MIFF - My picks. Where I snob-out.

The Melbourne International Film Festival is almost upon us. Last year, I didn't see Inglourious Basterds and regretted it, because it turned out to be the best movie of the year. Yes. I mean that.

So I'm making a concerted effort to get involved this time, and that includes making a shortlist of movies I want to see. Monetary and time constraints will probably mean I wont get to see them all, but at least I have a goal!

There are of course other movies on the program that I would like to see that I haven't included here, but I've left them out because they're high-profile (read: American) enough to probably get a mainstream release later (at least on DVD). I'm talking about ones like The Kids Are All Right, Chloe, The Ghost Writer (well, actually I don't watch Polanski any more, but it'll get a wider release), The Killer Inside Me, The Messenger, Please Give, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Welcome To The Rileys, and Australia's The Wedding Party etc...Of course there are a couple of US entries that I can't wait for, and they're included.

You'll also notice there aren't any from particular programs, like the Neighborhood Watch series, or the Night Shift, Animation or States of Dissent series. It's a taste thing. I'm a little heavier on the Docs - I love documentaries. Anyway here's my basic list, some of these I've heard great things about already, some of them just caught my eye and seem super interesting. Have I missed anything?What would you recommend?

Lebanon

Heard great things, it won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Some have called it an anti-war film, and while I'm not sure if I believe they exist, it feels like we might be in a different movement of war films.

The Special Relationship

This was originally made by HBO to be a TV movie, but recently HBO announced it would release it as a cinema feature. It is a sequel of sorts to Stephen Frears's The Queen (2006), but this time it's directed by Richard Loncraine. I'll be seeing it for Michael Sheen's wonderfully subtle portrayal of Tony Blair.

I Love You, Phillip Morris

What is happening with this movie?! It has been speculated that its cinema release in the US keeps getting pushed back due to graphic gay sex scenes. But I've heard great things, and I'm a big fan of 'Dramatic Jim Carrey.'

Rejoice & Shout

I'm a sucker for music documentaries, and there is a great lot of them at this year's MIFF (Backbeat), but when that music is the blues, well, wild horses couldn't drag me away.

Red Hill

If there's one thing True Blood has taught us, apart from proving it's impossible to have too many hot guys in one cast and there is no sex scene too absurd for TV, it's that Vinnie from Home and Away can not only act but can pull off complex and compelling characters. Good on ya Vinnie! I like the visual look of this film, debut filmmaker Patrick Hughes is clearly inspired by Tarantino and Ozpolitation movies, and that's fine by me.

Catfish

One I came across in my browsing, this sort of doco is right up my ally. It's a personal journey, about social networking, and apparently has a shocking twist. Yes please.

La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet

My movie tastes might not be particularly girlie, but I turn into a complete giggly girlie puddle when I see anything ballet. Tutus! Tragedy! Hair nets! Anorexia! Ahem.

Brotherhood

Danish gay neo-Nazis? I'm SO THERE.

Innerspace *

MIFF is doing a Joe Dante retrospective, and that's a genius move. While The 'Burbs and Gremlins 1 & 2 are great too, I just can't go past childhood favorite Innerspace, where Dennis Quaid is shrunk and injected into the ass of Martin Short. MARTIN SHORT! **

The Genius and the Boys

In what is perhaps the most obvious title in the whole festival, this is about an academic prodigy who turns out to be a pedo. Again: SO THERE.

Winter's Bone

Forget the other US indies at MIFF, this is the movie I'm hearing the most amazing things about. The lead performance by young Jennifer Lawrence is apparently revolutionary.

My Joy

It's about contemporary Russia. 'Nuff said.

Petropolis: Aerial Perspectives on the Alberta Tar Sands

An aerial look at the second biggest oil reserve in the world, in northern Canada. Fascinating.

* Oh noes, I can't make the screening of Innerspace (I'll be in Perth that weekend), so I'll probably see The 'Burbs instead.

** Trust me, click that link.

Oscars Live Blog 2010 - Stef goes to Hollywood *RED CARPET*

Hi everyone! *cricket riding a tumbleweed* I'm watching this at Livestream, the AP coverage.

It's alive! I have resurrected the blog so you can hear the ramblings of me - someone who has an unhealthy obsession with celebrity and meaningless awards, you can thank me later.

I have opinions that are both shallow and snobby, so hopefully there will be a nice balance between dress-snarkiness and actual film knowledge.

I hope you enjoy.

My times will be in Australian EDT because I'm not so good at maths, working down the page.

*RED CARPET*

9.50 - Chef Wolfgang Puck is talking about all the Austrians nominated. He's talking about THE man of the night - Christoph Waltz, who is the biggest lock I've seen in ages: Best Supporting Actor for playing Hans Landa in Ingourious Basterds (My favourite of the year)

9.53 - Why is the redhead vamp from True Blood here? (I think her name is Deborah Ann Woll)

9.56 - For a stylist, Sam Worthington's gf is surprisingly off-trend, those hip-accentuated dresses are a bit 9 months ago. And her hair is bad.

