Cinematheque Thingys

 

I returned from visiting Xi’an on Sunday night and the trip was a success. The highlights of this week so far has been watching the mind-fuck of a season finale for Doctor Who and an awesome violent storm that occurred last night, complete with some of the most frequent lightning strikes I have ever seen in my entire life.

Today I stopped by Kubrick Cafe with a friend and saw that they are now selling some terrific new thingys: movie themed postcards! The two I immediately purchased were the Moonrise Kingdom and Annie Hall ones. Sweet!

 

 

 

 

The Academy Awards: Perfect Nominations or Out of Touch?

 

Oscar season is upon us again and just like every year, there are cheers for many people’s favorite nominated films and there are grumbles from fans who aren’t happy at with the nominations. And like every year, I am hearing the same two lines:

“The Academy is full of old people who are out of touch.”

“They never nominate films that people actually see.”

But is this true? The best example people give for these statements is 2008’s huge Best Picture snub for The Dark Knight. The films that did make the nominations that year were The Reader, Milk, Frost/Nixon, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and the winner, Slumdog Millionaire. Four years later, the only movies from that list that people still talk about are Slumdog and Milk. Though I personally may have given Best Picture to Slumdog Millionaire rather than Dark Knight, I am baffled as to why a mediocre film like Benjamin Button made a nomination for Best Picture.

When that snub occurred, people are outraged. And this time, the Academy listened. A next year in 2009, the Academy Awards upped the chances for other films to win Best Picture by allowing nine films to enter instead of four or five. Not only that, but two science fiction films were nominated (Avatar and District 9), an animated film (Up) and also Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. Though the nomination list featured typical Oscar bait such as The Blind Side, there were also agreat acting pieces such as Up In the Air and work from today’s best directors like the Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man. I remember watching just about every nominated film during the December of ‘09 and just loving the quality of films that I was seeing. An excuse to view nine greats films? I was great! The Hurt Locker ended up winning that year and it was a choice most people were happy with. At the end, it seemed that the Oscars had redeemed themselves from 2008’s disaster.

However, 2010 and 2011 were mixed years for the Oscars, with people once again being less than thrilled about the winners. For 2011’s winner, The Artist, I’ve heard many people say it was just industry kissing its own rear with the movie being a glorified tribute to the golden age of Hollywood. This once again caused people to wonder if the Oscars really reflect today’s moviegoer.

For 2012, the nomination grumbles are not as loud. Like I said earlier, people still have things to say, but the nominations are no doubt the best films of the year year. While my own grumblings do demand justice for Moonrise Kingdom not getting, I feel the Academy pretty much nailed it this year.

Yes, it was a mistake that The Dark Knight was not nominated in 2008. But at the same time, another huge fan-followed franchise won Best Picture in 2003, that being The Lord of the Rings: The Return of The King. Then again, to this day people are still angry that Crash somehow beat Brokeback Mountain for Best Picture in 2005. With gay cinema being less shocking in 2013, would the outcome have been the same nowadays? We can even go farther back into controversial Oscar wins: Annie Hall beating Star Wars for Best Picture in 1977. Yes, Annie Hall is Woody Allen’s greatest film and is the quintessential New York City romantic comedy film but it definitely did NOT have the culture impact of Star Wars. Not even close.

But the grumblers can be ridiculous at times too. This year alone, there were people angry that The Dark Knight Rises was not nominated for Best Picture. As good as a movie as it was, this film had many flaws and was definitely not worthy for Best Picture in my personal opinion.

This is a debate that can go on and on in endless circles. With that in mind, I will have to say in conclusion that both sides are both wrong and right in this debate. I feel at times the Oscars do indeed choose less than worthy films as Best Picture, especially when comparing today’s winners to the legendary movies from the past. But I feel this also reflects the quality of films being lower nowadays when compared back then.

As a grumbler myself, what would I like to see from the Oscars? I would love for them to completely get rid of the Best Foreign Film category and allow an equal number of entries of films from all over the world. Perhaps it would get more Americans to see more movies from other countries. Nevertheless, I feel that would be the only true way to really decide what the best film of the year is.

