wednesday 18/11/09: good film day.

woke up at 9 something. had a shower, did my washing, made breakfast, got water. downstairs, record some claps for western. break fo lunch, chille con carne. amazing! watched in the valley of elah.

i already talked about tommy lee jones yesterday so i don't need to do it again. he's much better in 'in the valley of elah' than 'the hunted'. charlize theron is pretty awesome too. was stoked to see jason patrick in there...james franco...josh brolin! amazing supporting cast. roger deakins killed it too. i'm a little annoyed though - my tv formatted the picture to 1:85 but it was shot in 2.35:1. still don't know why it did that. brutal story, well directed. see it if you feel like feeling sad.

then i came out of my room and we jammed on a new song. the guitar part is pretty intricate. needs both guitars to make it sound complete. drums are weird. after that i had a bar for dinner and settled down to watch the boxer. i was distracted and had trouble engaging in the flick so i turned it off when joe came around and put on road to perdition.

it's easily one of the most beautifully shot films i think i've ever seen. and so well directed! sam mendes really killed it. tom hanks was reliable as always. paul newman owns all over everything. jude law played against type and did so awesomely, same with daniel craig who's voice and manner were nearly unrecognisable. the music was stellar too thanks to thomas newman. can't say enough good things. the scene where tom hanks confronts paul newman in the rain is just...ugh. never seen anything like it before or since. i could watch it over and over. i don't think mendes can really top this. hasn't since, at least.

next up: jackie brown. never seen this before which is weird. incredible ensemble cast. on the whole it's all a little underwhelming. well executed but just not all that compelling. robert de niro is amazing and he just SITS there. barely does a thing. pam grier was solid. samuel l. just walks all over the thing...he has the most fun out of anyone. surprisingly shot in 1:85 as tarantino's aspect of choice is usually 2.35:1 (which inglourious basterds was shot and looks amazing in). i think cinemascope suits him better...jackie didn't have a whole lot of style about it. at least not compared to everything else he's made. quentin works better with his own material too.

finally: boxcar bertha. scorsese's first real film, a roger corman quickie. firstly, barbara hershey is a babe. it's weird seeing carradine act now that he's dead. funny that i don't feel as weird seeing paul newman...maybe it's just cause of how carradine died. changes the way you view everything in relation to that person. i'm amazed at the transfer of this mediorcre old mgm dvd release. the negative must have been in mint condition cause all the colours are so vibrant for a 60's film (albeit a late 60's film). obviously as it's marty's first flick it's a little shakey but promising. it's shot really well but that'd be mostly due to his planning...they shot it in 22 days on something like $300,000. inspires me a lot.

until tomorrow, bye.

tuesday 17/11/09: productive?

woke up. drove to chemist warehouse, bought chille con carne, chicken korma, coffee shakes, pumpkin soup, cherry/choc bars. enough meal replacement to last me nearly a month. intense. came back, put down some percussion for western. not much, a bit. break for lunch, i went and bought a dirty clothes hamper and a water filter from castletown. both are rad. came back, didn't do much. watched lust for life.

lust for life is about vincent van gogh. it's amazing how much kirk douglas looked like him once he had the haircut and colour. gave a pretty amazing performance. production was a little too "mgm in the 50's & 60's" for my tastes...they should have it to someone like raoul walsh or john ford. a western director, someone who wouldn't ham up the character development, but i guess it's based off a real dude. anthony quin was good but not as amazing as everyone makes his performance out to be. they made the transfer from a theatrical print, not the negative, which is a shame given how much was written up at the time about how brilliant the colours were. the film stock they used was notorious for losing colour vibrancy faded significantly over time. as i watch more and more early films i come to understand the true value of film preservation. it's depressing to think that 50% of the films made before 1960 are completely lost, either lack of negative/distribution print or faded to red.

then i watched barry lyndon. what a film. i'd never had the balls to sit down and absorb it all in one sitting but man, it's worth it. cannot WAIT for a restoration of that baddie (dvd is from a theatrical print) on dvd and blu-ray. it'll knock the socks off everything (except perhaps baraka). some of the scenes are just masterworks in every possible way. and shot on 65mm...i'll be watching it again a few times over the next couple of weeks, for sure. with every new kubrick film i see (i've only got paths of glory and the killing to go) i feel like i've seen 10 from any other director. i think spielberg said that once actually and i couldn't agree more. watch dr. strangelove and as soon as it's finished, you will want to watch it again. seriously itching for that barry lyndon restoration. pheeyoo.

