Joaquin Phoenix

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBoGNBSLYRY

For some reason blogger was refusing to let me just put the video on the site so just follow the link. I sense an Andy Kaufman situation going on with this whole thing. Post up your reactions/ opinions.

hooray for wildlife.

www.conservewildlifenj.org

enjoy, everyone :).

HOW TO PITCH A MOVIE THE WRONGLY HILARIOUS WAY

Sean Penn

Peter Travers On The Essential Sean Penn: The Roles That Defined the "Milk" Star

Outtakes From the Rolling Stone Interview


...and if you get a chance, pick up the most recent issue of Rolling Stone (February 19, 2009) and read the Sean Penn Interview... for a more intimate look at his past life, present, and his views on directing and acting and everything in between.

To my special son

I have a special son, whose name is Jon

He scorns the use of an H that is silent

Not only is he the Costal fan club President

he is also a client

We vowed a special love that did grow

like Andrew Cain's eye-blocking hair length

tho some even called our love grotesque

like Gotham's new DA Harvey Denth

Jon loves films, the theatre

community service and drama

he writes oh so nicely

refusing to use the comma

His passion infectious and

his commitment knows no dearth

"my special son went on a mission to Africa,

and all I got was this lousy t-shirt"

He did his Chosen project alone

I pleaded, yelled and yelped

so next time he was careful

to pretend his family helped

From Homer to Shakespeare

Remus and Romulus

and remember we even covered

your main homeboy Jesus

But together we have sought great meaning

in this mediocre place

even answered the age-old question

what came first heaven or space?

Long ago we took that special pledge toward
a mutual love we would proctor
cuz sometimes we dine alone
but sometimes we dine with the doctor

HEY GUYS PIRATE CONTEST

I COULDN'T PLACE PICTURES IN ZANDER'S POST, SO HERE'S MY ABSENTEE SUBMISSION!

I FIGURED IT'D BE BEST TO HAVE A MODERN PIRATE RIGHT? AND I EDITED OUT THE GUN AND MADE SURE HE DIDN'T HAVE ANY PROSTHESES OR ANYTHING PIRATEY - GOTTA MAKE SURE HE'S NOT OFFENSIVE!

I HOPE YOU ALL LIKE IT BECAUSE I'M SURE THE STUDENTS OF CEDAR CREEK WON'T!

Coraline - She's as cute as a button (in the eyes)

In the mood for a charming, visually mesmerizing movie with a hint of nostalgia and a heap of unsettling creepiness?

Coraline is the film adaptation of a fantasy/horror novella by Neil Gaiman, directed by Henry Selick. Selick is the man behind The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, Monkeybone (guilty pleasure), and more. The plot of the movie involves a young girl who, while wandering around her new house out of boredom, stumbles upon another world. A world where her doppelganger parents don't neglect her, where everyone she meets is fun and interesting, and where everything is eerily similar to her real life - only much better. Coraline falls in love with this new world, until things begin to go awry and she finds out the hard way that not everything is as it seems.

Henry Selick is known for his dazzling visuals, and this movie truly exemplifies this. With four years of work put into production and more than 500 people involved in the making of it, Coraline is a surreal, yet beautiful painting put into motion. Each character and set is so bizarrely designed, but at the same time they all fit together to create a brilliantly displayed piece of work. Selick has evolved his craft incredibly; all of the animation in this movie is crisper and smoother than ever.

I was surprised to find just how well each piece of music fit into the movie, with an enchanting score from Bruno Coulais, and even a tiny bit from They Might Be Giants. Coulais' theme for the movie is easily comparable to Danny Elfman's score from The Nightmare Before Christmas, as they have a catchy, sad and unique feeling to them. The music from TMBG is also well-placed, with its own brand of catchiness to it. I should also note that the lyrics to their piece are just so terribly clever and fitting.

The movie manages to keep a very disturbing feeling to it. There's a very chilling, unsettling feeling to some scenes, and it all culminates about three-quarters into the film. For a kids movie, it was very surprising to find as many things as creepy as I did. This is partially because of Selick's knack for being able to design some really disturbing stuff, but there's also a consistent atmosphere throughout the movie which really puts you on edge.

There isn't much to criticize the movie for, except maybe a few missing plot points. This is a fairy tale, however, so all that really needs to be said for anything questionable plot-wise is the word "magic." Besides, none of those are distracting enough to keep you from enjoying a dazzling, animated work of art.

MOVIE TRAILER CONTEST

Here is the link to the movie trailer project we are doing for Lockwood.

http://www.boburrito.com/contest.aspx

Cedar CREEK pirates

i'm styling the maroon, the cream, and some forest green!!!

i love the pirates, despite i can't wear:

piercings
an eye patch
a peg leg
my weapons
and cross bones

oh well, i'll still have my hat, maybe i'll become a musketeer...

