Dexter

Pottyboy has been raving about this show, in fact it's his favorite all-time show, and he burned a DVD of the first 2 seasons for me. My fiancée and I stayed up until 4am last saturday watching the first season. Yeah it's that good. Dexter is a forenics expert, specifically a interested in blood spatter patterns, who moonlights as a serial killer. But he kills other "killers" or people he deems bad. He even collects evidence and has a procedure based on years of training from his foster father. Just-"this much"-ever-so-slightly over the top it's barely noticable, Dexter is American Psycho meets CSI (not the shitty NYC or Miami editons, even though Dexter takes place in Miami). But even that doesn't describe it entirely. I'm sure I've said it before, but tone is HUGE, and the tone in this show is balanced so delicately and so well you don't even realize it until you reflect. At times, hilarious, moving, scary and violent this show blends just about every genre into a big bowl. Speaking of reflecting, as the episodes go on, right up and into the finale you realize you've seen a truly well thought out and brilliantly conceived idea that spans 13 episodes. Michael C Hall plays Dexter to perfection and without his performance the show doesn't work. The show just finished it's second season on Showtime, so in the meantime, and the midst of the writers strike, when there's very little to watch on TV, rent the first season of Dexter.

Cloverfield Party

This could be cool. Sadly I'll be knee deep in work. Who's going to go so I can live vicariously.

Roundup

I hope everyone had a nice holiday and a Happy New Year. I’ve seen a bunch of good movies lately and they are all worth mentioning. Here we go-

Juno
In fell in love with this movie early on, and when it was over, I wanted it rewound so I could watch it again. Juno is a 16 year old girl who discovers she’s pregnant and decides to give the baby up for adoption to whom she thinks are the ideal parents. The result is touching and hilarious. This is the debut from screenwriter Diablo Cody and I can’t wait to see what she has coming down the pipeline. It’s also the second film, after Thank you for Smoking by Jason Reitman who has a good eye for comedy and casting. Which leads me to Ellen Page, who plays Juno. Her performance is note perfect, in a delicately balanced film, and award worthy. She’s perfect. Her supporting cast isn’t too shabby either. You can’t beat charm and humor. Check it out.

The Bourne Ultimatum
The best of the bunch. It’s fast and furious but more importantly we see a different Jason Bourne than before and it made the film that much better than it’s predecessors. Matt Damon is such an interesting choice for the character and he’s done it so well. He kinda makes it look easy. There are a few action set pieces here that made me sit up in my chair (couch, whatever). I’ve seen this film on a few 10 top ten of the year lists and I can see why. There is a fight scene in this movie which ranks right up there with the very best and joining it is a fight scene from Eastern Promises (see below).

The Kingdom
I’m surprised this wasn’t a bigger hit. Then again I’m not. People don’t go to the movies to escape something very real to us. An oil company community in Saudi Arabia is attacked at an afternoon picnic/softball game. An FBI crew goes in to investigate. The director, Peter Berg, described the movie by saying the “first two-thirds of the film are like cocking a giant bow with a big arrow and the last third we let it go.” True and true. The movie is taut and intense- it’s a slow burn, but the last 20 minutes are batshit. Oddly enough I saw this movie about two hours after I saw Juno and Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner are in both films, together (literally in Juno, they’re married).

Eastern Promises
I have read that this film plays like an Opera. I’ve never seen an opera but if they play like this, I’m down. Viggo Mortensen is a bad motherfucker in this movie, plain and simple. He plays the “driver” for the Russian Mob, but he’s so much more than that. This film unfolds beautifully and I had avoided trailers, reviews and the like so I went in fairly blind and I’m glad I did. Try to do the same. David Cronenberg directed this and much like A History of Violence, (a film I greatly admired) Eastern Promises is told swiftly and cleanly, meaning it doesn’t muddle down in unnecessary shit. Very admirable, especially for a movie I’d find tempting to tell in a much longer running time.