finally i watched the hunted. i should have saved barry lyndon for last cause the hunted was average. i wish you could edit dvds cause i'd cut the film down to the chasing and the knife fights, both of which were great and the only thing worth watching about it all. benicio del toro is so totally underwhelming you're shocked he won an oscar previous to this film. tommy lee jones could read the phone book and i'd be stoked so i enjoyed him, as always. there's just something about him. william friedken has really gone downhill...turning into just an action d00d. rules of engagement was OKAY but not great. he hasn't made a solid goodie in a while, and for a new hollywood director that's saddening.

my feet are freezing. we got formally invited to play south by south west in austin, texas next march. that's going to be pretty flipping rad.

until tomorrow, bye.

monday 16/11/09: not much.

woke up. shake. hang with mark/jord/ro upstairs. get down to business, finish western. structure at least. break for lunch. go to wow with jord, buy escape from absolom and baraka (which i'd been waiting for to come down in price..13 bucks is a steal). come home.

baraka is already up there with the most amazing motion pictures ever for me. such a beautiful film...some of it is almost too much to watch. the whole sequence set to dead can dance's 'the host of seraphim' brought tears to my eyes. so powerful, can't wait to see it at the astor. i can't believe the director made his own camera to shoot it. in 65mm! astounding. the dvd itself is among the best looking i've ever seen too. such clarity...it's ridiculous. go out and buy this disc, it will blow your mind.

started watching high plains drifter. shake. practice. good practice. hang with weed for a bit. finish high plains drifter. weird movie. made very quickly and cheaply but with clint eastwood's trademark classicism directorial flourish. waste not want not is the rule of thumb in his pictures. not an amazing western but a merely interesting one. some great one liners. troubling attitude towards women too, but i suppose that's characteristic of the western genre as a whole. which sucks.

sleep now. tired. chemist warehouse in the morning for some bars and meals. been thinking about pizza all night. sucked.

until tomorrow, bye.

sunday 15/11/09: movies and germans and movies.

the transfer on the french connection dvd was weird. like it was interlaced or something. it's strange, because it was shot on film so it should have an analogue source. it's like when they were doing the restoration (which is quite poor) they made a digital intermediate that was produced as interlaced...which is really unusual. also some sequences are clearly shot on 16mm blowup instead of 35mm like the second unit ran out of money for film stock or something. that film needs another look in terms of the picture...bad dvd.

so today i woke up and watched judgement at nuremberg. not a real cheery flick to watch first thing but i was really impressed. it goes for 3 hours but doesn't seem drawn out. spencer tracey rules as always, burt lancaster is amazing. judy garland was a weird addition for sure. only gripes were the dvd was mastered in 4:3, not 16:9. i looked at the back and the editon i have is dated 2004, which makes this anamorphic oversight kind of inexcusable (unless - and this is likely - it's just a direct copy of an initial release dvd from the 90's or something with new packaging). also, the transfer was made from a distribution print, a black and white positive instead of from the negative. you can tell because the reel change marks appear. this happened with the original dvd transfer of michael mann's heat aswell which was puzzling considering they had the negative for the re-release anyway. why don't they just nail things like that first time around? pretty disappointing, but it wouldn't surprise me if mgm lost the original judgement at nuremberg negative. i guess we'll see whether or not when they do a re-release (which they will do).

then i watched brick. now when i shared a room with jono he was always hassling me to check this flick out cause it was one of his favourites. turns out it rules. well shot, well acted, well written. impressive for such an ambitious idea. the noir touches were obvious but still quite sneaky. joseph gordon-levitt is a great actor and it was sweet to see richard roundtree in there (shaft!). the interview with the director was the only extra on the dvd but it was pretty good. for a half hour of the guy just talking it was better than expected. it took him 9 years to get his film finished...that's daunting but inspiring.

then i watched rounders. i'd forgotten this film even existed until recently when i saw it at JB for like 6 bucks. i think REL have bought up all village roadshow's distribution library in australia cause they're re-releasing all the films as exactly the same discs but with very slightly altered packaging and mega cheap. all the usual village hallmarks are there but it's just an REL release now. reminds me of miramax's releasing strategies in the 80's...anyway. rounders is about poker and it's flipping sweet. matt damon is rad as always, edward norton too...martin landau, nice surprise. john malkovich is hilarious as a russian poker joint owner named kgb. production design was great and it was shot so well...amazing a film like this slipped under the radar. so good.

