DANS BLOGASAURUS

Review: Green Lantern

2011-06-27T17:02:00.006-04:00

"Green Lantern" is the new DC Superhero to hit the big screen. The film is directed by Martin Campbell who did two of the best James bond films in the past two decades "Goldendeye" and "Casino Royale". It stars Van Wilder, that Gossip Girl girl, Andy Dufresne, McLovins Dad and Peter Sarsgaard. I have never read a Green Lantern comic and am quite unfamiliar with the character thus I was interested in the film in that I could go into it fresh without any preconceived notions.

Plot wise, Van Wilder gets a green power ring from a dying purple alien and makes giant Hot Wheels ramps to save people (seriously).

REASONS WHY THIS MOVIE WAS ALRIGHT:

1. The Effects- The CG suit looked pretty nifty as did some of outer space scenes. The make-up effects on Peter Skarsgaard were terrific once his head starting getting all Elephant Man style.

2. The Comedy- The jokes in this film I felt worked really well, and feel like there should have been more. It's an outlandish premise and Reynold's little comments on the ridiculousness of things helped ground the story and keep things less super cereal.

3. The Music- Standard good epic stuff that backs up the visuals here.

4. Peter Skarsgaard- The delivery of his lines is great. A great mix of creep and cheese. The most entertaining character in the whole film for sure.

REASONS WHY THIS MOVIE WAS NOT ALRIGHT:

1. The Plot- The movie does open well introducing the Green Lantern galactic world premise, but from there, dramatic tension, progression, and character development, what are those? pshhhhh idk look at this sweet green suit!

2. Blake Lively- Total babe fo sho. Acting......

3. Oa- The planet where the Green Lantern core hang out is called Oa. It's a planet with a bunch of purple and green stuff floating around bubbly shapes. It looks kinda cool, but is completely intangible and disconnecting. The characters don't interact with the environment at all, it's painfully obvious all the actors are just standing there performing their lines in front of a green screen. Where as such special effects spectacle films like The Lord of The Rings, we really get a sense of the location as a place that actually exists no matter how fantastic they are because the characters are crawling/climbing/interacting in it. On Oa everyone justs stands and floats around. It's very similar to the Star Wars Episode III syndrome of characters walking and talking in vast CGI hallways.

4. Supporting Characters- Tim Robbin's character is criminally underused. Within the scenes he does appear in, he's oddly comedic in his reactions and mannerisms. The "the ethnic friend with glasses" character was completely unnecessary, as Blake Lively's character should have just done all his scenes to further strengthen and develop the story between her and Hal. Peter Skarsgaard's scientist character Hector Hammond is the most poorly handled in the entire film. There is this back story between him, Hal and Blake but is skimmly and awkwardly handled. His progression into a bad guy is also sloppy.

5. Fun Level- A Green Lantern has a pretty sweet deal with the range of their power. They can create any physical object with their mind. You think, "hey that would be pretty sweet, I would cook me some French Toast, as I walk my dog and fly around at the same time". This does not happen. Lame.

6. Green Lantern Training- The alien Lanterns literally train Hal Jordan for two minutes and it's not even a montage. Not saying that a cheesy montage was necessary but it would have made more logical sense. Instead there are no prerequisite classes to become a Green Lantern. The ring just chooses you, and you'll be good to go with a two minute warm up and a couple of pro tips. Either way, it would have actually been cool to see a longer progression in Hal's skills as a Green Lantern, ya know, see him mess up, learn from his mistakes, improve, kick ass, that kind of thing. It just comes out way to rushed to have any sort of dramatic impact.

7. Sinestro and the Guardians- For being the smartest beings in the universe The Guardians were total dumbasses, I wanted to punch them in their big blue heads. Sinestro is just an illogical butt head. Also Sinestro... how does no one realize he's going to turn bad with a name like that. It's like if a character had the name Dr. Stana Destructro.

8. Parralax- For being the "big baddie" Parralax was missing a crucial part in getting the audience to be scared of him and raise the tension for the climactic duel with our hero. We see him sucking out a couple Green Lanterns souls but that's about it as far as him doing evil stuff. There are a lot of things we hear he does, but we are not shown. For a real impact to show how much of a threat this dude is; show him actually destroying a world and being a total evil asshole instead of all this "he said, she said" about him. Big Problem. Simple Fix.

Overall Green Lantern was a 300 million dollar missed opportunity. They had a lot of cool things in their pocket with over 70 years of publication history but failed to make a dynamic film in any sense. Despite my criticisms I did not entirely hate this film, I tried to have the best time I could with it, I only recommend this to kids and on Blu Ray once it comes out and you're wicked bored on a Tuesday night. If you want to see a good comic book movie this summer go see X-Men:First Class.

Boston Marathon Pics

2011-04-18T20:21:00.008-04:00

New Haven Pics: raw

2011-03-21T21:33:00.012-04:00

SUPERMOON!

thief

2011-02-03T23:08:00.003-05:00

got a new camera. first official photo.

my REEL

2011-02-01T15:44:00.001-05:00

RCRR Volume II

2010-12-15T00:29:00.000-05:00

Tales of The Rocket City Rescue Rangers: Volume II from Daniel Alexander on Vimeo.

the return of The RCRR.

EPISODE I: THE FIRST ACT

2010-12-01T18:15:00.002-05:00

The Last Actor: Episode I: The First Act from Daniel Alexander on Vimeo.

Senior thesis project of Dan Stebbins and Greg Gaskins at The Rochester Institute of Technology School of Film and Animation.

The pilot episode of a comedy web series taking place a few years in the near future where CG Animation has become photo-realistic.

Shot mostly in Rochester, NY. Shot mostly on Kodak 16mm Film.

Written and Directed by Daniel Alexander Stebbins

Editing and Compositing by Greg Gaskins

Cinematography by Drew Ganyer

Produced by Lindsey Timko

The Last Actor: DVD Sleeve

2010-11-08T23:52:00.006-05:00

Wingdings mutha fuckaaaaaa

NYC Marathon

2010-11-08T15:37:00.006-05:00

Was down in NYC over the weekend and saw 43,000 people run down the road. Was at the 9mile marker in Brooklyn.

The Island of Rhodes

2010-11-03T14:42:00.018-04:00

So for the past three weeks I've been in our nations smallest state crewing on a feature. Here are some pics...

SportsZone: Do Stuff 4 Stuff Challenge

2010-10-16T14:56:00.003-04:00

Check out this super segment for SportsZone last year about the Ultimate Do Stuff 4 Stuff Challenge at RIT. I shot the confessional interviews.

SportsZone: Do Stuff 4 Stuff Challenge from Justin Cady on Vimeo.

The Last Actor: Hamilton Street Riot

2010-09-29T12:45:00.001-04:00

Hamilton Street Riot from Daniel Alexander on Vimeo.

For the intro sequence of my thesis The Last Actor we shot a riot out in front of my house.

This is the only take we did because we broke most of the props and people were pretty tired and bruised afterwards. Plus we had to rush to get back to campus to meet the bus for our Hockey team the RIT Tigers which made it to the Frozen Four for the first time.

Had tremendous fun filming it.

Review: Hard Boiled

2010-09-11T15:42:00.020-04:00

Finally watched this 1992 Hong Kong action film by John Woo last night. John Woo is a maestro of mayhem and it shows to full effect and then some in Hard Boiled. Known by many people as one of the best action films ever made I can assure you that I am now among that collective. The film stars two of Hong Kong's biggest superstars; Chow Yun Fat who's been in Pirates 3 and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Tony Leung Chiu Wai who was in the Infernal Affairs trilogy which inspired The Departed.

The story takes place in Hong Kong in the early 90's, and what does that mean? The mutha fuckin Triads are out running the streets that's what, and they be up to no good shenanigans of course. These Triads are especially nasty weapons smugglers who just don't give a fart and will kill anyone in their way innocent or not. Hot on their tail from killing his partner in the first scene is clarinet playing police Officer "Tequila" Yuen played by Chow Yun-Fat. Tony Leung Chiu-Wai plays the other main character Alan who is an undercover cop deep within the Triad gang Tequila is tracking down. Thus....complications/oodles of bullets and explosions.

The two hours of havoc that unfolds on screen is some of the best captured on celluloid. With a body count of 307 I'm pretty positive more bullets were fired here than in Operation Desert Storm. What really ups the ante in the shootout scenes is the acrobatics by the main characters who are constantly jumping, sliding, ducking, weaving, dodging, and maneuvering through the given location. The physical locations are used like jungle gyms. It's over the top but in a realistic "people could actually do this shit" kind of way. There aren't matrix style stuff or even some of the extreme things Jackie Chan has been known to do. The level of reality to the stunts was kept consistent throughout which kept the film grounded and the suspension of disbelief not far to hold on to. I really enjoy this level of stunt work as a early twenty something viewer cuz in my mind I'm like "yeah, I could totally do that if I was in that situation, jump over that bar, shoot around the corner then run and slide across the floor while dual wielding shooting two dudes in opposite directions, totally, yeah!".

The other high point represented by the action is the beautiful use of practical effects; fiery explosions, squibs, gun shots and breaking glass. Everything used here looks a million times better than the CGI-filled action extravaganzas of today (lookin at you Stallone). The stuff that goes down is really a sight to be seen as it really is incredible how they filmed it. Numerous times actors are inches away from the fire of explosions or in many cases hit by the shrapnel of exploding walls and set pieces. The infamous hospital hallway shot is just fantastic. It's a 3 and a half minute single take of our two hero's blasting bad guys and dodging live explosions the whole way and interrupted in the middle by a clever elevator ride. The sense of danger is thick and tangible from the beginning tea house shoot out to the chaotic climax at the hospital.

Beyond all the action there are actually characters and pretty decent ones to boot. Both Tequila and Alan are quite charismatic and interesting to watch especially together. It's fun to watch Tequila go from thinking he's one of the bad guys, to being totally confused to eventually trusting him and working together. The supporting cast are all cop movie archetypes that transcend cultures and time. The mob boss who doesn't give a fuck, the hard ass police chief, and the innocent girl friend who wants her cop boy friend to settle down and retire from all the danger. They do their job fine and don't detract from the action and story. The only character I had a major problem with was the Bartender played by the Director John Woo. It was a lame attempt at putting in some philosophy and getting Tequila to talk about his feelings. I've grown to dislike the use of directors in cameo roles more and more in films, especially like here when they are the "voice of reason" or explain some essential aspect to the plot (also looking at you Shamylamy). I know you want to be "involved in the whole process of filmmaking" or whatever but common, just cast someone else. It's pretty simple, craigslist it if you need to. (Yes I admit I'm being hypocritical since I acted in my last film but that is something I'm definitely not going to do for a long time.)

Is this all gratuitous violence you ask? Maybe, maybe not. I've never been to Hong Kong though its on my list of places to go (very gorgeous setting with the glass towers next to the mountains surrounded by the sea, kind of like an Asian Rio de Janeiro...but i digress). This could very well be a true to life depiction of how conflicts roll over there between the Police and Triad. Why else would everyone learn martial arts? Tis a dangerous place and the only logical explanation. But beyond my silliness is all the violence in this film for the sake of being violent? Well lets just take into fact the incredibly high body count of 307. Now that's 307 confirmed kills from the good people over at Movie Body Counts dot com. In order to make it to that list you gotta be confirmed to be waiting for your toe tag not just a punch in the face. Thus many more people simply come away with flesh wounds and broken arms and such leading to about 200 more or so. One might say this is quite a lot, and that one would be perfectly justifiable in saying that but the point I'm trying to make is that Hong Kong had a population of 5.8 million people at the time of 1992 and one of the largest networks of gangs if not the highest at that particular time in the entire world THUS there would be A LOT of people involved in any big conflict between cops and the Triad. If this movie was set in backwoods Wyoming yeah it would be ridiculous, but here in Hong Kong it makes sense. Nevertheless is this gratuitous though? Without a doubt. Did all these people have to get mowed down in this film? No of course not. But with that, it would have been a very different film. I was going to say boring but retracted because with the same story with the two cops, one seeking revenge and the other deep undercover they could have crafted a nice little tale with lots of intricate tension. The bottom line is this film knows what it is and does gratuitous action and violence the best I've ever seen and asks for no apologies. It is what it is. And it is awesome.

I recommend this to anyone who is a fan of action films and over the top cinema. Definitely do not watch if you dislike violence/blood/subtitles.

Review: Flash Point (Dau Fo Sin)

2010-09-05T17:27:00.003-04:00

Watched the Hong Kong martial arts film Flash Point today on Netflix instant watch. It stars Donnie Yen who's a super star in China for acting and stunt choreographing a slew of martial arts films as well as directing a hand full of them. The film takes place in Hong Kong during 1997 thus right before the handover to mainland China from British Authorities. If you were sleeping in History class this was a pretty big deal. What's important to note is that during this time there were a whole bunch of gangs doing gang things around Hong Kong. Keeping tried and true to the super cop genre of martial arts film our hero played by Donnie Yen is out to take down the bad guys while saving his partner in the process.

Here is the Americanized trailer with a really cheezey voice over:

Looks pretty sweet huh? Well ladies and gentlemen that would be the magic of movie trailers. Cut all the good stuff into a minute and a half. Nothing too cutting edge here. But lets break it down:

The Good: The highlight of this film is the seriously awesome fights. The choreography is the best you will see anywhere. As you can see in the trailer there are shots where Donnie really does punch dudes full contact in the face. Was that a camera trick or did he really just do that? I'm pretty sure he really did just do that, and that's what makes these fights sweet. I really enjoyed the realism conveyed instead of going the tired wire-fu route. When someone gets hit, you feel it. What's different about this martial arts films fights is the implementation of mixed martial arts by our hero. Here we see him fighting with elements of Judo, Jujitsu, Karate, boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, Wushu, and Taekwondo. This creates some fresh fights to those who may be tired of the same old same old. The 8 min final fight between Donnie and Collin Chou is brutal as hell and well worth checking out by itself. It's on YouTube under a couple different things I saw but both had crappy Nu Metal overlayed on it and crappy video quality.