Shoot ‘Em Up
Fucking crazy. I read somewhere that within the first five minutes of this film, you’ll know whether or not you’re going to like it and I agree. I loved it. This movie is pure fun and adrenaline. The story and the action move fast and some scenes get more outlandish than the next. I mean outlandish in a good way because the action is inventive and well thought it. Clever too. Shoot ‘Em Up would be a fun on a triple bill with Run Lola Run, and Running Scared (Paul Walker -who can really act when he wants to, not Billy Crystal) – a compliment to all of those films by the way. Clive Owen and Paul Giamatti are not usually a disappointment when it comes to performance. This movie is no exception. I mention Giamatti of note- I loved all his work here.

Bug
If you liked fucked up movies and I mean fucked up, watch Bug. It’s from William Friedkin, who directed The Exorcist. Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon play two lonely people who connect and find comfort in one another. Harry Connick, Jr. who alwasy plays "creepy" well, plays Judd’s “ex” who has just been released from prison. This film hits you in back of the head without warning. I wouldn’t call it a horror movie, but it creeped me out in a big way.

Cloverfield Online

Ain't it Cool has five minutes of Cloverfield online right now. I started watching it but I'm going to try and be patient for 1.18.08

It's Christmas Time!

My good friend, Mike Timm, made this short a few years ago for christmas. I didn't even realize he had it online until tonight so I figured I'd post it to get everyone in the holiday spirit and see what a brilliantly clever guy Mike Timm is. Enjoy!

There Will Be Blood - Deleted Scene

Gotta love the internet. You can now watch a deleted scene from a movie whch hasn't even been released yet. www.littlebostonnews.com was the first official website for There Will Be Blood, while it was shooting. There now is only a deleted scene up. Check it out.

See Real Ten Eyck: Really See Ten Eyck

See Real Women: Really See Women - Watch more amazing videos here

I met Carla Ten Eyck this summer at my first and sadly to date, only PUG Meeting. We became fast friends, breaking balls, trading movie quotes, pop culture references and the like. She expressed an interest in doing a video about her for her wedding photography business. With my workload at the time, I wouldn't have been able to pull it off. She also had mentioned a project that immediately intrigued me. She had posed the question "How do you feel most beautiful?" to numerous women and then photographed them according to their response. The result is a beautiful book filled with powerful images and wonderful words and stories to accompany them. The idea of "beauty" is interesting to me and I was even more interested in someone as cool, and well, interesting as Carla had vaulted such a cool project. Personally I thought it was a perfect idea to be captured in a documentary style. Also, this was a much more managable project than a video based on her business- one day of shooting and then the editing- so Carla bravely agreed to hire me.

2 months ago I had the pleasure of interviewing, Carla and three of her subjects- Jean, Marsha, and Susannah. Then we attended and shot the official opening of the project at the Hartford Public Library, where her pictures are still hanging and will be until December 15th. I highly recommend getting up there and checking them out.
We had a great time shooting, at least I did, and then we capped the night off with some beers and food and a big group of great people who all turned out to support Carla and her fantastic project. Now Carla is not done yet- she wants to take this idea and project international- photographing women all over the world! If you've met her you have no question in your mind that she will accomplish this and then some! Here's to the person who's smart enough to fund it for her!

I want to thank Jean, Marsha and Susannah for their time and wonderfully candid remarks. You all are very natural and relaxed on camera and made job so much easier.

Big up yourself Bob 2.0! Can't thank Bob enough, once again for his hard work on and off the set, as well as being a good, super supportive friend and fellow collaborator. Bob is a utility guy in every sense of the word. He ran sound, operated second camera on the interviews and shot b-roll with me at the opening and he also does all the graphics and photos. Thanks Bob, I couldn't have done it without you!

I want to thank Carla for her kindness and patience with my busy schedule- allowing me to finish at my own pace and trusting my vision. She was trusting (or psychotic) enough to believe in our work and see what we came up with. Mostly I want to thank her for her beautiful project and I hope it inspires you as much as it inspired me.