Jaz Moore

awesome! A simple story in a crazy environment. Also there were many exploding heads. I liked that! 9.5/10

Awesome visuals, Good acting (Helena Bonham Carter is phenomenal) a truly great adaptation. 9.1/10

It was the best comedy of the year. Wait? Are you telling me it wasn't a satire? It was serious? Oh...well then.

Meh, it was okay. The action was pretty neat but it was too showy and relied too heavily upon itself. Everyone was flat as paper and I could have cared less about the fate of most of them. You want an audience to become emotionally invested in your characters. Wade Wilson was the only person worthy of giving attention to and he was only in the first 20 minutes! It felt like an amateur team of people put this film together, which is unfortunate. 79/100.

The movie gets an A from me. It was as perfect a hybrid as Spock. What I mean is it had all the elements of a well made story while still remaining loyal to the trekkies. I may have also shed a tear or two. This also confirms to the world that I was right and Zachary Quinto is both a phenomenal actor and super babe.

Everyone has movies that they are a little embarrassed to say that they love. These are mine. If you haven't seen them I recommend you go out incognito and rent them at your local blockbuster! :)

1.  Romy and Michelle's Highschool Reunion
   
2. Shark Boy and Lava Girl in 3D
3. Cheaper by the Dozen (remake)
4. BIG
5. The Rainbow Bright Movie
6. The Care Bears Movie
7. Nothing But Trouble
8. A Night at the Roxbury
9. Superstar!
10. Jumanji
11. Dick Tracy
12. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
13. Billy Madison
14. Happy Gilmore
15. Mars Attacks

Eventhough I am a film major that doesn't mean I have seen every movie in existence. Yet. Here is a short list of movies I plan to see soon.

•  Deliverence (just rented from the library yeehaw)
• Fargo
• Requiem for a Dream
• The Bourne Ultamatum
• A scanner Darkly
• Igby goes down
• barton fink
• the piano

Today's date: December 30th, 2009. This is a special day.  I have seen a movie that I consider to be a lifelong favorite! This doesn't seem like such a huge ordeal to the average person, but to a film-maker like myself, it is the equivalent to meeting my soul mate. It's like falling in blindingly wonderful puppy love. You distinguish every characteristic as perfect, every minute detail as beautiful. I have fallen madly and deeply in love with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. There are many things I could analyze and assess but my mind is too crowded by the epic cinema I just witnessed. Gorgeous and lavish sets. Performances that are sincere and convincing; rarely do actors reach such a caliber. A Breath-taking soundtrack filled with waltzy ballads. A subtle and well-paced script. Visionary. Perfect!

Just watched Valley Girl for the first time. Definitely an awesome 80's flick. Here are some others that encompass life during the 80's!

•  Bill and Ted's Excellent adventure
• Fast Times at Ridgemont High
• Heathers
• Risky Business
• Say anything
• Sixteen Candles
• Some Kind of Wonderful
• Weird Science

I love movies that are a good dose of eye candy, a visual treat if you will. Here's my list of films that have visually taken my breath away either through FX or Mise-en scene! In no particular order:

• Sin City
  
• Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
  
• MirrorMask
  
• Big Fish
  
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit (This is difficult to achieve!)
  
• The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl
  
• 300
  
• The Science of Sleep
  
• Shrek
  
• Finding Nemo
  
• The Fountain
  
• Donnie Darko
  
• Speed Racer
  
• The Matrix
  
• The Nightmare Before Christmas
  
• James and the Giant Peach
  
• Beetlejuice
  
• Lord of the Rings
  
• Spiderman 3
  
• Jurassic Park
  
• Escape from New York
• Blade Runner
• Pan's Labrinthe
• Hell Boy 1 & 2

I just watched Wayne's World 2 the other day and it got me thinking how great Mike Myers can be. Which also led me to how awful he can be as well. I decided to create a best list of Mike Myers' movies.

BEST

• Austin Powers 2
• Wayne's World 2
• Wayne's World 1
• Austin Powers 1
• So I married an Axe Murderer
• Shrek
• Shrek 2

Well All I have to say about this movie is this:

Snakes +Planes + Sam Jackson = funniest movie ever!

Since studying film, I find it so difficult to sit through a movie and not critique. Twilight was no exception. I had a really hard time with this one because I was conflicted. On one hand I am a huge Twilight fan, on the other I enjoy a well made film. The following is my critique of Twilight the movie:

Things I liked:

-The casting was excellent. Each actor fit their book counterpart (except for James.) I especially loved Esme!

