another test

testing something

A Very She & Him Christmas

testing something

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B005V4FJC4/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=tomasstreet-20&linkCode=am2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=B005V4FJC4">A Very She & Him Christmas</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=tomasstreet-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B005V4FJC4&camp=217145&creative=399373" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />

Home alone Film Fest.

As I re-read the heading to this post I realize it maybe a little misleading.
No I didn't watch all the home alone films back to back, although the first two hold a place in my heart (Home Alone was the first movie I ever purchased, with my paper route money)
NO, what I am referring to here is what I watched while my other half was out of town.

I'm not sure how the rest of the world views this trait in me, but when left to my own devices the first thing I tend to thing of is - what movie should I watch first, that no one else is gonna wanna see -  Or more aptly, - what should I watch that Megan isn't gonna wanna watch :) -

This saturday Started with
CLAIRE'S KNEE, an incredibly simple but poetic french film by Eric Rohmer.  It's broken up structure and hand written titles add the to simplicity of it's story and theme, love and trust.   It was a lot of talking, not a lot of action, and really good.  Like all of Rohmer's films I've seen it leaves you wondering when movies made the transition from talking about real life, philosophy and human nature, to merely debating pop-culture as a form of dialogue. (this isn't refering to everything, but perhaps it's watching the older film that makes it's lack of pop culture, both current and old, stand out)

Next up  DRIVE.   This is my kind of movie.  Man is this good.  While I missed the launch at TIFF it was worth the wait (and a few dollars cheaper too).  Gosling shows us, yet again, that he can really friggin' act.  And my personal favourite name in all of directing Nicholas Wingding Refn, also shows us yet again, that he can virtually do no wrong behind the camera.   The pace is amazing, the dialogue sparse to allow the actions to tell us all we need to know.  The powerhouse explosions of violence catch you off guard almost every time they explode onto the screen.  The music adds such a mood that it makes skyline shots of LA seem almost new again.   I was so impressed I went out after the screening and bought the book, which half way through is as good as the movie.
NEXT
The great "What Criterion Should Tomas Buy Today" twitter debate came to an end when I settled on the blue ray edition of "WAGES OF FEAR" and thank goodness I did.  What a thriller.
Here's what makes it stand out, and why I think the majority today wouldn't care for it.
All the tension is in the story.  The editing is flawless, but is never used to trick tension, like in most modern thrillers, it's there to drive the story.  Longer takes, wider shots and slower cuts really put you in the position of someone driving a truck full of nytro over a bumpy road ALL DAY LONG...  Man, I almost couldn't take parts of it, and I was just watching someone drive...  Amazing.  Not to overshadow the performances, or the great black and white camera work, but the winner for me was the restrained editing.  AND, then, as if just to thank me / play with my head, the last moments of the film are an extreme example of what it could have been like, if they had wanted to FORCE tension on you as it cuts manically from a party to reckless driving - I was getting that weird tingling feeling in the back of my legs when it got to that moment and contemplated pausing the movie to take a breather. Almost in the same way "Irreversible" pushes you through the mid-point one shot rape scene when you're so used to lots of movement "Wages Of Fear" knows it's audience is not expecting jump cuts, and goes for the throat.
      Thanks so much to those that helped me in the selection of what BD to purchase.  All suggestions where taken under consideration and after nearly 45 minutes I finally made my purchase.

NEXT was the first two episodes of "The Lion's Roar" the 6 hr doc about MGM that comes as a bonus with the Wizard of Oz BD.  I actually bought OZ because of this, and have not been disappointed by my decision.  I look forward to watch OZ soon, but so far having Patrick Stewart take me through MGM's beginnings has been worth the price of admission.  Highly recommended for anyone that wants to know more about one of Hollywoods greatest studios.

And that was it.  Then I slept and ate chicken wings.
mmmm chicken wings.

I'm not done yet

It's the 28th of Sept, my nieces birthday, and not even 10 days since TIFF11.

I've been letting things gestate over the past 10 days in prep for reviewing all the movies I saw, uploading all the video intro's I filmed on my phone, and giving my top 5 list, which is always tough but fun.
So far, notable titles that you should see if you get the chance
"CAFE DE FLORE"
"TAKE SHELTER"
"MARTH MARCY MAY MARLENE"
"DEATH FOR SALE"
"UNDEFEATED"
"THE ORANGES"
and the list could go on.

Honestly, I had an AMAZING tiff, with very very few craptastics flicks, zero "Oh my god I want to walk out"s and only one dozed off because 845am is far to early to start a 3 hour slow moving cop procedural from Turkey

SO, reviews and video's and pictures and stuff to come.

