Film Journal 3/5

Let me just say it: I love The Matrix 2. Yes, the third one is pretty bad, and neither of them are as good as the first one, but I was not disappointed at all with the second installment in the Wachowski brothers' trilogy.There are tons of reasons why I could defend the film, and many reasons why I could knock it. But mostly I just absolutely love the whole car chase. After the special effects of the first film, they had big expectations to fill. With the Agent Smith(s) battle they were sort of able to do this, but the highway sequence took their brand of action to a new territory. It was a wholly original take on the olllld tradition of the car chase. When those who semi trucks slam into each other and explode in slow motion at the end, I almost shed a tear from the sheer beauty of it.

I know I end up saying this a lot on here, but this movie is not "classic cinema" by any means, but It's a damn fun ride, and that was good enough for me.

Film Journal 3/4

So Sam Neill, or "Dr. Grant" as we Jurassic Park fan prefer to refer to him, has his own vineyard, "Two Paddocks" wine. Is that ridiculous? For an actor to have a vineyard based mainly on a character he played in a Steven Spielberg film?

Don't get me wrong, I'm probably one of the biggest Jurassic Park fans you'll ever meet... but Jurassic Park wine? I dunno. One way or another, I'm trying to track some down to buy it. :)

Film Journal 3/3

On ESPN they have a desk with video showing on the front with the team logos and such, but the desk had a 90 degree angle bend in it where the video was continuous throughout. I was in a bit of a debate as to whether this was the effect of a green screen or flat panel televisions.

I don't think we have the television technology to make a television like that, so I bet it was some chroma key technique, but man was it advanced. There was a reflection on the floor, and the camera moved around in real time. Well done ESPN.

Film Journal 3/2

One of my favorite songs ever ("Change" by Blind Melon) has a lovely music video.

And here it is:

Film Journal 3/1

Luke a young man with long blonde hair, is left alone in the apartment with Peter's (his roommate) Cap'n Crunch. Luke eats it, and enjoys every last bite. Peter gets back to see this and begins to question him. Angry that Luke has eaten his cap’n crunch, Peter begins screaming and flailing the box everywhere, sending the cereal flying all over the room as he cries out, “Try and eat it now Luke! Try and eat it now!” Luke looks horrified.

The end.

Film Journal 2/28

I'm sorry. I'm still stuck on the Forrest Gump II debacle. I found this about the second novel (thanks to Wikipedia):

"Gump and Co. is the 1995 sequel to Winston Groom's novel Forrest Gump.

Several years after the events of Forrest Gump, Forrest's shrimping business has gone bust. Jenny has died, leaving Forrest to provide for Forrest, Jr., his intelligent, though emotionally distant, son. Forrest's mother has also died. Jenny occasionally makes an appearance as a sort of guardian angel for Forrest and their son.

As in the first book, Gump stumbles through important U.S. events in the 1980s and early 1990s. He plays football for the New Orleans Saints, sells encyclopedias, works on a pig farm, and helps develop the infamous New Coke. He accidentally crashes the Exxon Valdez, helps destroy the Berlin Wall, and fights in Operation Desert Storm. He meets many celebrities, including Oliver North, the Ayatollah Khomeine, Jim Bakker, Ivan Boesky, Ronald Reagan, Saddam Hussein, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and of course, Tom Hanks."

This sounds truly awful....

Film Journal 2/27

It's official. Hollywood is insane.

Possible Forrest Gump Sequel

There's just nothing to write about this. You know how I feel about Forrest Gump from a few entries back (I believe I used the phrase "made me cry," which is no laughing matter (har har)). A sequel, despite the existence of a second book, it just sounds entirely contrived.

Film Journal 2/26

Led Zeppelin's The Song Remains the Same is a masterpiece.
Unless anyone needed any more proof (beyond "The Battle of Evermore" and various other Lord of the Rings themed songs), these guys were serious nerds... but still they were serious rock stars.
The show itself here is brilliant, as if there were any question about that, but the vignettes are simply amazing. Wizards and magic and sword fights... I thought it was so much fun, waaaaay nerdy, but lots of fun. The 30-minute version of "Whole Lotta Lovin'" didn't hurt either ;)

Film Journal 2/25

I want to make a short film of the children's book The Man Who Was Five Minutes Late. It's basically about a guy who is 5 minutes late his entire life, and people are always waiting on him. One day he sees that the princess is getting married to a bachelor of her choosing at the castle that day. But since he is 5-minutes late, he figures he won't get the princess... but it turns out she's five minutes late too, so they get married, etc etc etc.

And in the end it turns out that they weren't actually five minutes late... everyone else was just five minutes early.

Maybe I've mentioned this before. I didn't check.

Film Journal 2/24

I wonder what it would be like if high tech video equipment weren't so expensive, and the only thing that stood between a film student and a career in film making was talent?

I guess in this idealized world you'd have to have cheap lighting solutions, as well as cheap editing software... and from there it just gets fairly ridiculous. Which is a shame... because I think given the proper equipment, many people could make beautiful, poignant, and entertaining films-- if only they were given the proper equipment.

