Frankly, the Academy has no idea. Drive, a film I consider to be easily the best film of 2011, missed out on virtually any Oscar nominations at all, save a filler spot for Best Sound Editing (I mean, c’mon, when you’re up against a Transformers movie, what hope to you have?) – not even Albert Brooks’ nasty turn as a gangster in that film was given so much as a nod. Instead, Melissa McCarthy now becomes an Oscar nominee for her work in the female slanted comedy Bridesmaids. Really?

And so the frustrating spectacle of seeing truly great films miss out on the Oscar glow comes around again.

(more…)

As I announced at the start of the year, yours truly has been selected as a member of the Grand Jury on this year’s Beneath The Earth Film Festival, and have spent the day watching and reflecting on the newly uploaded selection of films to judge on. As a judge, I rate each film on a selection of criteria, including story, editing, acting, soundtrack and the like. Voting for the public is also open via Facebook, so do these amateur filmmakers a favor and check out some of their material.

The winner of the Festival will be reviewed by all members of the panel, and receives a $1000 first prize. Expect to see my review of the winning entry here in due course.

So go over to the main website and watch some amazing, beautiful, hilarious films made by budding, up-and-coming directors of the future.

[My personal favourites are 2 Ambassadors, Chase In Prose, and It's Natural To Be Afraid... check 'em out!]

Rodney T – EIC, www.fernbyfilms.com + Grand Jury Member, 2011 BTEFF.

The story of Star Wars is well known. This simple fact means I don’t have to spend a paragraph or five retelling the rags-to-riches story of one George Lucas, film-making auteur and to this day, the most successful independent filmmaker of all time. Lucas’s canny decision to retain the rights to the Star Wars merchandise, which Fox at the time felt was worthless, ended up being the business bargain of the century. His creation, Star Wars, became one of the highest grossing film trilogies in history back in the 80’s, after the release of sequel films The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi. He had more money than God, his own production company, the ability to develop new cinema technologies (such as the THX standard) and pretty much a run at anything he dared to dream of.

Activate your lightsabre, and join the dark side of the force – click here to read what we think of Star Wars!!

I’ve mentioned this before, and I know I’ll mention it again in the future, but we don’t normally get involved in too many internet meme’s around the fernbyfilms.com offices. One, they take up too much time I could be spending watching and reviewing films, and two, they’re often silly little things that don’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. However, the following meme seems to be doing the round of the interwebs in the last few months, and we thought we’d take a stab at it – 100 reasons we love the movies.

Is it a classic line, an amazing entrance or teary death scene? Is it killer comedy, high drama or simply explosive action fare? For everybody it will be different, although I think a few of my choices below will probably make it into many a 100-list for this meme, but it’d be interesting to see what you guys all come up with. We sat down and managed to come up with perhaps the 100 best reasons why we (or, rather I!) love films. Now, your challenge is to do the same.

Here’s our list of the 100 best reasons we love films – and we must stress these are in no particular order.

100 – Kermit riding a bicycle.

99 – Fat Bastard & Mini Me.

98 – “Carla was the prom queen.”

97 – Every frame of The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.

96 – Tarantino’s joke scene in Desperado.

95 – “Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer…. dooooooooo”

94 – Showgirls. For real.

93 – Ellen Bursten’s performance in Requiem For A Dream.

92 – Tom Hank’s breakdown in Saving Private Ryan.

91 – Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct.

90 – Helms Deep.

Click here for the rest of the 100!!

This week, we welcome fellow blogger, film critic and rampant drunkard, Al K Hall to our pages once more, as he stumbles his way through the Matrix Trilogy and delivers his verdict. Hard to say how this is going to go, but knowing Al, you’re about to have your life enlightened. Al, man, put that glass down and get to tellin’ these fine folks what you thought of Keanu and Co in the Matrices, okay?

The Matrix Spillogy

Here’s what it is. The Matrix movies are a visual symbolization of a drinking binge. Go ahead and pretend like you don’t know this, yeah yeah yeah, but deep down you know i’m right.

The first movie, Matricks, is the buzz rush of an impromptu party you can’t believe you were lucky enough to be invited to. Matrix Loaded is after you’ve had too much and start purging. Matrix Revulsion is the post-party hangover and depression.

Don’t believe me if you don’t want to but keep it to yourself so you don’t feel stupid after you read this and realize exactly how exact i am.