If anyone is even reading this.  haha
Seriously, let me know....  Far as I know i'm the only one reading this.
-Tomas

Just a little update

I know I'm behind already and its only the 5th day.
Reviews are written they just have to be inputted.
ALSO
I'm compiling videos of all the director introductions to their films.
no qna's as I don't want to spoil, and also if you want to experience those, get to tiff yourself.

So. Lots more to come.
Couple small highlights.  Martha Marcy may Marlene is great and gets under your skin.  Extraterrestrial is a quirky rom-com with the mist uneventful alien invasion ever.  And Goon is crass and rough but fun.

Also saw James Franco randomly.
Of tiff.

Quickie day 2 take 2

Silly phone blogging.
Now I have to try and recreate my brilliant reviews that had been typed out on my phone. Then deleted. 
Here goes.

THE HUNTER.  Good movie. Man vs nature vs man.  While watching Mr Dafoe is great, there's only so much walking through the bush and putting little circles on maps a man can take.  The underlying corporate thriller is under used, but hinted at enough to make it seem ever present.  Both the hunting of an extinct animal and the corporate element seem to take a backseat to a story of a man who is paid to look the other way as a profession, but decides not to anymore.   Good but not great. 7/10

GOD BLESS AMERICA.   Hilarious. My opinion was most likely skewed by the laugh riot that was bobcats intro.and QnA period but the film rang true, in a scary way.    Basically a mismatched due of a divorcee 45 year old guy and a high Schiller start driving cross country taking out the people that are making America the giant tool box it is. People like American idol judges and guys that take up two.parking spaces because they can.   Its crass and rude and shocking and hilarious (they kill a baby! A baby!!!) But that all adds to its likability as an over the top grandstand to douchbags everywhere to smarten up and stop being dinks.  I also think its this crassness and ultra violence that will make it a cult hit by the very people its making fun of. 

Quickie for day 2 cause i know you vant wait

My day started at the tiff box office JUST before the lunch rush. Thank god. Man it was busy.  And while the big board wasn't up to date on what was still available and was very annoying I will say this. The girl that helped me, and those around me, had the patience of a saint as I went through second third forth and random selections.  Now my tiff is packed with close to 40 films. 

Here's what I saw yesterday.

URBANIZED.   Very good doc about "the city" as a whole and as an idea. Shots of Toronto made all who viewed it compare each bike lane story, each use of abandoned space story, each low income housing story and compare it to where we call home.  We didn't so great.     Impactful and full of a better way of living thinking urbanzied was fairly spread out and lacked the storyline of a feature.    That said. When you see the trees in stutgart getting ripped down its one of the most inpactful moments in a movie I've seen yet. "After ww2 when the city was bombed and winter hit, people still didn't cut down these 200 year old trees" says an activist.   Wow.

THE HUNTER.  part

Test

Just testing that this is working.

First day, quickie...

So, first night TIFF 2011, pretty good.

INTO THE ABYSS is both disturbing (those are real peoples bodies up on the screen, I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing that) Hilarious (nice name tattoo on your arm, what would you do if you and Betsy break up. - Well, I guess I'll get sucks tacked on right under it) and hopeful (why are there so many hummingbirds)   All in all very good and very Herzog.

Le HAVRE,  meh.   There are elements that make it friggin' awesome, like crisis of authority, moral compasses and masterfully crafted comedy (seriously though, the guy with the briefcase handcuffed to his wrist at the beginning never gets mentioned again?), but there were also elements that made it seem first flm out of school-ish.  Framing was odd, almost all down the lens, tons of headroom, and the pace was that of molases.   technical aside the performance were fun, when there were people on screen who performed and weren't just blank faced stand ins who seemed to have accidently walked on set.

THE RAID.   WHOLLY FUCKING SHIT!!!!   this movie blew me away.  There was maybe 10 minute during the whole thing where I didn't feel like I was being kicked in the head along with the insanely talented martial arts stars.  BONUS points for also being the best"yet to be a video game" idea, seriously, rockstar watch this film!     Couldn't sleep till nearly 5am due to adrenaline.  Thanks Mr Evans, you welsh bastard (meant in the nicest of ways)

Aside from that met up with people I only see once a year for a week, and it's looking like it's going to be a good tiff...

More / better reviews to come, photo's, and clips of Colin and Cameron's MM intro..
-T

Tiff 2011 on a thursday

It's almost 6pm and that start of TIFF 2011 is on in 30 minutes with the bat shit crazy herzog and a doc about murder and crime fame.  
Doubt it shall be as much a shock as 2009's opener for me "Antichrist" or last years silly ass "film socialism" where I think Goddard actually wanted to piss everyone off.