-The actors did very well with the material that they were given.

-The fact that they were able to capture the funny and awkward moments that the book had between the variety of characters.

- Most of the sets were how I imagined them.

-I love love love Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black! 

Things I couldn't stand:

-How every shot was a dutch angle (off kilter shot.) They are awesome when they're motivated.  But 2 hours of it was completely redundant and I hate to say amateurish. 

-The god awful music. It was like the music supervisor decided to create a soundtrack for a bad 1980's television movie. It was over-the-top and melodramatic. Instead of aiding in the moments, it took away from them. I tested watching the movie with my ears plugged and I liked it much better. We don't have to constantly be stimulated with music. Silence can be good.

-The mise-en-scene (overall environment) was also overly dramatic and completely unrealistic. i understand that the film-makers wanted to give the impression that when Bella was with Edward it was fantastical, but you can do it in other ways. Don't light the scene like it's a play. Every light must seem as if it has a source. Things were way too forced and unnatural to look at. You could clearly tell that fog machines were used and to be honest it felt thrown together at the last minute ( again I don't mean the set but the atmosphere.) 

-The special effects were below par for a movie. They had such opportunities to explore. They disappointed me immensely. Shame on the effects team.

-Sound editing was uneven and choppy during the fight scene in the ballet studio. Really noticeable 

 Overall I thought that this would have made a great episode for something on television but it was not polished well enough for a movie. It felt way too rushed, we had little time getting to know the characters before we were thrown into the conflict. We barely even got to see Bella and Edward's blossoming relationship except through overly-used montages. This is no fault of the actors but of the writers and crew. I'm very frustrated because I know what the potential was for this film. I honestly thought that they failed to do it justice. It saddens me because I was cheering for this movie.

I say this with humility: I could have done a MUCH better job.

-Barbarella (Jane Fonda as a super space babe in a really outrageous trippy adventure)

-Reefer Madness (an old anti-marijuana film from the 1930's. Hysterical!) * there's also a musical remake of it that came out 5 years ago. It is phenomenal as well

-Tommorrow We Move (a french absurdist musical comedy, really wacked out but very culturally refreshing.)

-Akira (probably the greatest "anime" film ever made. Spectacularly drawn and sooooo  delightfully 1980's!) 

- The Man on the Moon (one of the first films ever made. The entire set is built like that of the theatre. There are a bunch of visual tricks that were common in the theatre around the turn of the century, depth of field illusions etc.)

-The Adventures of Baron von Manchausen (an epic adventure filled with floating heads of moon people, a man who can run at super speed, and so much more. It has a Tim Burtonesque quality. Also keep an eye out for the child version of Sarah Polley, future female director!)

• Edward Scissorhands (Minor chords, hypnotizing and rhythmic)
• Pan's Labyrinth ( Heartbreakingly beautiful)
• Grindhouse (So hardcore and fun, the Planet Terror side is a mix between latin and metal, the DeathProof part is very fast paced, sexy, and nostalgic of the 60's and 70's.)
• Kill Bill ( upbeat and funny with an asian twist)
• Sin City (Dark, seductive, and mysterious, just like the movie) 
• HellBoy 1&2 (epic, robust and exciting)

There is a movie coming out  March 5th (6 days before my 21st birthday) called Watchmen. I haven't read the Graphic novel for it yet (I like to see the movies first so I can judge it as a movie, not an adaptation.) Sweet Zeus' beard! I saw the trailer for it before "The Dark Night" and I got chills all over my body. Film folks get those when they see a good trailer. I researched the movie and ended up falling upon the site. I have never seen a movie site that was so approachable. They have production stills, interviews with the cast and crew, history of the Graphic Novel, History of the pop culture, Pre production notes, Production notes, and even Post Production notes! The director (the magnificent Zack snyder from dawn of the Dead) kept a diary throughout the entire  cinematic adventure. It was awesome and extremely educational to see how he went about directing such a film. I learned things that film school never even mentioned! I can easily spend at least an hour on the site per day. There is an exponential amount of information. Check it out at:

If you're looking for a movie to rent that is going to make you laugh I suggest the following, which are separated by humor:

PARODY/SATIRE

• Best in Show
• A Mighty Wind
• Young Frankenstein
• Space Balls
• Shaun of the Dead
• Scary Movie
• Hot Fuzz
• For your Consideration
• The Princess Bride
• Austin Powers
• Team America
• South Park the Movie
• Spinal Tap

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