9.57 - EFRON ALERT!!! He has spiked his hair. Aw.

9.59 - Virginia Masden? Huh, I was just thinking last night about her, and how her supposed 'comeback' after Sideways...wasn't.

10.07 - The AP Fashion lady is so annoying, And SURPRISE SURPRISE Pat Field is giving special comments. I want my money back! (What? Oh yeah I've paid naught) ...They are talking. I'm getting a coffee.

10.19 - Less talky, more dresses AP!!! Ha! The reporter just called Worthington 'Sam Washington' Oh he's wearing Payless Shoes. "I'm presentin' with J'Lo" - It's hard to hate him.

10.29 - Anna Kendrick - Is wearing the colour of the season - Peach. Ugh. - It's Saab.

Confession - Anna Kendrick's hairline sorta weirds me out. AND STOP THE PRESS: The small town girl from Maine "can't believe she's here."

10.31 - The Tuohy's (whom the film The Blind Side is based on) just said they prepare for the Oscars by taking Tylanol. My kind of people.

10.35 - CHRIST does Maggie Gyllenhaal ever dress like she's not at the beach? She needs to move away from print.

10.40 - JEREMY RENNER!!!! He's amazing. Jeremy! Make out with me!!! NO! Make out with Eli Roth!

10.44 - Tina Fey looks pretty good, but I'm not digging the big hair.

10.45 - Mo'Nique - CLASS. She looks amazing. Doesn't shave her legs.  LOVE THE FLOWER IN HER HAIR. (It is a Gardenia, the same as Hattie McDaniel) Like Waltz, she is a lock.

10.48 - AND THERE'S ELI ROTH. Oh Diane Kruger. You so crazy.

10.50 - Oh WOW - Sandra Bullock looks pretty amazing.

10.52 - But in other news - I HATE THIS (Zoe Saldana).

No, seriously MAKE OUT NOW!!!

11.00 - Oh my, Anthony Mackie of the Hurt Locker is quite charming. He is rockin' Burberry.  I remember when Adrien Brody won and he was wearing Zegna. Introduced me to that label.

11.16 - Um, the lady from AP just said Jeremy was wearing Payless Shoes. That would be Sam Worthington. Peter Sarsgaard goes 'Oh really!?!' - He knows that ain't right, Renner ain't no cheapo.

11.20 - I don't hate Carey Mulligan's dress. What a relief.

11.22 - James Cameron is sorta coming across as a nice guy. WHAT IS GOING ON!??

11.26 - This AP chick is GOLD - Clooney is, apparently, 'the spokesperson for Hollywood.'

11.28 - Eli says QT was DJing their pre-party. Quentin sounds ROUGH. He has been doing a lot of coke.

AP Idiot just got Worthington and Renner mixed up AGAIN! Bish, please.

Charlize's dress looks weird. Boob covers WTF?

11.44 - Oh Jesus Miley Cyrus is awful. She opens her mouth and just...ick.

11.50 - WOAH. Winslet diamond alert. Now THAT'S a necklace.

OK. The AP's Red Carpet Coverage was shite. Ugh. I think I'll start a new post for the Ceremony, because this is getting too long. Thanks for reading.

Brief thoughts on The Wire: Season 1

So I've finally watched the first season of the critically acclaimed, proudly low-key HBO crime drama The Wire, which ran from 2002-2008. It is an excellent show, very well made, very compelling and, yes, very deep. I enjoyed it. I especially appreciated that the creators of the show seem to understand that narrative strength lies in characters.

However, it is a crime drama, and its unavoidable adherence to genre conventions meant it didn't quite reach the depths of other standout dramas of the past decade (The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Deadwood, Big Love*). I understand what creator David Simon is doing - presenting a rich depiction of contemporary life via a crime drama. However, when the strongest aspects of a program are the characters, narrative arc and wider subtext of certain concepts, it's a shame we have to be presented with the requisite genre devices - the piece by piece puzzle-solving played out from various angles, the lawyer-talk, the flak-jackets. Indeed, all of these are done well, most of the time do not feel gratuitous, and all serve a greater purpose than JUST to show us the procedure. For instance, character development plays out in these scenes (one that comes to mind is the darkly hilarious scene in episode 4, when the detectives Moreland and McNulty, above, recreate a murder scene saying only the word 'fuck' or a colorful variant). It's just... the writing and acting are so good, I wished it moved a little further away from convention, presented less of the "CSI" stuff and more of the "this is what it's like in Baltimore, and these are the people who live there" stuff. Because that was the really genre-breaking stuff.