The Bad: I sometimes find that foreign films can hide their bad acting through me just not being able to understand what they are saying. Here is not the case at all. How all of the characters deliver their dialog is pure cheese whiz. I don't know if it was just a bad translation for the subtitles but what they were actually saying was wicked lame. The story is silly and hard to follow for the first hour. Even beyond the cliche story and bad acting is that the fights are few and far between. All the good parts are crammed into the trailer. The rest is pretty boring.

I only recommend this to people who enjoy martial arts films. Other than the fights it has nothing cool/interesting/cinematically noteworthy to offer. Check it out on Netflix instant watch and just fast forward to them.

Genre Shorts on Vimeo

2010-08-24T18:26:00.008-04:00

Inspired by Piranha 3D I made a new "Channel" on Vimeo to showcase short films in the horror, sci-fi, fantasy and action genres. It's called "Genre Shorts".

There were some other channels and groups that dealt exclusivly with sci-fi or horror but I want this one to really be open to anything heavily influenced by one genre or the other, or a mixture of any of them. If you have any films yourself or find any while browsing vimeo put a comment in the shoutbox and i'll put them on. vimeo.com/channels/genreshorts

Review: Piranha 3D

2010-08-22T21:00:00.012-04:00

Went and saw Piranha 3D yesterday afternoon high on junior mints and sour patch kids.

The film is directed by my favorite modern horror director Alexandre Aja. If you haven't seen his film High Tension stop reading this review and go see it. Its so intense and well shot, superb horror. The film stars Marty McFly's girlfriend, Tom Cruises black friend, some kid, Will Ferrell's mean brother Derek, Matt Hooper, a pornstar, and mutha fuckin Doc Brown!

What a movie this was. As stated in interviews with Aja during the films development and leading up to its release he wanted to make a film he would want to see as a 13 year old kid. The kind of movie you're parents wouldn't want you to see. The kind of movie you would have to sneak into the theatre or get your older sibling to buy you tickets to see. The kind of movie you rent from the video store and watch with all your friends on a Saturday night. And by god he did exactly that. I remember as a kid and early teen my favorite movies to rent were horror and creature features, Friday the 13th, Children of the Corn and other movies based on Stephen King, Carnasaur (hell yeah bitches!), The Birds, Aliens, Arachnophobia, and of course the Baconfest Tremors. That was my bread and butter. People getting eaten by animals is just entertaining. I really can't explain it. It just is. I still like watching all the SyFy original movies in the genre. Just watched Lake Placid 3 the other night, absolutely terrible yes, but still entertaining enough. Now we have Piranha 3D which stays true to all the cliche's of the creature feature genre with great talent behind and in front of the camera. What does that make? A bloody fun ride that's what.

The film starts out with a fantastic cameo by Richard Dreyfus playing the same role he did in Jaws. Minding his own business and fishing out in the middle of the lake a tremor occurs and breaks open a gap at the bottom of the lake. What comes out of that gap you ask? Sharks? No. Octopuses? No. Sharktopuses? No. Piranhas, and lot's of them. You can guess what happens to our old fisherman. It rhymes with "sweeten arrive". We are then introduced to our main characters, Elisabeth Shue as the tough Sheriff of the Lake Town Julie Forester, her son Jake the 17 year old kid trying to get the girl Kelly who has the overbearing jock boyfriend, and Jerry O'Connell as the Girls Gone Wild inspired entrepreneur Derrick Jones of Wild Wild Girls along with his posse of scantily clad ladies. We see that it's spring break in our little lake side town and shit is going crazy, lots of college kids here to party. The lake is littered with boats as it looks like one of those floating trash islands but only with 100,000 thousand dollar speed boats and bikinis. Sheriff Julie Forester tells her son Jake to stay away from the festivities as he must baby sit his two cute as a button precocious kid siblings all weekend because she'll be busy patrolling the college kids. Jake then encounters Jerry O'Connel and his ladies and is enlisted to be a location scout for his Wild Wild Girls movie. Guess what he chooses to do... Then of course the shit starts to hit the fan. And by shit I mean lots of Piranhas and lots of eating.

Sound familiar? Yeah of course, it's Jaws, but in a lake with Piranhas. The creature feature genre has tried and true elements that this film again adhere's to. Small town, big event, an over worried sheriff, teenagers who don't give a fuck, cute little kids, out of towner scientists, and something that wants to eat them all. These are just the basic ingredients. Sure all pizza's are essentially dough, sauce, cheese and toppings, but it's how you put them together and how you bake it is where the magic comes out. Here is where you have all those essential horror elements but constructed in a way that still keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time. You know the rules of the game, and this film delivers and then some. What takes this film above you're general creature features and made for SyFy movies is that you can see the love and work put into it, and the tone is spot on where everyone is having fun with the genre expectations.

The gore displayed on screen here ridiculous and gnarly. Viewer be seriously warned. Definitely NOT for the kids. Definitely NOT for the squeamish. The 3D is used well to display the schlock onscreen very similarly to My Bloody Valentine 3D. It's not trying to be an "immersing experience" to draw you into the story. It's exploitation through and throughout and having a blast with the medium.

It's a sad day in America when you see a rated R horror film today that does not have any nudity. The recent Friday the 13th remake had a decent amount which was one of the only good things going for it. This film more than makes up for all the wussy horror films of the past decade. There is an nude underwater ballet sequence between the gorgeous English model Kelly Brook and American adult film star Riley Steele that is well worth the price of admission for any male or lesbian or anyone who really just appreciates good underwater cinematography.

Really this is only enjoyable on a "brain turned off" level. The main problem here is that the best characters are not the main ones. We have the two most engaging characters of the overacted soft core porn director Jerry O'Connel and his mysterious lady played by Kelly Brooke, and then the wonderful cameo's by Christopher Lloyd and Richard Dreyfuss. Adam Scots character of Novak is a pretty cool guy as a seismologist who was definitely underused. His delivery throughout brought a good "matter of fact"ness to the entire film. Our three leads of Jack, his mother, and Kelly are pretty boring and one note. It would have been nice to see some more range and depth with them. The other main problem I had with the film was the ending. It really just pissed me off. I won't spoil it, but it pretty much just ends the movie at the exact moment after Plot Point Two. Plus the ending shot is in all the TV spots so you see it coming. Stupid Stupid Stupid.

By far the best thing about this movie is seeing Christopher Lloyd on the big screen. It's really physically impossible not to smile as he delivers his lines during his couple scenes in this film. He's like you're favorite Uncle who's full of crazy stories and is a blast to listen to. Though I wish he was in the film a little more it was just cool as hell seeing him as a raving scientist. (fun fact: they are going to re-release Back to the Future in theatres this October for its 25th Anniversary!)

If you like creature features this is a must see. If you can't deal with boat loads of gore take a rain check. It's a bloody fun ride from beginning to end with some definite flaws. Go with some buddies and drink some beers before you go and you'll have a wicked swell time.

Review: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

2010-08-14T16:16:00.024-04:00

Saw Scott Pilgrim vs. The World last night second last night in my double feature theatre viewing. The film is directed by Edgar Wright who you may know from directing two most rad British films Shaun of the Dead, and Hot Fuzz. This film stars the skinny Superbad kid, John McClanes daughter, Superman, the Home Alone kids brother, and Max Fischer. If you don't get all these references, congratulations you are not a total film nerd and have a life.

The film follows the titular character of Scott Pilgrim, 22 year old bass player of three piece rock band Sex Bob-omb. He's you're average slacker who's between jobs and between girlfriends living in the frozen tundra of Toronto Canada. The story kicks off as he falls for the girl of his dreams, who in fact is the girl of his dreams, Romona Flowers and must defeat her Seven Evil Exes. He does this and learns some stuff too along the way in this highly kinetic coming of age story.

This movie freaking rocked. Here is everything that is awesome about in no particular order.

The Characters: A lot of people criticize Michael Cera for playing the same character in ever film. He's a 22 year old skinny white kid from Canada. What more do you want? The next team member of The Expendables? No. For better or worst he is essentially the face of a generation of shy awkward nerds across this land. But as Scott Pilgrim he really isn't that character. On the surface he looks at sounds the same as ever but most importantly he's not the same on the inside, he's not shy around girls, is proactive and can rock. Scott's love interests are played quite well by Ellen Wong who plays his initial 17 year old girl friend Knives Chau and Mary Elisabeth Winstead as the girl of his dreams Ramona Flowers. Both do a really good job at two completely different female characters. A big highlight of the film is the fantastic supporting cast. Some of the shining stars are Jason Schwartszman as the delightfully smarmy Gideon Gordon Graves, Kieren Culkin as Scott's sardonic roommate Wallace Wells, Aubrey Plaza as the "girl with issues" Julie Powers, Alison Pill as the deadpan drummer of Sex Bob-omb Kim Pine, Brandon Routh as the vegan bassist Todd Ingram, and honestly I could list everyone else in this cast as they all did a rocking job.

The Story: What really made this film work was that It would still be fully entertaining and interesting to watch all these characters in this story without all the fights. The fights are just icing on the cake, very excellent funfetti icing. The core of the film is about a guy falling in love and taking over whatever obstacles outward and inward which involve defeating Ramona's seven evil Exes in your typical progression into the ultimate boss fight at the end. It's really one of the oldest stories in the book: Boy Meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy must do "x" to attain girl. But what makes Scott Pilgrim special is the video game presentation of it all with the spot on characterization of today's youth and culture.

The Writing: Insanely quotable.

The Fights: This was a huge step in the right direction for fights on film. Some of the most pure fun fight scenes to watch in any film. They were vivid, excellently choreographed, and most importantly inventive. Too often you see the same old stuff over and over again, for a recent example The Expendables. Yes, they were well done and fun to watch. But really, how many different ways can you punch a dude. Well Dan you can punch a dude that's on fire. Yeah but what I'm trying to say is this film cranked it up to a level not scene before using heavy video game influences infused throughout. It reminds me of this Jim Jarmusch quote (well it's kinda a quote within a quote):

"...don’t bother concealing your thievery—celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to.”"

This really applies to everything about this film. It's a celebration of video games and garage band rock and roll. The other great thing about the fights in this film is that they are all different. It's similar to Bruce Lee's Game of Death and Tony Jaa's Tom Yung Goong where each of the hero's opponents throughout the film fight in a different style of martial arts. Here we have the Seven Evil Exes who are all have their different strengths and weaknesses. One of the most inventive fights is when Scott must defeat Ramona's only woman Ex. As like most guys he does not feel comfortable fighting a girl thus the fight that ensues is something truly original.

The Music: The soundtrack of both diegetic and non-diegetic songs are fantastic. What has the most resonance in my head and was the most enthralling to listen to was the songs played by Scott Pilgrim's band Sex Bob-omb. It was really cool and well done how the band performing was such an integral part of the story and Scott's development. The band even "battles" one of Ramona's Exes with its sound (you'll see) which was radtastic. Definitely see the film in a theatre with a good sound system. I didn't even find this out until after I saw the film but Beck wrote all the songs for Sex Bob-omb, so it's really no wonder why they are so awesome.

The Cinematography: Excellent job by Director of Photography Bill Pope who's known for such big films as The Matrix, Spider Man 2 and Team America: World Police. The world created for this film visually is really quite stunning.

The Editing: The transitions in this film are some of the best I've seen in any film. They move the film along at a really great pace. Some of the cuts were very jarring and totally disoriented me in time and space of the film, in a good way though as they drew me more into the world of the film.

The Directing: Simply put, Edgar Wright is the man. I have not read the graphic novel's by Bryan Lee O'Malley so cannot say if he did a good job adapting them or not. Nevertheless on a purely cinematic level this film worked on hyperdrive on all levels as described above. An amazing job from everyone on the film. High Fives to all.

I had an awesome time watching the film and am now very interested in checking out the graphic novels. If you have ever been in love, played video games, or like to rock and roll you'll love this film. This is a must see. It's amazing and by far my favorite film of the year.

Review: The Expendables

2010-08-14T14:12:00.009-04:00

Went and saw the Macho-fest film The Expendables last night in a packed theatre. There were some ladies near me that had some of the worst smelling perfume I have ever encountered. It thought I was being poisoned. Terrible. Anyway, the action film is directed by John Rambo and stars Rocky Balboa, Ivan Drago, the Transporter, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Not Jackie Chan. There are also some good cameos by John McClane and John Kimble.

The story follows Stallone and his team as they get hired by Bruce Willis to go to the South American Island of Velena (don't bother googling that because the place is fictitious) to overthrow a dictator and of course kill a lot of dudes and blow shit up.

First and foremost let me just say Sylvester Stallone is my favorite of the 80's action stars. Rambo, hell yeah. Cliffhanger, awesome. Cobra, bad ass. Then there is the The Rocky series. I dedicated a good portion of my thesis film to it including driving to Philadelphia from Rochester to film for it. Rocky is the freaking bees knees. These past few years have been pretty awesome for movies with new installments of Rocky and Rambo. Both of which I really enjoyed as they were both great bookends for their respective series. Now we have The Expendables where Stallone plays an all new character in similar situations.

Sure nothing is really new or fresh about The Expendables but that's not what this movie is about. It's about seeing our favorite action stars together for the first time kicking ass, kicking each-others asses, and taking names. This movie does exactly that. A total throwback to the simplicity of the action movies of yesteryear where we have a problem and a bad ass dude goes and solves it. In this case we have a bunch of bad ass dudes that go solve it. There a some lapses in logic but whatever. Everyone on the film looks like they had a blast making it as it comes through in the final film.