(more…)

A while back, internet blog contributor-for-hire Camiele White got in touch with us about writing an article, which we accepted and which turned into a thoughtful meditation on Hitchcock’s Vertigo. When the time came to pull in some favors to write for this weeks Matrix Week, I send an email to Camiele and she graciously accepted my invitation. Here, for your delectation, are her words….

***

Before we go any further I’m going to do something completely cheesy, but I have to do it. “You take the blue pill. The story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill. You stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”

Red Pill: Truth be told, when propositioned to write this blog I got an irrational feeling of elation and fear. I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for The Matrix. However, with this urge to write my heart out, I found myself at a loss as to what I could focus on.

Obviously, there’s the incomparable film style of the Wachowski brothers, the fight sequences that have yet to be rivaled (though, most films following The Matrix would argue that they’ve gotten close). I could start a topic about the cerebral experience of the series, how you were forced to understand the significance of your own humanity, try to answer the question to the mysteries that bind and animate all things. I could get into the obvious religious references of the film, lines and sequences that point towards an overt dogmatic message.

At this point, if you’re craving that blue pill, I advise you to scroll towards the bottom.

(more…)

A few months ago, while we were preparing The Matrix Week for publication, we put word out to our friends online for their thoughts on The Matrix – either the entire trilogy or just the original film. They graciously accepted my invitation to write a few words, and so without further ado, here’s the first for the week! Dan is the creator and owner of Top 10 Films, a UK based website dedicated to film related top 10 lists and films reviews. Once you’ve read this post, we suggest you head over to visit his site for more of his stuff!!

***

The music kicks in, the bullets fly, The Matrix hits top gear!

I didn’t like the film when I first saw it. I was probably too young to really appreciate it for it was – a genre redefining action movie that had more intelligence in two hours than Hollywood had managed in the preceding ten years.

For me, The Matrix’s visceral grandeur is made all the more exciting by the music video styling that gives violent shoot-outs and kinetic fight sequences the poise and beauty of ballet set to fast-forward.

Now, viewing The Matrix is a reminder that action movies can be visually exciting on the surface and have depth, story and character underneath. What the film does so well is marry the two – this is intriguing science-fiction and awe-inspiring action-adventure.

Dan takes the Blue pill....

If you asked me what I love about The Matrix I would have to reply: it’s the fight and battle sequences that have the tightly constructed choreography of finely tuned dancers with the rhythm and energy of a rock n roll music video. It’s exciting, visually enthralling, fast-paced and fresh. Running up walls and jumping through the air firing automatic weapons has never been this cool. And, doing the Karate Kid kick while floating in mid-air has to be one of the best things I’ve ever seen! It is done in such an authentic setting, this world the Wachowski’s have created is a believable post-apocalyptic future much like the computer-ruled wasteland seen in James Cameron’s Terminator films. It raises profound questions about the way we use technology, our growing dependence on its continual advancement, and a future that doesn’t appear so far-fetched. And then, of course, there’s bullet time!

Perhaps most interestingly, The Matrix introduced audiences to a new interpretation of an old camera technique to present action sequences in ways we had never seen before. The technique used a number of still image cameras to photograph an event almost simultaneously, allowing the director to move around objects or people at normal speed while the subject remained in a slow-motion state. The effect was furthered by showing bullets moving through the air at significantly reduced speed so that viewers could actually track the movement of each individual bullet. This style would be further advanced during the making of the sequels but it was the original film that introduced audiences to this awe-inspiring visual feast.

Ultimately, The Matrix, appearing as it did at the end of the 1990s, marked the dawning of a new wave of special-effects in Hollywood throughout the first decade of the 21^st century. Films would mimic the bullet time style while computer-generated imagery would continue to advance as witnessed in the digital animation films of Pixar and Dreamworks, the use of motion capture in Lord of the Rings, The Polar Express and Avatar, and a new found popularity in 3D.

We're both wearing the same glasses!

I was asked a few weeks back as to why we don’t review many new theatrical releases here at fernbyfilms.com. The reason for this is not exactly a new one, but it does bear repeating, because I think many studios and cinema companies are going to do themselves out of a business before too long if they keep going the way they are. It’s true, many of our reviews are recent releases on BluRay or DVD, or older films we’ve had on DVD for ages, but only on the odd occasion do we manage to eke out a review for a latest theatrical release film. The most recent one being the alien apocalypse film Battle: Los Angeles. I can count on the fingers of both hands the number of films I’ve seen in the cinema in the last two or so years: a Transformers, Cloverfield, District 9, Watchmen, Avatar, and Battle: Los Angeles. No, I don’t go to the cinema very often. I used to go every week, and did so for about four straight years, at one stage. Nowadays, I’d be lucky to go twice a year.

