By that point, though, if you’ve paid attention to the cues and opening credits, you will be steps ahead of both. Just like the main character, the plot is lead by vaguely philosophical directives, and repetition, it emerges, is the film’s central structuring device. Technically speaking, in terms of the films soundtrack here Jarmusch creates his own textural mix-tape which adds to the surreal landscape of the film. As with all of our reviews, we don't want to give away too much but I can say that the film is beautifully shot and scored and is almost like a 2 hour surreal music video (not a bad thing here). Unfortunately the film didn't spend much time in the theaters but its available on In Demand or in a video store near you....so check it out.
According to Hollscope,Sam Worthington has been selected to play the lead role in the remake. Personally I like the original in all of it's cheesy glory and who can argue that the Queen theme song doesn't rock (see above). It will be interesing to see how this will shape up.
According to Harrison Ford when interviewed by French outlet Le Figaro . Not sure if we are excited to see more CGI monkeys or how bad George Lucas can make this franchise. More on the Indiana Jones 5 remours here
