Film Blip
August 13th, 2007I’ve started a new site where I’ll be posting short movie reviews & ratings. Check it out: Film Blip
I’ve started a new site where I’ll be posting short movie reviews & ratings. Check it out: Film Blip
I’ve neglected this site for too long. I’ve tweaked the layout once again. I’m also hoping to start posting more, but I always say that 
A friend of mine is holding a charity “Rock-a-Thon” on December 3rd. You get to see 15 bands for a whopping $5, all of which goes to the CHUM Christmas Wish. I’ll also be playing some music in between bands. I think some people call that djing, but I don’t think making a playlist and pressing play qualifies me for that title.
Oh Gmail, you let me down.
A co-worker of mine received an e-mail from one of our clients to make sure nothing had happened to me, since I failed to reply to their last few days worth of e-mails. I wondered why I hadn’t heard from them, but figured I would enjoy the unusual silence and didn’t think much of it. It ends up Gmail was marking all of their messages as spam. It seems especially odd since nothing about these messages would make them look like spam, and since I send and receive mail from them all of the time. I would think the Gmail spam filter would take your address book into account, but I guess not.
Update: I haven’t had this problem since, but I’ve now made it a habit to check my spam folder each morning. I believe gmail does in fact check your addressbook when detecting spam, but people you e-mail through their smtp server are not automatically added to your address book the way they are through the web interface.
Poor little MacBook. The built-in iSight seems to no longer function. I’ve tried all of the recommended fixes (pram reset, drivers from bootcamp, etc.) but nothing seems to work. Since it doesn’t appear in System Profiler I’m guessing it’s a hardware problem. I think I’ll try re-installing the system and if that fails it’s a trip to AppleCare. I don’t even use the iSight but for some reason the knowledge that it is not functioning drives me insane.
Update: I eventually took my MacBook into the genius bar to have it repaired. I had it back the next day. It’s been working fine since.
I realize I’m a bit behind on the mini reviews. When I’m not watching movies I’m usually trying to catch up on the sleep I’ve been missing. I’m hoping to have more reviews up before Friday.
Director: Andrew Currie
Country: Canada
Year: 2006
Fido is an excellent first effort from Canadian director Andrew Currie. Who knew that combining 50’s kitsch with zombies would result in such a funny movie.
Space dust has caused the dead to re-animate and a corporation, ZomCom, has developed a “domestication collar” which eliminates a zombie’s cravings for flesh and makes them as tame as a house pet. Everyone has a zombie, except the Robinsons. When they finally get one, it becomes Timmy Robinson’s new best friend, naming it “Fido”. Things start to get out of hand when Fido’s collar deactivates and people start to go missing.
The movie really captures the look and colours of the 50’s and the underlying political message is probably more true to what’s happening in the world presently than we’d like to admit.
Having gained studio backing while still in the script stage, Fido will be seeing a fairly wide release world wide. I expect it should do quite well.
Director: Sophie Fiennes
Country: United Kingdom / Austria / The Netherlands
Year: 2006
Slavoj Žižek, a philosopher and psychoanalyst, applies his knowledge to some of his favourite films and directors. A lot of ground is covered from Chaplin to The Matrix with a lot of time spent looking at the work of Hitchcock and Lynch.
Slavoj is thrown into recreations of the sets of various movies, offering his analysis on the scene and its relationship to the viewer. Slavoj’s comments are both entertaining and insightful and sometimes downright hilarious.
I can see this film becoming a staple of first year film theory courses. I know I wish it was around when I was in school.
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Country: South Korea
Year: 2006
The Host has been a box office smash in Korea and it’s easy to see why. It has a nearly perfect blend of seriousness and humour, never taking itself too seriously but never over the top at the same time.
It teaches us the very important lesson that dumping harmful chemicals down the drain can lead to the breeding of horrible creatures. I wouldn’t classify it as a horror movie, as it has few scares. It actually reminded me a bit of Jurassic Park. It’s a lot of fun though and that’s what counts.
Director: Ari Sandel
Country: USA
Year 2006
I went into this movie not knowing much about it or what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised.
The film covers the 30 day / 30 show road trip that Vince and his group of chosen comics (Bret Ernst, Ahmed Ahmed, Sebastian Maniscalco, John Caparulo) embarked on in fall 2005. Though it covers a comedy tour, it isn’t all laughs as it touches on a number of topics beyond the show itself: life on the bus; the backgrounds of all of the comics; racial profiling; and being caught in the middle of hurricane Katrina.
The film was laugh-out-loud funny and I’d highly recommend it to fans of stand-up or those that just like to laugh.