There are some really nice stunts and fight sequences in this film. The fights are freaking brutal. They did a really nice job mixing in the different fighting styles of everyone into a mash up mix track of fighting mayhem with bone crunches as beats and gun shots as notes. It fully satisfies the modern American blood lust syndrome. Again with way too many films in this day and age this movie suffers from too much editing during the fight sequences. I know these dudes are old, but c'mon, stop cutting so much, its annoying.

My biggest gripe about this film is the use of CG Blood effects. I could rant on and on about this but I'll hold back and make this simple point. Unless your film is premiering on YouTube or Vimeo put some cash into your effects budget and use some god damn squibs. Dammit.

Overall it's really a joy to see all these guys kicking ass on the big screen in one movie. It's an entertaining genre film full of nostalgia and heavy hitting fights. This film is really the cinematic equivilant to a BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger; you've eaten one before, it's nothing new or revolutionary to the burger world, but it's cooked just right, and the other ingrediants are pretty damn tasty, and it hits the hunger spot damn well. If you like Stallone or any of the other stars go see this film. If you like fighting go see this movie. If you like explosions go see this movie. If you abhor violence don't see this movie.

Animation Block Party

2010-08-08T18:27:00.004-04:00

I went to NYC last weekend and checked out the Animation Block Party Saturday night at the beautiful Brooklyn Academy of Music building. It was pretty wicked fun.

Here are my two favorite films screened:

Milk Nasty from TJ Fuller on Vimeo.

Review: Inception

2010-08-06T21:36:00.020-04:00

Saw that little flick Inception a few weeks back when I was in Los Angeles during my sabbatical.

The film is directed by Christopher Nolan whom many people forget is a Redcoat. Just sayin. It stars one of the many people who died in The Departed, an annoying pregnant teenager, that lady who won the oscar for best Actress and everyone was like "who the fuck is that?" but then she's been in some movies since so people are like "oh yeah, it's that girl, I don't know what her name is, but I think it's that girl", the kid from the third best kids baseball movie of the early 90's (1.The Sandlot, 2.Rookie of the Year), and let us not forget Bronson.

The story follows a dude who goes into other dudes dreams to steal ideas. But then some rich dude wants him and his co-workers to go into some dudes brain to implant an idea. But in order to do that they have to go into dreams inside of dreams, then inside other ones and his ex-wife haunts him through these..... and bullets and explosions of course!!!!!

I saw the 11pm screening on Friday after five consecutive 13 hour shoot days. To say the least I was psychically, mentally and emotionally drained. Barely keeping awake in the waiting line outside the theatre I did not know if I could make it through the entire film. I did. I think.

Initial thoughts after seeing it; I definitely had a good friggin time. Seeing it in IMAX was the way to go. It looked stunning. And the sound, whoah! Punch you in the face. There was applause after a particular scene and at the end of the film, I joined in as I was pretty darn entertained. Perplexed to exactly what the fuck I just saw, but still... entertained.

The scene in particular that received the rousing applause was the hallway fight scene between Joseph Gordon-Levitt and some bad dream security dude. It----was----bad-------asssss. The whole time watching it I was like "wuuuu theeee fuuuuuk!?" and I could feel the same energy from everyone else around me in the theatre without looking around to see their faces. Fantastic movie moment that put a nice big smile on my face afterwards.

Another high point of the film is the gorgeous cinematography by Wally Pfister. There is a great variety, vibrancy, color, and texture used throughout with the lighting that makes every scene a pleasure to watch no matter what's happening. The slow motion shots are wicked and supremely done.

I heard some people saying this is the greatest film ever made and that people won't even make films anymore because this was so good. That is stupid. Take The Dark Night out of your DVD player and update your Netflix Que.

The world created for this film is pretty darn interesting. Being able to go into other peoples dreams is a pretty cool concept. And the way it is presented in this film in a Bond/Bank Robber kinda way is also pretty cool. You get certain movie conventions with a nice fresh added twist that gives you a new dynamic that is fully satisfying to watch.

The problem is a lot of people critical of the film are taking it too seriously and trying to make sense of the world created for the film. The film takes itself very seriously, so why not us? Well... the fact is dreams don't make much sense. It's not an exact science as no one really understands what they are, how they happen, why they happen, and how they work to this day. Thus the physics and realities of how the characters perform what they do in the film don't make much sense, thus trying to make sense of non-sense is utter non-sense really. A lot of gripes can be made about the characters being thin and only there as plot devices and the story being too complicated but the overriding feeling should be "alright, just go with it!". Then you'll be fine. Watch it. Have fun. Repeat if necessary.

A little gripe I have with a lot of movies which this film suffered to as well was the trailers showing all the key scenes in the film. C'mon just stop that. It's annoying and lame.

I recommend this for anyone who enjoys Nolan's previous work, action movies, and films about dreams. Sure it ain't perfect, but nothing is. It still has quite a lot of cool shit going for it cinematically where it's well worth checking out on the big screen, IMAX it if you can.

Apparently I still have videos on YouTube

2010-08-06T20:56:00.006-04:00

So I was on the internets..... again, I know, I know. But I found I had some of my freshman work up on my YouTube account I barely use as Vimeo and I've been going steady ever since we met.

Anywho, all of my YouTube videos had their audio stripped from them because of copyright-shmopyright music claims. As I was feeling around the new YouTube features for the first time I found they had this nifty little thinger called AudioSwap where it samples the music from some another sight and it's totally legit. So I put some new tracks some of my old projects.

RIP Delta Boy Smooth

2010-08-04T16:52:00.007-04:00

I was making my new resume and searchin around the internets today and found this music video I worked on last summer back in the Roc, then saw that apparently the lead guy Delta Boy Smooth is now dead. He was a cool dude, it was a janky shoot but most of us had a fun time even when the cops came.

Review: Robin Hood

2010-07-08T04:34:00.003-04:00

Went and saw Ridley Scott's latest film Robin Hood at a second rate theatre in Pasadena the other night.

The film takes on the origin story of Robin Hood. We start out in France as some English dudes attack some French dudes as Robin and his band of bros decide to ditch Croissant land to go back to Fish and Chips land. On the way back Robin comes across this dying English guy who's last wish is for him to return his sword to his father in Nottingham England. This sets off the "story" of what all happens next.

There is a great mystery to this film. It is loaded with talent on both sides of the camera yet the final product is anything but mediocre. Acting wise we have Oscar winners Russel Crow, Cate Blanchett, and William Hurt. And of course behind the camera we have the illustrious Ridley Scott known for some of the best films made within the past 30 years such as Alien, Blade Runner and Black Hawk Down. Plus you have the iconic Robin Hood story to go from with a 200 million dollar budget. But somewhere along the lines they forgot to get that important little thing called a good script.

The most crucial misstep in the whole picture is the weak story. It's a epic battle film that is simply not compelling and lacks any tension. It is really boggling how this film was actually made. All of the conflicts are easily evaded throughout the film. Not in a cool, "oh i just beat up 30 dudes with swords and i barely broke a sweat, man was that easy", more in a "oh all we had to do was fire some arrows at them from behind a tree, that only took 4 seconds of screen time, that was pretty easy" kinda way. Tension is what makes battles work, are they going to succeed? aren't they? No joke Twilight Eclipse had more tension than this. There seems to be a thread of "rising action" through act II but it barely gets anywhere and it just feels like you are strolling through the park as you watch this film. This fact was most prevalent during the "climactic" battle scene on the sea shore as French ship came to invade. As soon as we saw there was a huge cliff next to the shore where the English archers took their positions anyone who took Warfare 101 knew the battle was won easy as cake. Even without that knowledge the battle was poorly staged and lacked any drama on if Robin and his Englishmen were going to win or not. Bullocks!

The other main problem with the film is the pussy cop out PG-13 battles. This is not Chronicles of Narnia. When someone gets a sword in the face or shot with an arrow they don't just fall down. There is some damn blood. I'm not saying that it should be super gory Japanese Machine Girl style but there should be a level of reality presented in the damage done by these medieval weapons. The key part in showing this is to increase the tension and stakes during the battle as the audience see's "oh wow, this is some serious shit, i hope our hero Robin Hood doesn't get a sword in the face". Thus we connect more with our protagonist and are involved in the heat of the moment that is the battle scene.

Another major problem I thought was the casting of Russel Crowe. At 45 years old it's a bit of a stretch to be at the "beginning" of the Robin Hood mythology. I think the film would have had a great breath of fresh air and energy if they casted someone half his age. Instead we get a barely comprehensible Crowe who grumbles a one note performance through a non existent story arc for the "hero".

I'm even a little pissed I paid 3 dollars to go see this. Not even worth a DVD rental unless you are in love with Russel Crowe or have a hankering for bloodless battle scenes. Just watch Ridley Scott's Gladiator again or his far underrated 2005 film Kingdom of Heaven and make sure it's the extended edition.

Review: Toy Story 3

2010-06-29T05:03:00.003-04:00

I saw Toy Story 3 last week. Like you've probably heard from everyone else who has seen it and other reviews, it's fantastic.

If you havn't seen it already. Get off the computer, and go.

What really surprised me about this movie was how intense it got during the climax. I was seriously scared for the main characters more than I can remember for any other movie in recent history live action and animation. A truly memorable sequence, to cap off a truly great film.

I'll keep it short as mostly everything has already been said about it. Recommended for anyone with a beating heart.

**Also seeing it in 3D is not necessary at all, especially if you already wear glasses and it just becomes wicked uncomfortable to wear both at the same time.

Review: The A-Team

2010-06-16T00:43:00.011-04:00

Went and saw the newest TV Show to movie adaptation this past weekend, The A-Team. Directed by Joe Carnahan of Narc and Smokin Aces fame the film follows the exploits of an Army Rangers Alpha Team consisting of Liam "Qui-Gon Jinn" Neeson as John "Hannibal" Smith, Bradley "The Hangover" Cooper as Templeton "Faceman" Peck, Sharlto "District 9" Copley as James "Howling Mad" Murdock and MMA fighter Quinton "Rampage" Jackson as Bosco B.A. Barucus. The best thing is the film has more explosions than quotation marks.

The film begins with an opening sequence that brings the team together for the first time. We are then thrust years later into the Iraq War as the American troops are in the last days of withdrawal from the country. After one last Iraq mission our guys get set up for a crime they didn't commit and end up stripped of their ranking and thrown into separate jails. Now they gotta break out, clear their innocence, uncover the truth and take down the bad guys. There is no option B.

First and foremost let me just say this was the funnest time I've had at the movies this year by far. This film was an absolute blast from beginning to end. Pure summer entertainment.

One of the great things about the film is it's level of believable ridiculousness within the action scenes. The shit that goes down in the movie is nuts. The film takes suspension of disbelief and rides the line the entire time. It's just real enough where in the moment you don't second guess it at all.... slowing down a falling tank by shooting the cannon down towards the ground...sure why not, totally could work. Doing this really creates some original and amazing sequences that are really fun and purely cinematic to watch.

The other great thing about the film is the performances across the board especially by Liam, Bradley, Sharlto and Rampage. Their chemistry and individual character traits are really entertaining to watch the whole time.

I don't have any complaints. The film knew what it was and delivered.

I really recommend this movie to everyone. An incredibly fun ride from start to finish The A-Team is the most entertaining film I've seen this year.

TLA: INTRO SEQUENCE

2010-06-14T04:51:00.005-04:00

Finally got to compressing and uploading the intro sequence to my thesis up on the Vimeo. Checkedy Check it out.....

The Last Actor: The Intro Sequence from Daniel Alexander on Vimeo.

The whole thing is to come soooooooooon, just gotta work out some sound bugs.

Review: The End of Suburbia

2010-06-11T22:29:00.008-04:00

Watched another documentary concerning peak oil today. Directed by Gregory Greene, The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream (catchy title if I've ever heard one) focuses much more on the direct effect of peak oil and dwindling resources upon the massive suburban sprawls of America. Here is the trailer:

I found out about this documentary as I was watching this video on Vimeo about Transition Towns. In the 20 min video a professor mentioned that he showed his students this 2004 documentary which sparked them to pursuing more information on how to better suit a community for the future transition away from oil dependency.

Opposed to Collapse this documentary has a more straight forward style including interviews from many experts and most importantly focusing entirely on the issue at hand and not the characters of the people presenting it. It's not a breakthrough documentary stylistically by any hand but it covers the issue in a well paced informative manner. One of the interviewees who lends their voice is none other but Michael Ruppert.

The film clearly shows how the American Suburban lifestyle is wasteful, inefficient, unsustainable, and a completely retarded setup that has absolutely no future. All the while utilizing 50's era footage for ironic effect. Peak Oil is here if we like it or not. There are no quick and easy fixes. And most importantly we can't rely on the federal government or main stream media to guide us. The sooner one realizes there is a problem and that we can't all keep on living life the way we have been the sooner we can adapt into a new future. This film presents those statements in a well constructed manner as well. Most importantly unlike Collapse this film goes into what we can do as individuals and as community members to help better the transition into a non-oil dependent society. The main solution for a better future is more community centered living with all local bought and produced food, goods and services. Again it's addressed that this is not going to be solved overnight but must be met with a strong will of community members to evolve with the changing world.

This is a must watch documentary for anyone interested in having a better future for yourself, your loved ones, and your community.

Here is the main website for Transition Towns which already have a big following in the UK and Ireland but unfortunately haven't really caught on as much as it should in America........yet:

http://www.transitionnetwork.org/

There is really a ton of awesome information on the site that I urge you to check out and share with others. One of the best links is this downloadable 50 page pdf document that is really a must read.

Transition Initiative Primer

Personally I believe this is just the beginning to a better way of life. As Mr. Dylan said: The Times They Are A-Changin.