You could say the criticism is a little unfair.  I'm having a go at a show precisely because it is too good for its genre.  Maybe a better angle to take is this: "Hey! You! Yes, I'm talking to YOU, Law and Order, CSI, NCIS, and all of your many spin-offs. Yeah, WTF? The Wire just pwned all of your asses!" Yes, The Wire really does set a new standard for crime drama, and that is no mean feat.

I will check out season 2, maybe it will lessen its reliance on convention and really soar as pure, solid Drama, capitalisation intended.

* I realise an argument could be made that some of those programs are in specific genres - Mad Men and Deadwood are period-pieces, The Sopranos is a gangster show, and the other three are essentially family-dramas - but those shows all try, quite explicitly, to move away from conventions of genre, it is what has made them so critically acclaimed. When I think of those shows, I think of just pure 'Drama.' I really struggle to put them in a genre because, really, none of them are faithful to the usual narratives or devices.

UPDATE (12 May 2010): I attempted season 2 of The Wire, but for whatever reason didn't get past the first episode. This show expects a lot from it's viewers, and I suspect I  was not in the right frame of mind for a slow-burn opening episode. I will attempt again, when I'm feeling curious. Perhaps once Breaking Bad season 3 ends.

Social networks changed my life! And you can too...

***Note: I wrote this ages ago and forgot about it, so I'm posting it now*** These days it seems everyone's on a type social network site (SNS) described by boyd and Ellison (2007) in this week's readings. Even the most cynical of us have a Facebook page, or some even Twitter accounts - the latest craze, which seems to take social networking and blogging to its most basic level, which appeals to those who are just wanting to express themselves in a few sentences.

Of corse, there's a backlash to any new practice, and SNSs certainly have their enemies. I have a few friends who are not on FB, mostly men (but also a few females, who seem to be more weary-of than anti-FB), who seem to be very cynical about the power of SNSs, and quite judgemental of the users.

Indeed, there does seem to still be, in some parts of the community, a real anti-tech mentality. Perhaps it is a throwback to old ideas of cool and geekiness. Perhaps people see the reliance on computers as a sign of the apocalypse.  There's no doubt, I believe, there is still a fear of technology out there, the idea that computers are taking over, humans are losing their autonomy and uniqueness, that the computer will one day enslave us all and rob us of that thing we like to call humanity - yeah, because humans are so pure and innocent without computers. Sci-fi and movies like Blade Runner, The Matrix and Terminator have a lot to answer for.

Personally, I find people who can work with computers are generally quite 'cool,' and SNSs are used by many people to connect and reconnect with friends - quite the opposite to the stereotypical isolated socially awkward computer user of the 1980s-90s.

I'm always a little disappointed when someone says they are not on FB - how can I keep in touch with them?! Phone?! Please, I hate talking on the phone and messaging is wearing thin. There is really, for me, a shift towards Facebook becoming my primary source of communication with people. And I love it, it has changed my life. I'm now in direct contact with one of my best friends who lives in Geelong and I rarely get so see.

Of course, I'm a Facebook girl, I don't get Twitter. I suppose its good for those people who want a blog but dont actually want a blog. I have a Twitter account, as you can see on the right, but I rarey use it. I love the status update function on FB as it lets me see how my friends are going, but using the status as a broadcast tool is, for me, a little strange.  If I have something to say to the world, I want to say it through a blog, where I am less resticted than 140 characters. But that's just me, clearly people love it.

Well, not all people. Here's a link to the story I talked about in class, where the internet film fan community got all huffy about Twitter use in the cinema. They were annoyed as it threatened the romamce and sanctity of the movie-experience. And if its one thing I learned from my thesis, its that you don't mess with the 'aura' of the film experience for a cinephile. Tweet responsibly people!

Random musings over now.

Blogwatch - Go Fug Yourself

Today's edition of Blogwatch will be a simple one - I'm going to talk about one of my all-time favorite blogs from the US: Go Fug Yourself. For a little bit of background, here's the Wikipedia entry. You can buy their book spin-off (hello, horizontal marketing) here.

The 'Fug Girls,' Heather and Jessica, have found success, I think for two reasons. One is that they filled a niche. There are many celebrity gossip bloggers out there (most famously, Perez Hilton) but none who blog so consistently about one specific aspect of celebrity news, in this case fashion. The second reason is that they are hilarious and are providing a great online experience. In essence: the content is strong. The blog is simple and straight-forward - everything is where you'd expect it to be.

I think Go Fug Yourself is a perfect example to argue that online publications are really just like other traditional publications. Their success is based mostly on whether the product offers consumers anything different to what they already get, or just crap we're conditioned to believe we need, if you ask Chomsky.

Anyway, off to practice writing HTML, and work on the website idea (critique of FasterLouder.com.au, a competitor, coming soon)