(This post also written for cinemaddicts.net)

 

[youtube:”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8QnW6h5fl0&w=490&h=279″%5D

 

Last Year Stuff

 

We are already on the downhill slope to the end of January and I never even put a post about my thoughts of 2012. Those 15+ days of visiting home in California really took its up all chances write a post before the year has ended.

But yeah, 2012 was pretty much the year of changes. From moving out of the U.S. and into Hong Kong and meeting lots of new people, my life was full of new experiences and I loved it. Not only that, but living on the other side of the world allowed me to travel to places that a year ago would have been so much more difficult for me to visit.

Of course, the year wasn’t all peachy. I did lose a friend due to us outgrowing each other and though I sincerely hope that we can reconcile in the coming new year, I am personally fine with moving on with our lives. And then there was Captain Ahab, my favorite band from the L.A. music scene, breaking up. Both guys in the band will no doubt be moving on to great ventures but it was sad to see them go. Being able to visit home for one weekend in November to see their final performance was something I was so happy that I was able to do. Not only was that night the end of one of the best bands today but their breakup also signified an end of an era: the nights my friends and I would go and see Ahab perform were no doubt some of the best nights of my life. So like I said, all the stuff this year pretty much signified major changes.

The Rundown:

Favorite song of 2012: Harsh Tokes and Bong Jokes – Your Heart Breaks

Favorite film of 2012: Moonrise Kingdom – Wes Anderson

Favorite night of 2012: November 2nd, 2012 – Captain Ahab’s final show at The Smell.

 

 

Moonrise Kingdom Review

 

 

For a summer that was chockfull of summer blockbusters, Wes Anderson’s late release of Moonrise Kingdom in Hong Kong was a much-needed refresher of a movie that had an actual story to tell. The plot involves two children who run away together after an entire year of being secret pen pals and how they are hunted down by various members of their community. Of all the Wes Anderson films I have seen, this was definitely the most intense and emotional (and perhaps my favorite). Though the movie stars well-known names such as Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton, Bruce Willis and Edward Norton, the true leads of the story shine over them all. Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward play Sam and Suzy, two social outcasts who find their other halves in each other.

Acting aside, the film is beautifully shot on 16mm film, giving it the vintage 60s look that the story lives in. The music steals the show as well, with an amazing mix of sounds that range from classical music (Playing The Heroic Weather-Conditions of the Universe, Part 7 during the film’s opening automatically made Moonrises’s beginning of the most memorial movie openings I’ve seen in years) to French pop (Francoise Hardy’s Le Temps De L’amour is greatness).

I don’t want to get deeper into the plot or my favorite scenes mainly because I feel this amazing movie needs to be experienced in its purest form, with knowing as little of the wonderful things it contains as possible much as possible until seen. Moonrise Kingdom hits DVD shelves October 16th – if you haven’t yet, give it a watch as soon as possible. It has already outshined Nolan’s effort this year in my opinion and though there are still movies to be released by Spielberg, Tarantino and Jackson, Moonrise Kingdom can easily end up being my favorite movie of 2012.

 

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/35030658]

 

Rating: 10

 

Weekend Wanderings

 

My younger brother had likewise been living abroad these past few months and had decided to visit me in Hong Kong this week before his return  to Los Angeles. Though I’ve been getting lazy with taking photos of Hong Kong life, his visit prompted me to show him around some awesomely scenic places, including Lantau Island, where we went to Tai O Village and the Big Buddha. Though I had visited previously visited Tai O during the late winter and the Big Buddha in spring, it was still cool to see these places again. This time around I hiked a small ways beyond the Buddha on a trail that goes to an area called Wisdom Path. It was pretty much a pathway upon a hill with large pillars everywhere. Some of them can be seen in the final two photos below. And yes – there was a cow!!!

There were many other hiking trails that area too, some of which that lead to some pretty epic scenery sights of the gigantic hills of Lantau. I plan on returning for an all day hike once the weather cools.

 

 

Other things I showed my brother while he was in town that I did not capture on camera included bicycle riding in Cheung Chau, hiking in Lamma Island, going to the movies twice at the Cinematheque in Yau Ma Tei to watch To Rome With Love and Moonrise Kingdom (review coming up), and hanging out at a hardcore band night at Hidden Agenda. It was a week well done.