Review: Collapse

2010-06-10T16:41:00.008-04:00

Watched the documentary feature Collapse last night. The film is directed by Chris Smith who is most famous for making my all time favorite documentary American Movie. If you are a filmmaker, or a lover of films American Movie is a must watch, and one of the funniest films I've ever seen. Anyways...Collapse, check out the trailer to get an idea of what's happening.

As seen in the trailer the entire film is an interview in a dark basement with one man with sprinkled archival footage. That man is Michael Ruppert and unlike American Movie, Collapse is not a comedy, unless you have a very deep dark sense of humor. Some may find this movie incredibly boring or annoyingly one sided, but I'm just me and I found it quite reaffirming.

I've thought about the end of modern civilization for a long time in my short life. I can remember at a very early age putting two and two together in the facts of the gigantic rise in human population and our earths dwindling resources and that something radical is going to happen in the near future. This film outlines all of that clearly through Mr. Ruppert's insights. The major thing what the film doesn't do is back up most of his claims through evidence. While most of it is pretty common sense there was definitely room for supporting some of his statements. Mr. Ruppert says everything with such confidence and matter of fact speaking that most of the time you don't even notice or care that his statements aren't being backed up. I'll admit for my case it was more a matter of preaching to the choir, so I'd be interested to see what other people thought.

How the film is shot really enforces the subject matter. It's stark, dark, and ominous. Like a man hiding in a bomb shelter the interview has no sunlight or any other objects in the room. He is alone with only the directors voice off screen moving him along at some points. The slow dolly moves really draws you in as well.

Collapse has a double meaning in this film. As it's really more of a character study in the collapse of this chain smoking lonely man and his obsessive passion. By the end of the film you feel very sorry for him. Here's a guy who all he has is his dog and thoughts of doom. That's enough to drive anyone mad.

Overall it's a very interesting watch and I recommend it to everyone.

Official Website

I think it is important to note a major metaphor used in the film. It centers on the sinking of the Titanic. (the sinking of civilization...whoah) There are three kinds of people on the ship:

1: The deer in the headlights people who are running around freaked out confused and looking for direction.
2: The people who acknowledge the problem and try to find a solution.
3: The people who think the ship is unsinkable and go back to the bar.

What kind of person are you?

Do you're own research and make your own conclusions.

Review: Splice

2010-06-08T23:44:00.008-04:00

Went out to The Grove and saw the new film Splice the other night. The film is directed by Vincenzo Natali. No that's not a bad guy from a James Bond movie, its a director from Detroit Michigan who made the 1997 film Cube (I haven't seen it yet but heard its pretty cool). Splice stars one of my favorite actors Adrien Brody who I'm wicked pumped to see next month in Nimrod Antal's Predators and Sarah Polley who was in one of the best horror remakes of all time, Zach Snyder's Dawn of the Dead.

The film centers on married couple of Brody and Polly who are bio chemists working. As the title infers, they are working on splicing, gene splicing. They create a hybrid creature that ages fast and of course shit hits the fan. It's kinda like Species but without the whole extra terrestrial element.

This was a pretty damn entertaining flick. Great performances from the two leads, good use of a mixture of practical and computer effects, well shot, and it went places I was not expecting at all. Really amazing scenes and sequences that just plain worked incredibly well. The tone of the film was also well laid out, it was serious but still left room for obvious comedy for the ridiculousness of what was happening. What made Splice so cool was that it is essentially a monster movie but risen to a much higher level by running themes of parenthood, child raising, plus a whole slew of ethical concerns mixed in.

Unlike most Hollywood films this is a very intimate story with only five speaking roles. Again this really raises the "monster movie" level of the film as it is a straight up character piece between the husband and wife and how they separately deal with raising their "child", the hybrid named Dren. The evolution of Dren is also really well done on an effects level and emotional level. Effects wise there are no flourishes as everything is used to continue the story and sell the character of Dren. You totally believe that this hybrid is a living breathing creature that totally existed unlike obvious CG characters plaguing our screens. On an emotional level there is a great change from creature to character as Dren having us connect with her plight.

Not to say there are no flaws of the film as there some of the dialog was a little weak. This was apparent especially in how Sarah Polley's character was written. Some of the things she said were to unrealistic and matter of fact, I understand why they did it to move the story along and keep it brief, but a couple lines just didn't work at all, but again, that's just me nitpicking. There character of the lab boss was pretty one dimensional which was annoying. Adding some depth to his character would have rounded out the cast a lot better. I also think the end could have taken the concept a little farther than it ended up doing.

This film also had one of the biggest "wtf" moments I have ever seen in a wide release film. (Lars Von Trier's Antichrist wins for all films) I really don't want to spoil what it is, so I won't even say. All I'll say is that I'm really glad that what happened, happened. It had great reactions from the rest of the crowd and it was equally as fun just seeing how other people reacted. I also really appreciate it in that it dared to do something different which is not done enough these days in main stream cinema.

Overall I really enjoyed Splice and would recommend it to anyone who likes Science Fiction and Horror films.

Review: Prince of Persia

2010-06-08T16:48:00.017-04:00

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is the newest Video Game to Movie adaptation in theaters brought to you by the Mouse House and Mr. Jerry Explosion Meister Bruckheimer. The film is helmed by British director Mike Newell who is famous for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Mona Lisa Smile and Four Weddings and A Funeral.

Like the video game the film is set amongst the height of the beautiful and vibrant Persian Empire. The story follows Donnie Darko as he is framed for his fathers murder and goes on a journey to prove his innocence all the while discovering the secrets of the Dagger and Sands of Time. Swords, ostriches, white chicks, Gandhi and lots of sand ensue.

First of all I was a big fan of the Prince of Persia video games. I remember playing the original 2D computer game when I was a kid at my friends house. It was sick as hell, you were just this little dude trapped in a dungeon and you had to jump over spikes and watch out for booby traps and sometimes clash swords with other dudes. It rocked. When I heard they were updating the game for the Play Station I was psyched. And when I finally played it, it was incredible. It had not only amazing art direction but revolutionary one of a kind combat and platforming action that raised the bar for all other action plat-formers to come. And by far the best aspect of the whole game was, IT WAS FUN, as a video game should be. The two sequels of that game were equally as entertaining. Thus even since the original 2D game I've yearned for a Prince of Persia film, and now it exists....

I really wish I could have loved this film. It had so much potential to be mad awesome. It's like the kid with the really cool parents but he's just kinda lame. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the movie, it kept my interest for most of the time but never rose to a level of "wow" or "that....was....awesome" that i was expecting. Sure my expectations may be a little higher than most but with a few easy changes this film would have been much better.

Change 1- My biggest gripe about the entire film was the Parkour scenes. Again like the video game I love Parkour and when its used well in films, such as Casino Royale and the French films District B13 and Yamakasi, but here it's completely ruined by the editing much like the Italian rooftop chase in Quantum of Solace. They even had the founder of parkour David Belle as the coordinator for these sequences, and they totally fuck it all up with quick cut editing and stupid jittery time remapping. Seriously, you have amazing stunt people and Jake who has been training for these sequences...let them do what they do, AND SHOW IT! STOP CUTTING! It ruins the spectacle of these great stunts because the audience looses their sense of space and direction within the frame. This just pissed me off, because again I was looking forward to sweet Parkour stunts on a grand scale but senselessly it was all destroyed by retarded editing. If you haven't seen District B-13 go check it out ASAP and see the master David Belle in action.

Change 1.5- With the extreme architecture set up for the cities they visited in the film the Parkour action scenes also could have been much more varied and interesting. Just look at all the different levels, spires, windows and everything in the city behind Jake!

Tons of possibilities to use the environment and location to do crazy Parkour stunts. But why can't they, oh yeah, because it's all fake in a damn computer. YET! 200million dollar budget they could have made some better stuff then running on top of adobe huts and markets. C'mon. Granted the first scene when Dastan climbed up the castle wall using a tree log then arrows was interesting, the rest of the film did not reach that level of creativity in the action. Which again is a major shame based on the extreme potential for what the game set up.

Change 2- The writing hurt the believability of Prince Dastan. I really do like Jake Gyllenhaal and think he's one of the best young actors around. He does a fair job in the film but the entire time I never believed him to be Prince Dastan, he was always just a buff Jake jumping around fighting people. I don't think this is the fault of Jake as an actor but simply the writing of the Character of Dastan was not very compelling in the first place. Jake just doesn't have much to work with.

Change 3- The whole white washing issue is major in the film. I really didn't mind it so much for Jake's part but for Princess Tamina played by Gemma Arterton it really bugged me. Jake could possibly pass as Persian if you squinted your eyes, this girl just looks so out of place it is ridiculous, even with the huge amount of fake bronzer put on her for some scenes. There are plenty of gorgeous Persian and Middle Eastern girls they could have chosen that would have made the film much more authentic. Yes I understand this is a fantasy film, but c'mon, give a young Middle Eastern girl a shot at the big time, not some whispy voiced English chick who likes old dudes (she just got married in RL to some 37 year old italian guy, she's 24, c'mon i'm 23 and never got a chance :/ ) LAME LAME LAME The other main actor who looked totally out of place was Jakes brother Tus played by English dude Richard Coyle. Even though Jake was suppose to be the adopted one this guy looked it more. Again, seriously, this is Prince of Persia, not Braveheart, go back home and eat your fish and chips. It's actually pretty sad we are still at this point in mainstream cinema that ethnic characters are still given to white folks. It's 2010. Get with the program. -She doesn't fool Bond-

Change 4- The "mystery" surrounding who was the real killer of Dastans father was stupid. Plain stupid. We all knew it was his uncle Gandhi from the trailers, and even the posters give it away in his ominous stare. Make him the clear and present antagonist the entire film so we don't have to have this "invasion based on information about harboring weapons of mass destruction". Yeah that allegory was also stupid. The more I think about this movie the more I don't like it.

Alright, as for the things it did well. There were some really great shots and cinematography of the desert and mountainous areas. The costumes for the most part were good. The music wasn't actually as grand as it should have been I felt. The visual effects of the cities were really well done as was the effects of the use of the Sands of Time.

Overall, it held my attention for a couple hours, but don't go into it with any hopes. Really don't take my harsh words to much to heart since my expectations were so high. If you're down for a classic adventure with a lot of flaws and have an extra ten bucks lying around go, kick back, relax, eat some Sour Patch kids and turn your brain off.

I actually would like to see a sequel to this film in hopes that they would make those necessary changes in crafting a far better film. We shall see....

The Last Actor Title Screen

2010-05-13T17:18:00.003-04:00

Been mad busy finishing the movie.

Will be screening this Sunday at 4pm in Building 76 Auditorium on RIT Campus.

Further screenings I'll keep ya's updated.

Rock and Roll.

Dan

The Last Actor: End Credits

2010-05-06T17:23:00.005-04:00

Been trying to figure out how to do the end credits for my movie. One idea is to just do the classic freeze frame of the main actors of the movie with their name next to it, but leading up to the final frame there would be other quick frames of similar composition but different facial expressions. Kind of like a short looping gif before the final image.

thoughts?

Helicopter!

2010-05-05T17:16:00.010-04:00

The US Marines were here on campus today giving helicopter rides to anyone that could do 15 pull ups. Easy. So I popped my helicopter cherry. It was really awesome. Felt like I was going somewhere really important and official when i was walking up to it with the beating blades and grass blowing around like crazy.

The Last Actor: Last Day of Pickups

2010-05-04T23:59:00.005-04:00

Shot three different locations and set ups for the intro sequence for The Last Actor: Episode I: The First Act today.

This was the first time in the films making that everything went exactly according to plan. It felt mad good. Got some really awesome footage.

Matt, Ben, Jim, and John:

Review: Green Zone

2010-05-01T02:16:00.017-04:00

I watched the new Paul Greengrass film Green Zone at the dollar theatre this week. Again he collaborates with Matt Damon as the lead. The film follows Damon as a US Soldier who is the head of a team who's mission is to find WMD's in post-invasion Baghdad 2003. Hmmmmm I wonder what happens?

If you've been alive this decade you know exactly what happens. They don't find any WMD's. Thus the film then focuses more on the (excuse my language but this is really the only suitable way to describe it) CLUSTER-FUCK of the whole situation. Delving into the struggle between US officials trying to cover their ass while the CIA tries to find out the real truth, with you're American Joe american soldier stuck in between just following orders. Now you may say to yourself, "Wow Dan, that really sounds like an interesting and compelling film". Well, I must say to you, no, no sir or madam, it play's out in the most contrived and boring fashion I think could be put to celluloid.

The biggest problem with the film is the dialog. It sounds like it's from a student film. Every character states their exact intentions, their exact feelings at the time, what they are thinking at the moment without any filter, and to top it off in the most clichéd way possible. I know we are in a military setting where most people talk pretty straight laced but this is just ridiculous. There is absolutely no subtleness in any characters lines, we know everyone's motivations from the very beginning thus drastically getting rid of any tension that could have been made later in the film. There is no mystery. It's like reading a the alphabet. Look at the Green Zone page on IMDB, under memorable quotes... there are no memorable quotes, because they are all as stale as a 4 month old turd.

The next worst if not equal worst part of the film is the characters. Matt Damon's lead role of Miller is about the most boring person you could follow. He's about as interesting as a cup of sand. His intentions are good in the film as all he wants to do is honestly find the truth behind why they aren't finding any WMD's but he's just so boring of a person that we don't even care if he succeeds or not. Every other character is a one note stereotype. We have the intrusive female news reporter, the douche bag Government Administration liaison guy who will do anything to cover up his governments mistakes, and the good guy CIA dude who wants to find out the "truth". It's really kinda painful watching these characters interact as we know exactly what they are going to say next before they even say it. None of them are compelling and only suffice in representing broad generalizations of the groups they are part of.