Reviews and comments of the week to come.  This year over scaled down from 50 to 30 but I will probably se more than that.
T

I haven't kept up with the blogging

I'm sorry.  I haven't been keeping up with the blogging AT ALL...  Actually, keeping up would imply that I was UP at some point with them, which is sadly not the case.  So, I'm admitting that I just abandoned spending 15 minutes a week writing on here.  Don't know why...

Here's a bit of a recap.
Over the past month and a bit of mondays I have re-written a TV pilot script, re-worked a series bible, written a short, outlined 2 features, shot and edited a feature length script read thru http://studios.amazon.com/movies/4593  have reviewed a number of other feature scripts, a play, a movie, installed a handrail, read a book and watched a bunch of movies.
I've been busy I swear, but my productivity is not what this is about, it's about the juices that keep me writing.

Every week, even when I'm super busy, on monday I still take a bit of time to focus on my work.  And more than that, almost everyday I take a bit of time to further one of my projects.  Whether it be a post it note or two about a character, a page one re-write of a script, tuning the world out while listening to some music and focusing on a theme and not writing anything down but letting it gestate or watching other movies to get inspired and reminded of cliches and pitfalls.  

The mind of a writer never really stops I find.  Even when I'm at a two day work related conference my mind can't help but turn to movie plots and the mental notepad starts scribbling madly.

I promise to keep up on this more, granted there are only 3 people reading it, but for all three of you, I shall return.
-T

Monday night is Work Night. - The idea!

Here's the breakdown.
I've been writing scripts for a long time.
I've been making short films for a long time.
I have lots of friends that make movies.
I have lots of material waiting to be made.
I have at least one night to work on it.

In an effort to turn this screenwriting / filmmaking / festival running thing I do into a full time job I have dedicated Monday Nights to working on whatever project comes to mind.   I'm not just going to be working on monday nights mind you, but I work a full time job, I have a sick father, an apartment that still hasn't been painted, a wonderful girlfriend that wants to spend time with me and finding the hours to work on projects gets harder and harder.  So at the bare minimum I am going to be spending Monday nights pushing forwards with making my career dreams a reality, and hopefully my friends will join me and we'll make some serious waves in 2011. Whether it be TV, Feature Films, Short Films, Web Series, Comic Books, Music video's or novels it's going to be fun.

I am deciding to  Blog about my monday endeavours, not necessarily with specifics of the projects I'm working on as a focus, but with the thrill of working at something I love to do, and the fun of brainstorming with friends and creating something out of nothing, of storytelling.  Maybe someone will read these blogs and will feel connected to the storytelling process and have a great idea they want to work on with me or with one of their own friends, and rather than complain about tv, or movies, choose to dedicate one night a week to making them better.

It's time to get this show on the road.
-Tomas

TIFF REVIEW: FILM #41 " Wasted on the Young"

DIRECTED BY -Ben C. Lucas

IN MY OPINION - 8/10

      I  have never seen the text message in movies dilema dealt with so well. I think the director drawers credit, if for nothin else, for this. The bonus is that the director also deserves credit fir making a really great high school drama thriller that kept me cringing and squirming and also guessing.
      The story may not be the most original, in fact it's not that original at all - new girl gets taken advantage of at a party, cool guys accussed of rape, denial, gossip, pain and revenge. It's one of the standard stories for high school genre films. BUT it's all in the execution, and wasted on the young does a superb job of telling old in a new way.
       Performances are all solid. There wasn't a character I didn't believe, primarily the leads. Wow. The intensity in this film is great, and when it builds and builds and brimms over you can't help but be excited.
    Watch this film. It's really damn good.

TIFF REVIEW: FILM #31 "I Saw The Devil"

DIRECTED BY - Kim Jee-woon

IN MY OPINION - 8/10

     Wholly crap this is a great thriller, both visually and contextually it's a treat. Cut 10 minutes out of the 1st half and it would have been better.
      The cut at TIFF was the extended/band in asia cut, which is always great, and when you're in unrated territory by the director of old boy, well I hope you get the picture as to how great this can be.
     The idea that serial killers are everywhere, and sociopaths just happen upon sociopaths all the time was hilarious to me, with bloody results that made me give everyone a second glance on the way home.
     While there isn't a lot of "who dun it" here, there is a lot of thought behind everything happening giving this flick an added edge over other gory hunter/prey movies.  