then some german backpackers came over cause they're staying for a few days. two girls and a guy. jord's registered on couchsurfers.com and they saw us on there. they were rad. they taught us about german stuff for like 2 hours. beer, geography, dialects...the works. at times it was awkward to search for things to talk about but that's to be expected. i look forward to hanging out with them in the days to come.

finally i watched buffalo 66. it's a film that really sneaks up on you, that you can't judge in the first 20 minutes or so. you're not quite sure what to think of it. christina ricci is great, so is gallo. everyone in it rules in some way. even jackie treehorn from the big lebowski is in it! nuts. cool music and some great scenes, especially the bit where ricci tapdances in the bowling alley...heaps rad. the film looked...70's. must have been the stock, i don't know what it was. it almost looked like they shot on colour positive film. actually i think i read that somewhere. everything looked so warm and lush but muted, if that makes any sense. awesome.

now after nerding out, i gotta sleep.

until tomorrow, bye.

saturday 14/11/09: haven't posted in a while.

so i guess for the most part i've been slack on this blog for the last month or so. when you get behind, you begin to forget.

a run down of the last month:

- flew to melbourne
- went to mark and leah's engagement party
- played pool
- saw the final destination in 3D
- saw robocop at the astor
- played a show for myspace with tme that went alright but then they brought this food out and it blew my mind. little noodle boxes with fish and chips (and little bits of lemon!), mini-burgers, beer, wine...wow
- played pool
- hung out
- changed my flight from 28th of october to the 11th of november
- hung out
- went to bentley's 21st which ruled
- played pool
- saw the shining and a clockwork orange at the astor
- saw the box
- saw this is it
- saw saw VI with riz
- saw the imaginarium of dr. parnassus
- played pool
- visited my dad/grandma with my sister
- gave dad a drum lesson
- swam
- ate
- swam
- saw all the lord of the rings' at the astor...breathtaking (and exausting)
- saw the box again
- had a birthday
- saw the box again
- saw a christmas carol (in 2D)
- ate salsas (oh boy!)
- flew to townsville which is where i am now.

since i've been back (got home on the night of the 11th) i've watched some movies:

- apt pupil. pretty interesting if really implausable flick. ian mckellen is amazing in it. great performances all around actually, especially from david schwimmer in a sweet dramatic role.

- the faculty. rad little sci-fi/horror directed by robert rodriguez and written by kevin 'dawson's creek/scream' williamson. surprisingly fun with a rad ensemble cast and cool effects. pure silly schlock.

- ed wood. can't believe i'd never seen it before. tim burton's best directed film without a doubt. and the black and white cinematography...gosh. one of johnny depp's best roles and martin landau is just flipping incredible as bela lugosi.

- stander. surprisingly cool movie about this south african cop in the 70's who becomes a major bank robber. true story too. thomas jane is naked in it more often than clothed though.

- mulholland drive. it'd been a while since i'd seen david lynch's 2001 baddie. naomi watts is amazing and so is laura harrin. justin theraux isn't so bad either and as usual, all of lynch's bit players are note perfect. the score is super rad but it's a shame the focus puller wasn't doing his job properly: half the shots fall out of focus part way through. sigh.

- the last tempation of christ. can't believe i'd never seen this before either. made me pretty emotional, very intense take on the subject and difficult to watch. dafoe just rules all over it...such commitment to his role. i watched it again with commentary which is something irecommend everyone who enjoyed the film should do.

- the aviator. i'd seen it a few times before but decided to watch it with commentary. it will go on to be a classic film not just in martin scorsese's body of work but in all movies. so solidly made and amazing work from everyone involved. probably scorsese's best production designed film besides age of innocence and casino. all three of those films just look so great.

- sheitan. besides vincent cassel's performance which is a riot, no one should bother with this flick. it's just nasty and badly made. eeyuck.

- celtic pride. besides one funny gag at the start, this movie is disappointing considering who's involved. judd apatow wrote it for crying out loud, what went wrong? i couldn't even finish it. jord and i were most displeased.

- the french connection. confusingly paced and edited but with some great moments. doesn't really approach friedken's best directing...exorcist still probably takes the cake for that.

gearing myself up for a black and white intense film marathon tomorrow. judgement at nuremberg and intolerance here i come. both happen to be 3 hours long each which should be interesting. we jammed on a few songs yesterday but besides that, just waiting around to get going on more recording. we only have 3 more weeks to use before we dash off on tour. when i leave townsville on the 3rd of december, i don't get back until the 8th of feb. that is a heck of a long time. i'll need to pack clever.

until tomorrow (maybe), bye.