As I've talked about before in other reviews and my newest film, I really have a disgust for most CG. One of my biggest pet peeves in film is the use of CG Helicopters. They 99% of the time look like total crud. It really pisses me off. When you have a 100 million dollar budget, GET SOME REAL HELICOPTERS!! Seriously. It takes me out of the movie every time. I know they can be dangerous when doing dangerous things with them, but when operated by professionals they are safer than driving a car. When you are just flying them without doing any sort of stunt or maneuver there is no reason to do it in CG. Along with this film, another film of the many that unnecessarily did this was Terminator Salvation. The very last shot of that film had two CG helicopters fly into the sunset. It made me want to punch a puppy. It was so freaking stupid I wanted to stomp McG's face in with an Iron. God dammit. Stop. Do these helicopters do a loop-d-loop? No. Do they fight a big Robot? No. They just fly away from the camera towards the sunset. FTS. Anywho, back to Green Zone, there was a scene near the end where a Helicopter got shot with an RPG and crashed which didn't look too bad. But again, you can do that practically, for example Live Free or Die Hard, Rambo First Blood Part II, Rambo III, Die Hard With a Vengeance and Black Hawk Down. All the other shots with Helicopters weren't doing anything special, just regular old helicopter stuff, yet all CG. I really don't want to talk about this anymore because it's so stupid.

Another big problem I had with the film is not the fault of the filmmakers but the people in charge of marketing and cutting the trailer. So much of the trailer is footage from the climatic third act that I already knew a lot of what was going to go down before it eventually went down. Thus again deleting tension and mystery. It should be a more common practice for trailers not to show ANYTHING from the third act of a film. Too often it ruins the movie watching experience. The Dark Knight did it completely right because it showed nothing of the final 20 min of the film in the trailers. When I saw it for the first time I thought the movie was going to end at a much earlier point then which it eventually did because I had seen all the stuff in the trailers play out, so I was like, Oh ok I guess it's almost over now. Nope. It kept going and was even more captivating because i wasn't spoiled at all from any trailer footage. Bottom line is, movie trailers show off too much of films nowadays. What ever happened to the good old "Teaser", just a couple shots, sometimes no shots at all. If you know how it all plays out before you see it, well, you might as well just read the book version, and that's always boring as fudge.

I won't delve into how it is shot. Same old Greengrass shaky cam style. It works sometimes here, other times it's annoying. As usual. The night scenes look like total crap with all the grain.

Overall, this is the Iraq War film for stupid people. It's only use would be to show it to High School kids in 20 years that are too lazy to read what happened and want a simple straight forward dumb as doorbells "story" of what went down those many years ago in a sandpit on the other side of the world.

Review: Kick-Ass

2010-04-22T00:24:00.017-04:00

Went to the matinée at the Henrietta Regal Cinema this afternoon to see Mathew Vaughn's new film "Kick-Ass". I have not read the graphic novel by Mark Millar of the same name for which this is based. I definitely want to check them out now. Like most books I'm alright with checking out the Cinematic equivalent first.(I really love this poster, one of the best I've seen in a while)

The film follows your average high school kid Dave Lizewski. Think Peter Parker but without being smart. A big fan of comic books he begins to wonder and discuss with his friends why no one ever tried to actually be a super hero in real life. (you've seen the trailer, you know the story). He does. Shit goes down. Hard core.

I had a blast with this movie. Without a doubt the most entertaining film I've seen this year so far. From beginning to end I was completely captivated and in the movie. Not once was there a "hmmm i should check my email" or "I wonder if it's still nice outside" or "Why's the floor so sticky?" thought moments. For a movie to have this effect deserves quite the high five to the creators. First and Foremost, I'll admit that I'm dead center within the films "Target Audience" of the american young adult dreamer who likes superhero's and has an odd yet scientifically normal amount of blood-lust. I'll be honest, I've thought about being a superhero/real-life vigilante myself and have even drawn up some costumes. You could say that it's like feeding mice cheese, or monkey's bandannas or Paris Hilton STD's. Give'em what they like. I agree with that, but I feel like this film really did a lot of things right on a level beyond that.

The film was perfectly casted across the board. Aaron Johnson did an awesome job as the lead of Dave/Kick-Ass. I connected with him within the opening credits and he was totally believable the whole time as the naive superhero wannabe. The role of Kick-Ass's love interest Katie played by Lyndsy Fonseca is a great casting choice as well. She is the perfect girl next door that you instantly fall in love with when you see her on-screen. Christopher Mintz-Plasse (McLovin) plays the kid with no friends... again. With this film it works. Sure he's being typecast, but that's the character of Red Mist. Nicholas Cage brings out an excellent Adam West impression as the revenge crazy Big Daddy. One girl killing machine Hit Girl is played by the cute as button Chloe Moretz. Again, great casting of a gifted young actress who can deliver all those lewd and crude lines with a level of sincerity and reality that doesn't feel forced or cheesy.

The World where Kick-Ass resigns is grounded in a believable and relatable reality with flares of fantasy that is well within the confines of suspension of disbelief without being too extravagant. The violence is brutally real. Without spoiling anything I'll just say some serious shit goes down to our hero Kick-Ass. Stuff that would definitely happen to someone if they did decide to be a Superhero in our modern world. Not to say that all of the violence and is realistic, but there are enough realistic consequences to enforce the sense of reality needed to make the more flourishy stuff even more exciting. One of the best aspects of the film was damn fine tension. In a lot of superhero films real tension is hard to accomplish due to the fact you know there is going to be a sequel and everything will turn out fine. (a good exception is the train sequence in Spider-Man 2). Kick-Ass is not your typical kind of super hero movie, all rules are out. Characters could die at any moment. This is legit. Another thing the film go right was it's recognition of the power of the internets. People don't read the newspaper. It's 2010. Welcome. How are you? Here's a computer machine.

If you are a teenage to twentysomething American male, or ever were one and not a stuck up butt head, go see this movie. If you're not, you'll probably find this offensive and reprehensible. That's cool. I'm just saying, I enjoyed it. So it did it's job fully.

Review: Naked Lunch

2010-04-20T15:30:00.011-04:00

Finally watched David Cronenberg's Naked Lunch all the way through today.

The book for which it is based by William S. Burroughs is now on my next to read after I finish "Cronenberg on Cronenberg". Now I don't know much about Mr. Burroughs and his writing. Cronenberg talks a lot about him in the book, and states that he is a major influence. From this small bit of exposure of the mountain of ideas and concepts in this man's head I look forward to delving into more of it.

As for the film. Now I've watched some bizarre films in my day but this definitely ranks among the top of them. It's not just the abstract and often freakish visuals but the overall concepts and themes surging below and through the images which create the ultimate sense of bizarreness. I'll admit that I do not fully grasp everything, or even most of what was "really" going on in this film.

What made Cronenberg's film adaptation really memorable is the reality for which all these odd things occur. The film is shot and directed in a way that has a sense of reality where all of this actually did occur. You really believe, "alright, so typewriters can turn into bugs and talk out of their butt holes, i can buy that". The use of practical effects is incredibly well done with the centipede processing plant, to the Mugwumps, to the Typewriters of different kinds. The main performance by Peter "Robocop" Weller is oddly hilarious as he is so nonchalant about most of the weird stuff going on in his "hallucinations". With his performance it helps the audience just accept these things within the story and continue moving on which definitely helps the overall effect. After reading the book I'll go back and see this again.

Recommended for everyone. Especially for Mugwumps and Centipede People.

Review: CORE

2010-04-20T15:07:00.009-04:00

After the Collegiate Climbing Series Competion at the Red Barn this past Saturday we all watched the new climbing movie "CORE" by Chuck Fryberger.

Here is the trailer:

CORE Official Trailer from Chuck Fryberger on Vimeo.

Shot on the RED Camera the film follows climbers across 3 Continents. The scenes in the Rocklands of South Africa are absolutely stunning. The whole area feels like it belongs on another planet. I was bummed that we watched it on an Standard Def projector but nevertheless it looked really good throughout and am interested in seeing it on BluRay.

The film like many other climbing movies follows a bunch of climbers that make me want to quit haha. It's ridiculous how good these guys and girls are. There was this one section where this guy was going up this rock face with nothing but single finger pockets. It was excruciating in that you thought his fingers were just going to snap off. Overall it just really solidified my desire to travel out West of the USA and experience the mountains out there. Check it out if you're into climbing movies, as it's definitely one of the most well made ones I've seen.

RIT Rock Climbing Site

2010-04-20T15:02:00.003-04:00

The brand new RIT Rock Climbing Club Web Site is now up and operational.

Checkedy Check it out:

http://www.rit.edu/sg/rocks/

Review: The Man From London

2010-04-19T13:18:00.006-04:00

Went to The Dryden Theatre to see the 2007 film "The Man From London" from the Hungarian director Béla Tarr. This is the second film I've seen from him, the first being the incredible 2000 film "Werkmeister Harmonies" I saw over the summer during Eastern European Film Class. Without a doubt or exaggeration "Werkmeister Harmonies" is one of the best and most enthralling films I have ever seen so I was instantly interested when I heard his newest film was being played here in Rochester on the big screen in 35mm.

I knew nothing about the film going into it for which I quite enjoyed. We are too often over-saturated with what's going on in the movie from trailers, behind the scenes photos, and director interviews before the film is even released. So it was really refreshing to have none of that and just watching the movie from frame one.

The film follows a railway worker as he gets mixed up with a man from London. Much like Werkmeister Harmonies, the story is not what draws you in. It is how it is portrayed and put on screen. Through a series of long takes, some lasting upwards of 10 min, you are hypnotically enthralled into the movie, no time to blink, no time for escape, you are there with the characters within the space. The film is also shot in stunning black and white, with vibrancy that would even make Pandora jealous.

There were some dubbing issues that seemed odd in this print of the film. Where some characters were speaking English with no subtitles but their mouths were definitely saying something else. This also occurred to characters who were speaking French, with English subtitles, again with their mouths saying something different. This was a little jarring at first but as you got more into the film it actually kinda added to the sense of uneasiness.

This film is not for everyone. But if you enjoy great cinematography and camera-work and can deal with a slow pace and story then check it out. Try to see it on the big-screen though, or at least a really big TV and sit up close.

Review: Greenberg

2010-04-13T00:34:00.013-04:00

Went to The Little Theater and watched the new film by Noah Baumbach the director of the under-seen great film "The Squid and the Whale". His new film stars Ben Stiller as the titular character Roger Greenberg. Recently out of a mental health hospital for unknown reasons, the 41 year old New Yorker goes to Los Angeles to house and dog sit for his Brother while he is away in Vietnam. In LA he reconnects with his old best friend from college Ivan played by Rhys Ifans and goes into a classic modern romance with his brothers nanny Florence played by Greta Gerwig.

The film has really good performances across the board. The one that stands out the most is Greta Gerwig. She is completely convincing in her performance and does a really nice job with Ben. As for Ben Stiller he does a really good job playing the anxiety ridden man who wants to do nothing. A lot of critics have said that this is Stiller's best performance to date. This bugs me. The thing that bugs me is that many times when a comedic actor does a serious role, critics and other people proclaim that serious role as their best performance. Totally undermining all past comedic performances in favor and in exaltation in that a dramatic role is better. FUCK THAT SHIT! Seriously? That pisses me off. Doing an effective and engaging comedic performance can be equally if not more difficult in pulling off and performing than a "dramatic" performance. Look it up in the dictionary, it's true.

The film also really captures and portrays awkward social interactions incredibly well. One scene in particular is when Greenberg goes to a party and is just talking to a bunch of people about what they and he's been up to for the past 15 years. It's a situation we've all been through, going back home and talking to a bunch of old acquaintances who act like they are really interested in what you are saying and you end up saying the same half assed thing to all of them. How this scene is edited and acted is really well done.

The modern romance between Greenberg and Florence is also played out in a refreshing and realistic manner. The whole are we dating, are we not dating, are there feelings, what's going on thing is going down in full force. It all culminates in an ending that is fulfilling and sweet (in the romantic sense).

If you like Noah Baumbach's other films, you should def check this out. Ben Stiller fans should also check this out to see another side of the actor. And check it out if you're just interested in seeing a good modern character piece.

Time-Lapse

2010-04-06T13:55:00.003-04:00

Shot this back in September. Now its on the internets. Enjoy.

Rubberwub Time-Lapse Adventure! from Daniel Alexander on Vimeo.

Movies Watched in the past month and other stuff too

2010-03-10T23:18:00.023-05:00

So when i was mad sick I went though a huge David Cronenberg binge. It was pretty freaking sweet.

Shivers-
Cronenbergs first feature film also has the title of being the very first Canadian horror film. Originally titled "Orgy of the Blood Parasites" it follows tenants at a high rise apartment who are overrun by a parasitic slugs that turn them into sex crazed maniacs. Throughout the film it has really great and innovative special effects for such a small budget. They are delightfully queazy. Acting isn't too bad for all things considered as many of the actors were unprofessional. Overall a very good first feature.

Rabid-
Expanding on similar themes of sexuality from "Shivers", Cronenberg's second feature film follows a young woman who after a traumatic motorcycle class grows an extra blood sucking appendage in her armpit after an experimental skin graph surgery. Pornographic actress Marilyn Chambers does quite well as the lead actress as she escapes the hospital and begins to infect men across the Canadian Countryside and into Montreal.

The Brood-

Scanners-

The Dead Zone-

The Fly-

Dead Ringers-

Crash-

eXistenZ-

Spider-

Still gotta couple to go, plus re-watching A History of Violence and Eastern Promises.