Film Journal 2/23

I currently am drawn to the train wreck that is "Dax Flame." He's a new YouTube star, presumably only 15 years old. People watch his show because he's really kinda stupid and angsty and all those things that we all were in early high school. He tends to get angry at the people ask if he's actually retarded at all or anything of that nature, and the whole thing could be a hoax (a damn convincing hoax at that), not unlike LonelyGirl15.

But in the mean time, as the #2 most subscribed channel this month, people are obviously drawn to this train-wreck. Maybe people relate, maybe people just want to laugh, maybe people are just completely board with a water-skiing squirrel, but Dax's Flame is really hot right now. (har har)

Film Journal 2/22

HBO funded a made-for-TV movie a few years back called Cheaters which looks and sounds like a teen movie (in fact I think a teen movie called Cheaters came out a few years ago from MTV... it looked crappy), but it's really a great study in the morality of cheating.

It's the true story of the Steinmetz Academic Decathlon team who cheated-- but no one had proof of it other than that they shouldn't have done as well as they did. They have to decide whether to keep lying or tell the truth and face what's coming to them.

Jeff Daniels and Jena Malone do excellent jobs in their leading rolls (especially Daniels, but especially Malone). The cinematography is sufficient and the editing is stylish. I really think this could have done very well as a feature film rather than just a TV movie from HBO. It makes me kinda sad that a TV release was all they got on this great film but then again, maybe a TV audience isn't all that bad these days.

Film Journal 2/21

One of my favorite bands, Unified Theory is going to be releasing a new album next month and it's going to be called "Cinematic."

"Hmm," says I to myself. "Hmm, cinematic music? Like John Williams?" I know exactly what they mean by calling the music "cinematic," but I don't think there are any words to describe it.

Mostly I think it's because film is the most popular art form in our modern day, so when something speaks to true emotion we think of the other thing that's good at doing that: cinema.

So maybe they should call the story "Emotion and Humanly Relevant Story Telling." I think that's more like what they really mean.

Film Journal 2/20

All right straight-shooters, it's game time! That's right, game time! Today We're going to learn how to play hop scotch... and we're going to use real scotch!

Place the bottle on the ground, now jump over the scotch. Did you spill any? Excelent!

If you want to jump even higher, take a sip of the scotch! Isn't that fun!

Next time we're going to learn how to play "doctor"...

Film Journal 2/19

It has recently occurred to me that Nickelodeon showed a lot of experimental animation between shows back in the day. I couldn't name any for you, but I would certainly recognize them if they were being screened at any festivals. I'd stand up and say "HEY! I saw that right after an episode of Pete and Pete back in the day!" Then I'd be asked to leave by large men with flashlights.

I dunno. I may have originally seen The Big Snit on there 15 or so years ago. Or maybe I'm just crazy.

Film Journal 2/18

Perhaps any serious compositing work should be done in other programs, but I just don't think the garbage matte (4-point or 8-point) in Final Cut Pro is as effective as it could be.
Why limit the number of points? Maybe there should be a "lasso" type function a la Photoshop. Perhaps people wouldn't rotoscope and lasso every single frame over and over, but you could set points on the selected area to make motion keyframes.
That's what I'd do if I ran the world.

Film Journal 2/17

Wow. The TV show Scrubs actually has very good lighting.

I saw an episode last night, and at the end of the day soft blue light was shining through the windows with a beautiful narrow side key. I didn't think people put any effort to television shows since the X-Files ended...

Film Journal 2/16

I'm still stuck on Robert Zemeckis, so I'll let my guard down a little and reveal the softer side of TheMindtaker:

Forrest Gump is a beautiful film-- perhaps the best film of the '90s, or at least one of the most relevant-- but amid all the social consciousness and brilliant acting there's one moment that always makes me cry. When Forrest finds out that Jenny has had his child, after saying he's the most beautiful thing he has ever seen he asks, "Is he smart or is he...--" and he sort of points to himself. Throughout the who movie Forrest never truly admits to being stupid (replying only "stupid is as stupid does" much of the time), however this moment reveals to the audience that Forrest not only cares for his child, but he realizes he is not as smart as most other people, which makes his extraordinary life ever more extraordinary. He did not back down in the face of his adversity.

Now when I explain it like this it seems far less emotional or beautiful, so I suggest not over-analyzing it, but just letting Tom Hank's masterful performance (perhaps the best of his career) carry you into Gump's world.

Film Journal 2/15

But I do love the movie Contact (this is continued from yesterday)! Robert Zemeckis is my hero. The long beautifully composed master shots, a story that everyone loves and a complex philosophical/theological discussion taking place in very relatable and easy to understand conversations...


It constantly amazes me that Robert Zemeckis has Contact, Forrest Gump, the entire Back to the Future trilogy, and many episodes of Tales from the Crypt under his belt...

Truly a genius...

Film Journal 2/14

One time I had to do an oral proficiency exam in Japanese (for my Advanced Modern Japanese class), and although I do speak Japanese fairly well, things got a little rough when I mentioned the movie Contact and the professor asked me to talk about Contact in Japanese.

Long story short, I didn't know the words "interplanetary portal," or "SETI satellite dish array," or "complex discussion between theists and atheists" in Japanese.