GO PIRATES

Yet the Sun Keeps Setting

Hello FI,

I recently wrote a film treatment for my film class but also for a summer movie script. I like the over all story I've written and I wanted to get the story out there, for people to read, give ideas and critique. This is not the final draft, what so ever, and I'm still going through a ton of changes. Mr. Costal, you can expect an email from me with this identical draft of the film treatment, asking for your thoughts. To be kind to the blog, I'm going to post this paragraph as the main comment and then post the actual treatment as a comment underneath to save space on the home page. Anyone who wants to read it, go ahead, I won't be offend if this doesn't get any responses because extra reading sucks, especially when it's three pages long. Enjoy everyone and I'll probably keep in contact about this when it get further into preproduction like casting.

Thank you for the help,

Paul Brower

P.S.- I used Reina's name because I need a name... it happens.

Feel Good Movie of the Year

This movie looks SO cute. Fun for the whole family.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfout_rgPSA

Stanley Kubrick's Boxes

BOXXXXEEEESSSSSSSS!

Delicately Campaigning for a Star now Departed

Heath Ledger R.I.P.

Nolan, "He will be eternally missed, but he will never be forgotten."

Any thoughts on the article (it was homework for those who forgot)

In Bruges - Not as advertised

I'm a bit late in seeing this, and I noticed that a majority of the institute seems to be in love with it (for good reason).

First of all, I'd like to point out that the movie I watched was not at all the movie which is advertised in all of the trailers for it. Trailers such as this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoE9edjEDCI along with most others for it create the illusion that it's a comedy first, with maybe a bit of action. Colin Farrell is found karate chopping a midget, "ohohoho how hysterical is that," I say to myself. "Let me check this out for a giggle or two."

The giggle or two comes at a price, though, being that the movie itself is tremendously dark. It IS humorous, but essentially it's a tragedy. It's unashamedly politically incorrect, but it does so indiscriminately. The central characters are really reprehensible in their actions & views and hardly distinguishable from the 'bad guys'. Wow - just like in real life.

The movie itself is gorgeous in presentation. Almost every shot is done flawlessly. The characters, Ray (Farrell) and Ken (Gleeson), are both well written and well acted. The depth to the both of them really shows through, as Farrell manages to pull off a selfish brat, a suicidal depressive, and a charming romantic, and make me sympathetic towards each one.

I won't spoil the ending, but I feel that, no matter how over-the-top it was, it was very appropriate. Not only that, but it was totally ambiguous; something I would normally feel annoyed at. In this case, however, it fits perfectly. A happy ending would be out of the question with this story, but I don't think anyone would have supported a sad one.


Opinions, FI?

Nick and Norah's Infinite Borefest!

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! I liked that movie better the first time when it was called, "every 80s teen movie ever written minus the fun!" It was like 45 minutes too long, as evidenced by the fact that Michael Cera stopped being cute, funny and ironic...oh, he's so cute, funny and ironic! High Points: 1. Loved the endearing gay band mates. Made me miss my own endearing gay friends. 2. Loved the Yugo! Line of the movie: Nick: Once you own one, you see them everywhere.

Especially hated the perceived accessibility as unrealistic parking opportunities of NYC on a Friday night...please. You can't drive from Manhattan to Brooklyn on a Friday night in under 8 hours...PERIOD! Where's Fluffy? Stuck on the Brooklyn Bridge in traffic, holmes. Deal with it.

Dr. Strangelove I Presume!!

Since we are now viewing Dr. Strangelove, here's some trivia about the film (thanks to our friends at www.imdb.com):

• Peter Sellers was paid $1,000,000 for his work on the film (five-ninths of the film's budget). Kubrick famously quipped "I got three for the price of six".


• Peter Sellers improvised much of his dialog during filming!


• The original ending was supposed to be a pie fight in the War Room!


• Dr. Strangelove apparently suffers from agonistic apraxia (also known as "alien hand syndrome".


• One version of the script featured all of the action being observed by aliens from outer space!


• Number 3 in the American Film Institute's list of 100 greatest comedies


• President Muffley (Peter Sellers) was patterned after Adlai Stevenson.


• General Ripper's paranoia about water fluoridation is based on a conspiracy theory by the John Birch Society, which was founded in 1958 and was prominent in conservative politics for a short time in the early 1960s!


• Gen. Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott) was patterned after Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Curtis LeMay, who was renowned for his extreme anti-Communist views and who once stated that he would not be afraid to start a nuclear war with the Soviet Union if he was elected President!