Finished up David Gordon Greens films I havn't seen

George Washington-

Snow Angels-

Started to catch up on all films Kevin Smith

Clerks-

Mallrats-

Watched some films the old fashioned way in the movie theatre

Shutter Island-

The Crazies-

The Wolfman-

The Fantastic Mr. Fox-

Then some other random movies

Altered States-

Barn Burner Comp 09

2010-02-25T17:36:00.002-05:00

In October 2009 the RIT Red Barn Climbing Center held its second Barn Burner Bouldering Competition where climbers competed for 12 hours from 9pm to 9am. This is what happened.

This is the short edit for RIT SportsZone that aired on ESPN2 and TWCSN Rochester. ritsz.com

I filmed a lot more footage and am in the process of editing a longer version with more info on the entire process of setting the routes and running the competition. Should be done sometime in the near future.

Watch on Vimeo to see it in nice big HD.

Barn Burner Comp 2009 (short version) from Daniel Alexander on Vimeo.

Back

2010-02-17T19:12:00.004-05:00

Dear Readers, i'm back.

Had the flu and pneumonia for the past few weeks and didn't really feel like doing anything but sit around and get better and watch Cronenberg movies.

But I made a video the other night for this internship for the awesome video site Vimeo. It's kinda inspired by Dead Ringers. Here it is...

Dan's Vimeo Internship Video from Daniel Alexander on Vimeo.

Yeah I grew a silly mustache, idk why.

I put this world globe tracker thing on my blog thats at the bottom. I have no idea if its legit. Apparently it can tell from peoples IP addresses where they are from and if they visit this. If its real then its pretty sweet, if its not then whatever, it's still kinda cool.

Anyways, big review post to come soon of all the movies I've been watching.

Laterrrrrrrs

Final Shirt Design

2010-01-26T15:07:00.001-05:00

Here is the Final Shirt Design for the RIT Rock Climbing Club!

Only 15 bucks and you can order one at the Red Barn.

Norway

2010-01-18T12:09:00.000-05:00

I want to go here.

January 2010 Film watching

2010-01-17T19:42:00.039-05:00

I've been trying to watch at least a film every day this year. Here is what I've been watching so far in 2010 with no specific order at all:

True Romance-
Awesome film written by Quintin Tarantino and Directed by Tony Scott. Great music and acting. Some freaking very excellent scenes, especially the one with Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper. Was like watching Tarantino's fantasy played out in cinematic form. Very enjoyable.

Jackie Brown-
Quintin Tarantino's third feature film. Definitely a lot toned down as far as eccentric style. Nevertheless a good character piece with an awesome performance from Robert DeNiro.

The Room-
Finally watched this new cult film. What the Fudge. You really just have to see this film with a group of people to understand it's awesomeness. Jesus balls this movie.

Daybreakers-
Nicely shot, some really good sequences, surprising good acting, sets up the whole world very well, but it just didn't end in quite a finally that it set up for. Did one of those bull crap "we'll beat them in the sequel" things.

It's Complicated-
This film just kept on getting more and more complicated. Being an adult sucks.

Undead-
The directors of Daybreakers first feature, an Australian zombie/alien/comedy movie. Very uneven, made little sense. But had some good effects. But had some pretty crappy ones too. But for a first feature its commendable.

High Tension-
A fantastic French horror film from Alexandre Aja. Beautifully shot. Great Music and sound design. Very very well done seamless make up effects. Great high tension (yeah well its true). Good stuff. I'm looking forward to Aja's Piranah 3D for sure.

Frontier(s)-
Pretty much a French Texas Chainsaw Massacre but with Neo-Nazi's instead of rednecks. Some good kills, but otherwise not as good as the trailer made it out to be.

Taxi Driver-
Saw this at the Dryden from a 1989 35mm print. Mad Awesome. Haven't seen this for a few years, definitely felt more connected to Travis this time around.

Up-
It's good but i don't think as great as everyone exalts it to be. Don't get me wrong there are some pretty sweet stuff like Doug the dog but it all felt just too contrived. I mean every movie is contrived, but it just didn't feel like the progression of events happened as naturally and smoothly as pixar has done in the past.

All the Real Girls-
David Gordon Green's (Director of Pinapple Express) second feature film. A relationship drama set in a small town in North Carolina. Great characters and acting including the first appearance of Danny McBride in a film. This dude knows how to make a movie.

Undertow-
David Gordon Green's third feature film about two young boys on the run from their crazed uncle. Incredibly shot and directed, and an awesome score from Phillip Glass, by far one of the best films I've seen this month. Definitely check it out.

Wolf Creek-
Pretty unsettling Australian film based on true events. Well shot and most importantly well acted which is the biggest problem in most American horror films.

The Foot Fist Way-
Danny McBride is the man. This is the movie that proves that. Hilarious.

Being John Malkovich-
Just one of those movies I never got around to watching. And now that I have... yes please, this was freaking awesome. Thank you Spike Jonze, you are awesome, i really want to give you a high five or ten.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus-
Heath Ledgers last film directed by the mad man Terry Gilliam. A pretty sweet visual experience throughout. Does it make much sense, sometimes, sometimes not. Plus Verne Troyer is a terrible actor, he really is just atrocious at saying any lines, but they do put him in monkey suit in one scene then in blackface and an afro in another which was pretty hilarious.

The Book of Eli-
Some cool camera work. Pretty well shot for the Red camera. Mila Kunis wasn't that bad for once in a serious role. The end was pretty cool.

True Lies-
Never got around to seeing this film from beginning to end. Now i have. Its just mad fun Arnie vs Terrorists with some amazing effects for 1994. The whole Harrier jet scene, god damn.

Rogue-
From the director of Wolf Creek a surprising good killer Crocodile film. Really makes me want to visit Australia's Northern Territory, some very beautiful locations in the film.

The Road-
Really nicely shot post-apocalyptic film. Good tense scenes. Wanted a little more in the end dealing with what it takes to survive. They started going down a road i liked, but could have taken it a lot farther into more interesting moral dilemmas.

A Serious Man-
Seriously good film from the Coen Bro's. Went to see this at the Cinema Theatre in Rochester. Was the first time I've ever gone there. They do 5 Dollar double features everyday, very rad. Definitely one of the best films of 2009.

My Favorite Films of 2009

2010-01-14T00:17:00.034-05:00

Here are my Favorite Films of 2009. I decided not to put them in any order. (just alphabetical) There are lots of kinds of films as there are lots of kinds of music. Lumping them all in one category against eachother often detracts from what is good about them. Placing them in a meaningless blog battle for the number 1 spot is just kinda silly. Anyways here are my favorite films of 2009 and what I particularly like about them.

(500)Days of Summer-
First feature film by director Marc Webb. (500) Days of Summer is what it is, a chick flick for guys and it's awesome because of that. I'm really glad this film was made. Great performances from the two leads played by Joseph Gordon Levit and Zooey Deschenel.

Adventureland-
Directed by Greg Mottola of Superbad fame, Adventureland is the best film of 2009 that no one saw. I really enjoyed this film. I related on a lot of levels to the main character played by Jesse Eisenberg. Kristen Stewart is really great in this as the love interest. She is a much better actress than what the Twilight movies make her out to be. Definitly check this great coming of age film.

Antichrist-
Directed by Lars von Trier. Definitly the most shocking film of 2009. Check out my full review for more thoughts.

Avatar-
From truck driver to king of the world James Cameron the most expensive film ever, Avatar. Sure it may not be the most original story or best dialouge ever, but none of that detracts from the experience of being on Pandora watching it in 3D. I'm looking forward to seeing this again in theatres.

Black Dynamite-
By far the funniest movie of 2009. A near perfect satire on blaxpoitation films of the 1970's. Quotable from begining to end.

Coraline-
Best animated film of 2009. (havn't seen Fantastic Mr. Fox yet though) Nevertheless every frame of this film is just stunning. All the detail, color, texture, and movement all sum up to a great time.

Crank: High Voltage-
Definitly the craziest film of 2009. Its crazy, its fun, its balls to the wall, its weird, its funny, its gross, its crank 2.

District 9-
Best SciFi Film of the year. One that actually has something to say. Everytime they used that exploding gun it never got old. Great effects and good lead performance.

Drag Me to Hell-
The most fun i've had at the movies this year. Thank you Mr. Raimi. I forgive you for Spider Man 3.

Food, Inc.-
Best Documentary of the year. Well I only saw this and Michael Moore's one. But nevertheless this documentary definitly hit me harder than any other I have ever seen. I thinks its more about the subject matter though, in that its food, something we deal with everyday.

Funny People-
Starting out in Stand Up Comedy I really liked the Seth Rogen part of the story, as for the last hour, meh, but there were some really great parts in the begining.

Inglorious Bastereds-
You know that feeling when you watch a movie for the first time and you just can't help but admire the fuck out of it and dig it like hell? Well that's what happened here with me. Definitly my favorite of the whole year.

The International-
Like Adventureland another underappreiciated and underwatched film of 2009. It's hard to categorize. It's not really an action film as there is only one action scene in the film. I'd say what best describes it is an international thriller. It's not affraid to talk time to set up the pieces and build tension. When the big action scene does come it doesn't dissapoint at all. In my opinion it's the best gun shoot out put on film in the past decade. It takes place in the Guggenhiem Museum in NYC and is realistic, well staged, surprising and just plain awesome. Check it out.

In The Loop-
Freaking hilarious British film about US/UK relations before going to war with Iraq.

The Last House on the Left-
Really well done horror film with great performances from both good and bad guys. Well shot plus good realistic old school gore effects.

Moon-
Not as good as it could have been, but still pretty darn cool. Sam Rockwell rocks in it. Pretty nifty story, could have taken it farther, but still, i quite enjoyed it.

Observe and Report-
Crazy dark comedy from Jody Hill, the creator of Eastbound and Down, and The Foot Fist Way. A comedy not for everyone. But for me I really dug it.

My Bloody Valentine 3D-
I went and saw this on my birthday last year and it was hella fun. It was a campy 3D horor film that knew it and stuck to its guns, or, well, pick axe.

Sherlock Holmes-
Just a classic combination. Good actors, good director, well shot, good action, intriguing story, good humor, good music, and over all, just plain fun. Not to shabby.

Taken-
I saw this twice in two days at the dollar theatre when it was there. Its simple, effective and awesome, Liam Neeson kicking ass in Paris.

Up in the Air-
Great performance by George Cloony and great directing by Jason Reitman. A really cool story that makes ya think about your own life and life in general, which is lost too much on films nowadays, or just done poorly in most other films.

Watchmen-
I read the graphic novel the week leading up to when this film came out and was really glad i did. It definitly gave me a greater appreciation for the film and all the magnificint detail it went into recreating the world of the novel. A truly remarkable graphic novel to film adaptation. I enjoyd this film quite a lot.

Most Overrated films of 2009:
1. Star Trek
Star Trek is for losers. period.
2. The Hurt Locker
Wathced this the other night. Very Meh. Did all these other critics watch a different movie? Up in the Air is way better as far as critical darling films.

Worst film of 2009:
BrideWars
The makers of the film should be drawn and quarterd. I'll admit, chick flicks can be good. But this one is just plain terrible. Both main characters are terrible/stupid/shallow/bitches that should also be drawn and quartered.

Here are all the 2009 films i've seen so far.

(500) Days of Summer
2012
Adventureland
Angels&Demons
Antichrist
Avatar
Away We Go
Black Dynamite
The Blind Side
Bride Wars
Bronson
The Brothers Bloom
Bruno
Capitilism: A Love Story
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Coraline
Crank: High Voltage
District 9
Drag Me To Hell
Fast&Furiuos
Food, Inc.
Friday the 13th
Funny People
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Gamer
The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard
The Hangover
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
I Love You, Man
Inglorious Basterds
The International
In The Loop
The Invention of Lying
It's Complicated
Knowing
Land of the Lost
The Last House on the Left
The Limits of Control
Monsters vs Aliens
Moon
My Bloody Valentine 3D
New Moon
Observe and Report
Pandorum
A Perfect Getaway
Public Enemies
Push
Sherlock Holmes
Sorority Row
Star Trek
Surrogates
Taken
The Taking of Pelham 123
Terminator Salvation
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Trick r Treat
The Ugly Truth
Up in the Air
Watchmen
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Year One
Zombieland

More Shirt Designs

2009-12-15T01:35:00.008-05:00

Here are new shirt designs for the RIT Rock Climbing Club. Due to printing restrictions they couldn't do my old design so here's the updated version with different variations.

Chaos Reigns

2009-12-13T23:35:00.015-05:00

Saw two pretty intense films over the weekend: Bronson and Antichrist.

Bronson-
Bronson is an unorthodox bio pic following the life and times of Micheal Peterson or what he later renames himself: Charles Bronson. (Not this guy) It is directed by Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn.

Story- Bronson likes to beat the fuck out of pretty much everyone. That's just his nature, who he is, what he is, is bustin skulls. Thus he spends a lot of time in jail and in solitary confinement. He's cool with that though. But the gosh darn British government and corrections are trying to reform him into a "normal" citizen.(hmmmmm) To which he proudly and prominently proclaims "Fuck Off!" to the man/establishment/system.

Review- Went to see this film at the George Eastman House Dryden Theatre Saturday night with the house mates and some other friends. Filmed on 16mm the cinematography is stark and refreshing. The music is terrific with a great blend of using iconic classical tunes to 80's dance songs. Tom Hardy does a terrific job becoming Bronson. There is not a moment that goes past where you think that it's just some actor playing Bronson, no, this is Bronson in the flesh, balls and all (yes there is more than a fare share of full frontal). If you like fighting and saying Fuck Off to the man, this film is for you. If you like well shot, intriguing stories about interesting people, this film is for you.

Although I have heard about director Nicolas Winding Refn'sPusher trilogy I have not seen any of them, but after seeing this they are at the top of my list of films to check out.