TIFF REVIEW: FILM #38 "Stake Land"

DIRECTED BY -  Jim Mickle

IN MY OPINION - 6/10

I'm sorry, but did anyone ask for zombieland with vampires? Cause that's what I just watched-right down to a constant voice over by the loser we root for as he follows the brazen "mr" on his killing sprees across the country as he heads to "new Eden"
First kill sequence, I had high hopes as a vampire that looks like a face painted rabid racoon feeds on a baby from the rafters, dropping it's tiny corpse when switching to being on the attack. Not bad. Then It all goes to shit.
A BORING voice over follows the two leads across the country as they constantly head north, killing vampires along the way. Stopping off to visit camps of survivors- trade goods- visit nameless whores and then ride on. LAME! There was NOTHING new in here at all.
It upsets me when a movie has potential, and then relies on cliche instead. The Herod pick up a girl along the way- obvious, oh and she's pregnant. Then they pick up a whitty black guy fighting for hi life against Arian religits, oh and he used to be in te military and has all the tid-bits of inormation the writers think we want to know. I was hoping they would avoid this moment, but it's cliche so why not use it.
I honestly just wanted te characters to die.
All that said, there are a few fun vampire kills, but at times the vampires seemed almost like zombies which kept making me think yet again of zombieland. There is a hilariously bad karate kid training esq montage as the lead learns how to jab a stake! Ugh!
I must say though, dropping vampires from a helicopter as an attack method is pretty damn cool, but reminded me further of how this movie is not as strong as the sum of it's parts.
The best moment is at the end- which I shall diculdge here. The plac they are all running too- new Eden- Yeah, it's Canada! Hilarious. Luckily this high moment was quickly followed up the end credits.

FOLLOW UP COMMENT  -  
Stake Land won the peoples choice midnight Madness award art TIFF 2010, which makes me wonder what it was that I was missing, and what movie everyone else was watching.  The constant review I hear is that the post-apocolyptic depiction is great, the brotherhood element is so well done, the vampire moments are great...   And still I feel like my initial opinion holds true.  The state of the world is brushed over, and just as anything shows a glimpse of being interesting we're on the move again.  I just don't get it - but the film I'm sure shall get distribution so at some point I shall check it out again.

TIFF REVIEW: FILM #35 "Beautiful Boy"

DIRECTED BY - Shawn Ku

IN MY OPINION - 6.5/10

Again sheen knocks it out of the park with an amazing performance.
It was nice to see a story like this, void of violence-helping show how the aftermath of violence is almost as bad as the violent act itself.
As a directorial debut this is a powerful intimate Story of loss and denial. The constant stredicam is a character all it's own as the grieving parents wander through the unsteady ground of masive guilt at the same time, making me feel like I was a distant observer bought into the quiet moments. It worked very well.

TIFF REVIEW: FILM #44 "Cold Fish"

DIRECTED BY -  Sion Sono

IN MY OPINION - 7/10

Uhmmm. Yeah. This movie is a little bloody. And when I say little I mean very, and when I say bloody I mean disturbing.
The last 15 minutes will surely make this "based on a true story" murder crime thriller a cult hit. It just doesn't end, and as it keeps going it keeps getting bloodier, and bloodier, and more violent and tense and wow. By the time it ends I was just glad to be able to breath.
While it's a little long cold fish does a great job of twisting the tension vice as things slowly get worse and worse and worse. And damn is there an uncomfortable ammount of comedy mixed in with all this sociopathic violence. I almost felt bad laughing as the subject gets darker, but you can't help it. Part of the charm of this murder flick is watching the actor that plays the mass murderer and his over the top hillarious demeanor. It's a great contrast to the reseved, cold fish like performance of the protege.
This movie is not for everyone, but it's a crazy true story and a great horror film.

TIFF REVIEW: FILM #45 "Monsters"

DIRECTED BY - Gareth Edwards

IN MY OPINION - 8/10

This is what monster movies should be like.
At it's core monsters is a simple plot really, "so if we don't get out of teh country in the next 48hrs well be stuck here for 6months". It doesn't get more blatant than that- and this is one of the worst lines of dialogue in the whole movie because of its rare on the nose delivery. The rest of monsters is such a treat where it let's you fill in the gaps and enjoy watching a movie where everyone is tired of dealing with these things and just want to get through the "attack season".
While the - get from a to b - story is basic, it's a very fun ride along the way with solid performances, stunning visuals and a good balance of comedy and Hitchcock like terror (what you can't see scares you more) monsters has a great deal of withstraint when delving into the horror/sci-fi genre.
Added coolness is that monsters was made for next to nothing by a bunch of friends who headed to mexico and just made a movie. The special effects were mostly all completed by te director alone at home, which is an accheivment in itself and should be throwing inspiration to any and all aspiring filmmakers. This is the kind of movie you can make without the system, this is the bar and it has just been raised!

TIFF REVIEW: FILM #42 " Fire Of Conscience"

DIRECTED BY -

IN MY OPINION - /10

Skipped to spend time with my birthday girl girlfriend. I shall re-watch infernal affairs to make up for it. :)