Antichrist-
Antichrist is the new romantic comedy by another Danish filmmaker, Lars von Trier. Lars takes us into the woods on a magical journey of discovery and other fun stuff.

Story- The story follows a couple played by this guy and that girl from The Science of Sleep who are grieving over the death of their young son who died (in slooooowwww motion). The girl takes it a lot harder than The Green Goblin, so the logical and smart guy he is, takes her to a cabin in the woods. There the girl and Norman Osborne meet some woodland creatures and get to know each other much better. Things kinda escalate, and there is only one way to describe it: funky weird ass shit happens.

Review- On a cold winters night my three housemates and I went to the Little theatre of Rochester along with a dozen other anonymous patrons to partake in viewing Antichrist on the big screen. I for one did not know exactly what was about to go down on that screen as we sat there in darkness. All i knew is that it has been called "shocking" by those who have seen it at the Cannes film festival earlier this year. In this internet engulfed day and age the term "shocking" has been watered down and has thus turned into a softcore version of what they used to call offbeat. Thus I did not expect anything too crazy as I was confident that I could handle anything from my years of desensitizing. We entered the theatre, got prime seats and watched the opening trailers (one where Matt Damon frees the slaves, and another about the queen of England is hookin up with this guy with huge mutton chops) The film started. We watched. The film ended. Credits Rolled.

As the closing credits came to an end and the theatre lights went up my roommates and I stood up and got our coats on. Not a word was said as we continued to walk out of the theatre and into the hallway. We were all at a serious loss for words. I cannot remember the last time I saw a film where it had this effect. As we passed the popcorn machine I finally broke the silence with "Can I just say one thing; Owie!" (referencing a severely painful part of the film), to which the tension was broke and we all exalted about the most apparent and definitely shocking parts of the film. The shocking scenes in this film truly are shocking and are as an audience member incredibly hard to watch. I admit that i screamed a couple times during the film in fright/shock. But what is most important to note is that this film is not a "shock" film, ala Saw (one through thirty seven), where the violence is only skin deep and has no meaning behind it. Here Lars von Trier uses these extreme actions to craft an extremely allegorical story about the basic nature of human beings.

From beginning to end the film is beautifully shot. The extreme slow motion black and white scenes of the epilogue and prologue are really quite stunning. The images created within the woods dream sequences are also very notable and I wish there were more of them because they were so sweet to watch. There was an effect used multiple times throughout the film where they warped parts of the image to make the woods like like they were moving. This warp effect added to the overall creepy and otherworldly atmosphere of the woods. I'm glad to see a filmmaker using the Red Camera in new and interesting ways other than just trying to make it a 35mm wanna be.

Overall I really liked this film. It was different. It was engaging. It was beautiful. It was scary. It was thought provoking. If you're interested in seeing something different on the fringe of modern cinema then you should definitely check it out with an open mind and empty stomach. Plus it's a great date movie!

The Last Actor: Pickup Shoot Day 2

2009-12-13T16:42:00.004-05:00

Got up early for a beautiful Rochester day full of overcast and freezing rain. Shot over at the park below Cobbs Hill then over to Manhattan Square park. Good stuff had again. More stuff to film this week and it should be all donezees.

The Last Actor: Pickup Shoot Day 1

2009-12-12T22:56:00.002-05:00

Shot some stuff for the montage today.

Cracked 6 eggs into a glass. Tried to chug it. Mixed results.

Really happy with everything we shot today. Went to Dogtown after the shoot and had an excellent Cincinnati Reg Dog footlong.

Hell Yes

2009-12-11T03:56:00.002-05:00

So Natalie Portman has singed on to star in the film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Fucking Rad.

I want to direct this.

Original Article.

MNTS

2009-12-09T18:23:00.003-05:00

I need to be where there are mountains.

This flat land of Rochacha is so depressing.

That's pretty much it.

MEGA REVIEW

2009-12-09T01:26:00.010-05:00

Bunch of reviews of Recent things:

-Brand New Concert 11/24
Went to see Jesse Lacy and the gang with a very rad friend at the Dome arena in Henrietta. They played a really good set of songs from their last three albums. At the beginning it was pretty gross cuz we were almost crushed by the magnitude of sweaty smelly peoples. But after getting out of the pit it was quite enjoyable. Third time seeing them in concert, and third time it was awesome.

-Matisyahu Concert 12/8
My roommate got a bunch of free tickets to this a few days ago, so me and all my roommates and some other friends went to the Main Street Armory to checkedy check it out. One word description? Pretty fuckin Rad. Matisyahu is wicked good at beat boxing and again overall really fun and good music. Plus the second to last song he jumped into the crowd which is always really sweet.

-Weezer: Raditude
Bought the new Weezer album with credit left on a gift card. Yes, this isn't close to the classics of the Blue Album or Pinkerton, get over it. Take it as it is. And what is it? It's a pop infused album with some hits and misses. At first listen I only liked the first and last songs, but upon more listening I'm more into much of the other songs in it, especially the track "Can't Stop Partyin" with Lil Wayne, it's just so ridiculous and cheesy (and they know it) it's just awesome. "Party like tomorrow is my funeral, gotta stop mixing alcohol and pharmaceuticals"= pure genius. My favorite song on the album is "Put Me Back Together", nothing too mind bending, but it's fun to listen to and sing along with, and what more do you want?

-Hausu (1977 Japanese Horror Film)
Saw this film at the Dryden on a 35mm print. Idk wtf happened, but it sure did look cool.

just watch this clip and it pretty much sums up the whole movie.

-Almost Famous
Finally got around to watching this film. Yadda yadda yadda, good coming of age story, but the thing that bugged me the most about this film was Kate Hudson, i just find her annoying and not a very good actress, but that's just my opinion. Billy Crudup is really good in it and it's also really interesting to see that Zooey Deschanel hasn't aged a bit in 9 years.

-The Killer
Watched this Hong Kong John Woo film for the first time. Melodrama+Guns+Bullets+White Doves+Slow Motion+Squibs Galore=A good damn time. Looking forward to checking out Hard Boiled sometime in the near future.

more reviews to be added tomorrow......

male modeling

2009-12-06T20:51:00.004-05:00

I used to have sweet mutton chops. This is evidence.

male modeling on the internets

T-Shirt Design

2009-12-02T21:42:00.002-05:00

I designed this T-shirt for a t-shirt design competition the RIT Rock Climbing club is having.

Just whipped it up, not a final version, but you get the just of it.

some seriously serious acting

2009-12-02T01:30:00.001-05:00

Me doing some acting in my friend Ralph's film "Rubberwub". Checkedy-check it out.

Opening shot to Rubberwub from Ralph Mastromonaco on Vimeo.

The Sun

2009-11-30T16:58:00.002-05:00

Dear Sun,

I'm going to miss you. Why must you leave me at 5pm? We should hang out more. Maybe I'll see you this summer, take care.

Dan

Dear Readers,

Got back to the Rochester the other night after a stuffed thanksgiving week of traveling, get togethers and eating. Did stand up last night at the Boulder Open mic, was really fun. Did all new stuff making it up as I went of just true stories that happened to me over break.

Time to finish my movie and get out of here, to wherever, i'll tell ya when i get there.

Dan

on Twitter

2009-11-23T19:56:00.003-05:00

Dear Readers,

So I tried to make a twitter for my movie The Last Actor, but it just reactivated my old one, so i just made some changes and now i bring you:

http://twitter.com/TheLastActor

Will be putting on daily updates on the ongoing adventure that is the The Last Actor film written directed and starring yours truly. A little shameless self promotion. If I'm not going to promote it, who is? Exactly. And I'm not James Cameron (yet) with 200 million dollars to promote my film, so we're going with the twitterverse for now, then an official website to come sometime in January.

No rest til this thing is done. I've had it with all this other crap getting in the way. It's movie time.

Rock On,

DAN

The Comedy Club

2009-11-04T21:55:00.003-05:00

Comedy Club Show

2009-10-30T12:32:00.003-04:00

Performed last night at the October edition of the Chet Wild Comedy Showcase as The Comedy Club in Webster. Did a pretty rockin set, heard a lot of "iwes" and "grosses" which made me laugh on stage. Got to meet some other comedians.

Went to Wegmans afterward and the cashier lady was definitely on Crystal Meth.

pic to come

Into The Wild

2009-10-29T00:59:00.005-04:00

Watched the 2007 Sean Penn film, Into the Wild tonight.

I tried watching it before a year or so ago but didn't finish it. So it was nice to see it in its entirety.

I enjoyed it quite a lot. I can definitely feel the main character of Alexander Supertramp as he calls himself, as I've been feeling many of the same things he talks about and feels in the film. It scared me in that I can see myself doing a similar thing in just leaving this whole society behind to venture into the unknown. Whats more scary to me is not doing something like this, and just taking things easy and not putting myself out there to experience new and dangerous situations. Idk. I still have a lot to learn, and going out there and doing something would help.

Technically the film is beautifully shot with amazing location photography from Arizona, South Dakota, Nevada, California to Alaska. The performances were all really good across the board as well. Emile Hirsch was great as the lead, and all the supporting characters brought something new and interesting throughout the film from Vince Vaughn, to the always captivating Kristen Stewart, and to the well deserved Oscar nominated performance of Hal Holbrook in one of the later segments of the film. There is also an interesting cameo with Zach Galifianakis where his accent is so good you can barely tell its him.

Overall, a really good film for anyone who as ever thought about leaving it all behind and going Into the Wild.

Today was lame

2009-10-15T00:39:00.004-04:00

Worst part of the day: Not enough sleep. Midterm. Remembering I left my phone at home, felt off the grid, kinda weird. Had to run around to 7 different bathrooms to find one that wasn't either occupied/out of service/closed for maintenance/locked. Homework. No time for lunch. Class. Homework. Got pulled over by campus safety for going 30 in a 15, didn't get a ticket so it wasn't that bad, just annoying. No time for dinner. Oral presentation. Watched a terribly boring movie La Cuidad. I don't even know.

Best Part of the Day: After it all, eating a Hawaiian pizza at MacGreggors.

tired

2009-10-14T03:52:00.002-04:00

did a bunch of SZ work. Finished editing the Barn Burner Bouldering Competition II segment. Will air this friday.

Went and performed stand up in Buffalo for the first time. Was pretty fun. Did a solid 8min. Good times.

lots of work to do tomorrow.

hello there

2009-10-13T02:06:00.003-04:00

Dear Readers!

It is I, your captain speaking. Not much time to write, but don't listen to what others have said, I am alive and well. Pulled 3 all nighters in the past week with the climbing doc. Feelin kinda funky. But AVAST! Much work to be done tomorrow! The bed calls.

Rock and Roll,

Daniel
Alexander
Stebbins

Teaser Trailer

2009-10-06T00:34:00.000-04:00

The Last Actor (Teaser Trailer) from Daniel Alexander on Vimeo.

First of October

2009-10-03T02:10:00.002-04:00

Dear Readers,

Has been quite a busy week for our lone hero Daniel. Classes are hitting hard with more and more work and he has started filming a short documentary on tomorrow's Red Barn Burner Competition II. This is a Bouldering Rock Climbing competition held at the RIT Red Barn (the best place on campus, and in all of Monroe county for that matter). What is Bouldering? What is this competition all about? Well readers, you will have to become viewers when this little documentary is done, and you will find all that out and much more. He has shot over 100 Gigs of footage in the past 4 days, and more to be shot tomorrow. I heard he feels good about the project and looks forward to showing it to people.

Dan tore a hole in his favorite jacket pocket. Not his favorite pocket, but his favorite jacket, don't want any confusion. But nevertheless, this made Dan very sad.

This morning Dans left pinky finger was swollen and hurt like a SOB. He did nothing to it the day before, thus it quite perplexed Dan to its current state. This made Dan angry. Even in sleep he can't help but get injured.

What will happen to Dan in the following week? The following month? The following year? The following decade? I for sure don't know, and neither does he and neither does anybody else. Anything could happen.

Until next time,

Narrator

From Last Thursdays Comedy Club Show

2009-09-29T00:28:00.003-04:00

SUNdai

2009-09-28T02:43:00.003-04:00

Slept my sickness off the entire day.

Woke up finally at 7pm.

Went to subway and ate a sub while watching the new Simpsons episode. Good stuff.

Went on a date with myself and saw the new Science Fiction film Pandorum. Was pleasantly surprised. Shot well, good production design, and kept me involved the whole time. The best part of the film was main actress of Antje Traue, even though she was covered in black grease and blood for most of the film.

Went to Wegmans for groceries.

SatRday

2009-09-28T02:28:00.004-04:00

Directed the Mud Tug shoot for SportsZone.

Went and saw Surrogates with a friend. Very Meh of a film. They had all the ingredients to make a cool movie; Bruce Willis, Robots, and good sci fi near future concepts. But the finished product was bland, boring at times, and uninspired. I'm really not liking it the more I think about it. Bruce was good in it but the whole time I just wanted to go watch him in any Die Hard movie instead. Dear Hollywood, give me 80 Million dollars and I'll show you how to make an awesome movie. legit.

Went to the Girl Talk concert on campus. Mad crazy. But people at RIT don't know how to dance.

Fryday

2009-09-28T02:25:00.001-04:00

Went to the SOFA mentor/mentee picnic pizza party thing.

Climbed at the Red Barn for a while.

Went party hoping.

Thurzday

2009-09-25T02:51:00.002-04:00

Woke up, went to New Documentary Class. Watched Sicko by Michael Moore. Was the second time I've seen it. Definitely recommended to anyone who had ever paid a medical bill. Of course Michael Moore is a manipulative filmmaker, but who isn't? That is one of the biggest and most commonly used vices in all film, to sway the audience into having some sort of emotional response. But what sets this film apart is that it's about helping people who are helpless, not all the political bipartisan bull crap a doodle doo. What's so wrong with helping people and putting up an argument that we live in a nation that has the resources to do exactly so?

Took care of some business.

Ate some good pizza.

Went up to The Comedy Club in Webster and performed at the Chet Wild Comedy Showcase. Felt really good about my set, it was shortish but all the jokes hit really well, and i didn't want to go over time like last time i performed there. Just really glad to have 3 times to go up on stage this past week and practice.

Wednesday

2009-09-25T02:43:00.002-04:00

Went to Science Fiction class in the morning.

Was too nervous/anxious for tonight to go to my Shakespeare class.

Went and picked up the brand new Brand New album Daisy. First time i've bought a CD, well since Weezer's Deluxe Remastered Blue Album at the beginning of the summer, but before that one, a really long time. Haven't listened to Daisy yet. Will definitely when the big show is done. Really pumped for their concert coming up in November.

The Easy Way Out One Stop Comedy Show rocked fucking hard core Dinosaur! Seriously, I had a wicked good time, a lot of people came out and it was awesome to see everyone there enjoying themselves and laughing. Some SOFA professors came out which was awesome. Really there were no complaints, other than we could have set up the seating arrangements a little better, but the show went on without a hitch. Was the first time I got paid for doing Stand Up which is pretty rad, and the booker guy at the Lovin Cup said we had the best Comedy Show they have ever had there which is really fucking rad. Sorry for all the Fbombs but I'm just pumped. (pictures and video to come!)

Went and partied with all the comedians and friends and continued the awesome time of the night.

tooosday

2009-09-23T01:13:00.001-04:00

Slept in. No class today.

Put up a bunch of fliers for the Comedy show tomorrow.

Did some planning and meetings for a film project.

Went to the Red Barn to do some climbing.

Made an adaptation of a film with a bunch of friends shooting 1:1 ratio. It was pretty ridiculous.

Watched the first half of Tropic Thunder. Everything RDJr says in that film is solid gold and never gets old.

monday Zardate September 21st 2009 AD

2009-09-22T01:46:00.000-04:00

Went to science fiction class. Talked about this short story "-All You Zombies-" by Robert A. Heinlein about this time traveler who went back in time when he was a woman and fucked himself and then he gave birth to himself. That's just the tip of it. It's wicked weird. Check it out.

Had lunch.

Went to Shakespeare class. Performed Act 4 Scene 1 of Much Ado About Nothing.

Drove home. Walked my friends Dog. Showered. Went back to campus, wrote down a bunch of material, did some business. Drove back.

Played an awesome game of Risk while watching the John Boorman masterpiece Zardoz. Seriously watch this movie. ASAP. I say that with all and complete seriousness. It's a film to be experienced before you die.

Within playing our 4 hour game of Risk we also watched the film White Dog. It's a pretty rare film that was never released theatrically due to its subject matter back in 1982, and has up until recently only been released on criterion DVD. The less you know about it the better going into it. But overall it was a highly engrossing film that definitely slowed our Risk game down substantially.

Twas a good day.

SunDAY

2009-09-21T01:35:00.000-04:00

Had an awesome/scary/terrible/weird dream last night.

It kept on switching back and forth between a nightmare and an awesome dream and just weird ass shit that didn't make any sense. I mean that's what most dreams are, but this one had the extremes of all those things. All together wicked weird. Idk what that means. Maybe its a metaphor for my life or something.

Cleaned the room a bit and some laundry.

Got some awesome new music.

Hosted the Boulder Coffee Open Mic tonight. Went really well. Got things moving, kept the crowd up, and overall had a really good time. Really looking forward and still pretty nervous about the big show at Lovin Cup coming up this Wednesday.

SatRday

2009-09-21T01:26:00.000-04:00

Took a big nap.

Was an extra for this feature film called Hamill. It's about the coming of age of deaf UFC fighter Matt Hamill. It should turn out really well I think and am looking forward to seeing the finished film. The scene was for his high school prom in 1995. Was alright. A lot of sitting around. We never got to dance though which sucked. I ended up wearing a tuxedo t-shirt. I wore it underneath the dress shirt and suit i brought as a joke but the wardrobe lady ended up liking it better. Got to meet some cool people too. Here is the official website for the movie.

Fday

2009-09-21T01:24:00.000-04:00

Woke up.

Wrote some HW.

Went to an a really fun surprise party with good people and good times.

Did some dancing. Saw a scary midget.

Asked some cops if they wanted to hear a joke. They told me to fuck off:( Their loss, cuz the joke i was going to tell them was wicked funny.

THRday

2009-09-18T16:05:00.000-04:00

Went to New Documentary Class, watched the documentary Trouble the Water about survivors of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. It was pretty interesting in that it had a bunch of footage that was shot by a girl that experienced the whole disaster first hand. Here is the official website.

Did the homework assignment for class.

Went on a drive toward the setting sun. Saw some really beautiful landscapes during magic hour.

Finished up an the first big essay for Science Fiction class.

Went and saw Sorority Row with a bunch of friends. It was pretty enjoyable for a mindless slasher flick. The last shot was amazing, with the three remaining sisters walking away from their house in slow motion as it burns down. Oh yeah, and Princess Leia is in the film with a shotgun.

WDay

2009-09-18T16:02:00.000-04:00

got up mad early.

Had a freaky time on the highway to the shoot. It was rainy in the morning and i started drifting around a turn at 65mph. Was pretty scary, but was able to steer my way out of it without any major trouble.

Was on a shoot for 11 hours.

Wicked tired.

2sDay

2009-09-16T01:00:00.000-04:00

No class on Tuesdays so did a bunch of writing homework.

Cleaned up my gmail account. Had more than 500 messages in my inbox. Now its down to thirty something. Going to try to keep it tidy.

Made my Google Calendar thing for the quarter.

Was going to watch Point Break in honor of the Swayze but the DVD wouldn't work:/

More writing homework.

being a good student is weird.

mondayyy

2009-09-16T00:56:00.000-04:00

Monday morning at the film cage.....ugggghhhhh. was there until 11am so i missed my first class, was pretty bummed since I spent most of yesterday doing the reading and HW. Went and talked to the teacher afterwards, was alright.

Went to Shakespeare class.

Did a writing assignment.

Went to MacGreggors to eat and watch the Bills destroy my hopes for another time.

Did some writing on the feature script.

SONday

2009-09-14T02:14:00.000-04:00

Read all of H.G.Wells's The Time Machine today for Literature: Science Fiction class. Was a good read and way to spend most of the day. I was familiar with the story from seeing the 1960 and 2002 film versions, so it was really cool to read the original story and more importantly one of the very first credible science fiction novels.

Went down to Boulder Coffee to watch then perform at the Stand-Up Open Mic down there. Did all new material tonight. Just wanted to test out new stuff to see what works and what doesn't before the big show at Lovin Cup Wednesday September 23rd. Kinda nervous about it. Going to be pushing it a bunch this week and next spreading the word. Made a new poster for it tonight. Checkedy Check it out....

SatURday

2009-09-14T02:12:00.001-04:00

Woke up late.

Not a productive day.

Almost got bro raped at a party. Freaking weird.

FRYDAY

2009-09-14T02:08:00.000-04:00

Woke up mad early and went to a film shoot for my friend.

Ended up shooting this scene for about 11 hours. Was quite worn out and tired by the end of it. Shot a time lapse of most of the day's filming at a one second interval, looks pretty cool. Will be up on Vimeo sometime this week.

Had a party at the house. Was pretty fun, played a bunch pool and cards and hung out with good people and listened to good music.

Thursday

2009-09-11T00:36:00.000-04:00

Had History and Aesthetics: New Documentary class where we watched the Werner Herzog film Grizzly Man. It is a tragic film that tells the story of a man within deep conflict of man vs nature. Still pondering on how I really feel about it.

Had a good Mega Slice.

Went to the Dryden and saw Steve McQueen be bad ass again in The Great Escape. Seriously nothing matches watching films on 35mm there. Damn its good.

Rehearsed lines for a shoot tomorrow.

Wednesday

2009-09-10T02:16:00.000-04:00

Literature: Science Fiction class 10-noon.

Lunch. Tiger Sub. twas mighty tasty.

Brainstormed video scavenger hunt ideas.

AE: Shakespeare on Stage class 2-4

Hung out at SZ office.

Film as Literature class 6-10pm. Analyzed The Big Lebowski scene by scene the entire class, didn't even get through a half hour of the film.

2sDay

2009-09-10T02:12:00.000-04:00

Rode Bike to campus.

Got to class, no one was there. Went to the computer to make sure it was the right room. It was. Confused. Found out it was cancelled after contacting some people in the class.

No class at all.

Went and bought 10 books for 2 classes. Bad idea being on my bike and hauling that all back.

Rode back home.

Went to Jitters to meet up with peoples then back home to play pool.

Read Science Fiction reading assignment. Was just the boring introduction of this anthology book discussing definitions.

REVISED: version of Comedy Show highlight reel

2009-09-08T17:14:00.000-04:00

Here is the revised highlight video from Chet Wilds Comedy Showcase a few weeks ago at The Comedy Club in Webster, NY.

MUNDAY-

2009-09-08T17:01:00.001-04:00

First Day of class for my Super Senior Year at RIT

Woke up late.
Drove to my Literature: Science Fiction class. A bunch of nerds in it. (including me)

Lunch.

Went to some meetings and tidied things up.

Went to Arts of Expression: Shakespeare on Stage class. The teacher is Colonel Sanders.

Went for a 5 mile run.

Biked back to school, went to the gym, went to my friends place, played Rock Band and some poker, rode my bike home in the dark. Some pretty sweet sights in the dark covered in fog lit by the moonlight.

Sunday Sunday

2009-09-08T16:48:00.000-04:00

Cleaned my bike for a while and got it pretty spotless.

Went and saw the new Jim Jarmusch film The Limits of Control at the Dryden. As a minimalist film I feel like it should have a minimalist review. It was very interesting and different as what actually all went down. The music was sick. Beautiful Cinematography and Spanish locations.

SatRday

2009-09-06T04:39:00.000-04:00

FIXED MY BIKE! WOO WOO.

Went grocery shopping, saw a midget. always awesome.

Went and saw the British comedy In The Loop at the Little Theatre tonight. Definitely recommended for anyone who likes political satire. The film takes place right before the invasion of Iraq and it follows various government members of the United Kingdom and the United States as they bumble through their petty problems and a little thing called war. The acting and dialogue is top notch. Every line just tops the last. It's no clean affair either. The Brits in this have some of the foulest mouths I've heard in a long while, and by golly it is delightful.

Then I watched the 2006 film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. It was terrible. Not scary, pretty lame, just dumb, and predictable. So why did I choose to suffer through this film? Four words. Jordana Brewster and Diora Baird. There is a god.

fryday

2009-09-05T03:24:00.000-04:00

Went on a little 2.5 miler.

Explored more of Mt.Hope Cemetery.

Cleaned some of the house.

Did some writing.

Did some thinking.

Did some listening.

-no spelling mistakes, woo!-

Thurzdee

2009-09-04T14:30:00.000-04:00

Went to the bike shop to help out a friend who got hit by a car on his bike.

Pretty sweet 5 miler, explored some different places in Mt. Hope Cemetery. Saw a bunch of Civil War era gravestones.

Went to the Dryden and saw a beautiful 35mm print of The Magnificent Seven. It was the first time I have seen the movie and enjoyed it quite a lot and was very thankful I could see it for the first time in that format in a theatre. Seriously the Dryden is legit awesome. It was just a top notch Western in every sense. Great story, great acting, great cinematography, and great camera movement. Steve McQueen and Yul Brynner were such bad asses. And most importantly a great adaptation of Seven Samurai. Can't wait to see The Great Escape at the Dryden coming up this coming Thursday the 10th.

Coming up September 23rd!

2009-09-03T15:13:00.001-04:00

Dear Readers,

I'm hosting a comedy show September 23rd at the Lovin Cup at Park Point at RIT at Henrietta at New York State at the United States of America at the North American Continent at the Planet Earth.

Show starts at 9pm. Get there early to drink and get good seats. See ya there!

Wednesday

2009-09-03T15:11:00.000-04:00

did a nice and fast 5 miler.

wrote some stuff.

nothing too interesting.

2sDay

2009-09-02T19:19:00.001-04:00

another good 5 miler.

Went around to different Bike shops looking at parts for my project bike.

Bought some paint. Got the paint design all figured out, its going to look sick as hell.

Went and saw Land of the Lost at the dollar theatre. Really glad i saw this for a dollar instead of 9.50 when it first came out. It wasn't terrible, it was just muddled down by a lot of flat/boring/not funny scenes. There were parts that were absolutely hysterical like when Will Ferrel was about to french kiss Chaka, and the art design was really cool. And I am glad they kept the Sleestaks practical instead of doing them CG (minus when they open their mouths). But it was just very uneven, like it didn't know what it wanted to be, a stoner comedy, a kids movie, or an adventure film. It tried to be all of these, thus it failed. That's why Step Brothers worked so well, it knew exactly what it was and went for it to the Nth degree, a totally unserious silly film about two child adults. But by the end of Land of the Lost, you have an overwhelming sense of "what the fuck did i just see?", if the filmmakers intended us to feel this way then bravo, they accomplished their mission. Oh yeah, the dinosaurs looked pretty cool, yet still to this day the Dinosaur effects in Jurassic Park hold up better.

MONday

2009-09-02T02:58:00.000-04:00

Walked my friends dog.

Went on a good 5miler. On the way back got almost hit by a car, skimmed the side as it passed. Was pretty weird.

Watched some of the ridiculous Shaq Vs.

Went on a night bike ride with 3 other gang members. Infiltrated some abandoned complexes, climbed some buildings, cut some fingers, tried to do some jumps, excellent times.