Which is pretty sad for a website devoted to film reviews. But let’s investigate why, shall we?

(more…)

Well, it didn’t seem to go too well, did it? As I sat and watched the half-assed comedy that was James Franco and Anne Hathaway hosting the film industry’s night of nights, I had to ask myself where I thought it all went wrong. The idea, in principle, was sound: get a couple of young, attractive stars to spice up the Oscars and make it more appealing to the younger crowd – after all, who even remembers Jack Nicholson anyway? The result, though, filtered through the frankly banal banter of Franco and Hathaway, was – and I put this delicately, lest I one day seek to be invited to the Oscars myself – abysmal. For some reason, the chemistry between Franco and Hathaway evaporated as soon as they went “live” with the show. The pre-recorded material had a bit of zing to it, but the actual ceremony wilted under the glare of a mega-watt audience and the blinking red light above the camera beaming them to audiences around the globe. I’ll admit, Hathaway earned a lot of praise from me for her effort, singing and laughing and smiling her way through the show, while Franco tried to smolder the audience into adoration-obsessed submission, but it just didn’t work. They came off as too fake, too rehearsed. Hathaway only barely scraped out of being described as “bimbo-esque” and Franco channeled the sullen disposition of James Dean, almost scowling his way through the show.

Hosting aside, the ceremony also managed to induce a coma in anybody expecting something exciting to happen. Hell, even the winners didn’t jump around and collapse in a frenzy like previous recipients: where was Halle Berry’s tearful sob-speech, where was that Italian dude climbing over seats to get to the stage in his excitement, where was frickin’ Adrien Brody kissing some gorgeous star on the lips as he accepts his award, where was Gwenyth Paltrow thanking everyone on Earth including her dogs? Where? Nowhere. Like a slo-motion production trotting out vacuous platitudes, the Oscars kept getting slower and slower. Bit parts to fan-favorite Billy Crystal (and Bob Hope in a cameo), as well as an obviously ancient Kirk Douglas (really, they gave the old guy precious seconds on a major TV broadcast and he can’t even talk properly?) only served to highlight the gulf between the elder statesmen of the industry and the newcomers, most of whom were overlooked for any mantelpiece adornments this year. There was no real upset, no real energy to the show (although when Best Supporting Actress Melissa Leo dropped the F-Bomb on stage it brought the crowd temporarily to semi-shocked life) and definitely no spark. The comedy was dull, Helen Mirren looked uncomfortable standing even in the same room as fellow Brit (and current Mr Katy Perry) Russell Brand, and even Hathaway’s cripplingly dire song lamenting Hugh Jackman not singing with her all but killed the show. Again, not through lack of trying, because it was easy to see that Franco and Hathaway were trying, but the energy of the show remained bafflingly absent. You’d think in a room full of mega-stars, somebody’d be able to come up with some real comedy.

Jimmy and Anne.

Even worse, the results of the awards were pretty much what everyone expected. Yawn. Well, yawn for us, not those who got them.As expected, The King’s Speech took home the big prize, Firth won his Oscar (probably as close to a career-Oscar as we got this year) and The Social Network and Inception lost out on the big ones geeks around the world had hoped they’d get.

On the positive side, and yes, there were a few minor moments of Academy awesomeness, the segment involving a mash-up vocaliser-version of dialogue from key youth-oriented films (Social Network, Twilight: Eclipse, Harry Potter) failed to ignite the mainly older Oscar audience in the Kodak Theatre, but they certainly drew a few sniggers from me. Last years Best Actress Sandra Bullock had a few shitz-n-giggles at the expense of the Best Actor nominees (she had the best line of the night – calling Jeff Bridges “Dude”, a tip of the hat to his character in The Big Lebowski), and she really did lighten up proceedings for the few moments she had to shine. The co-presenter banter was kept to a blessed minimum this time out, although whatever Justin Timberlake was on certainly shouldn’t be sold over the counter. A few of the winners rambled on a lot, and I’ve made previous comment on what I think of that and how it can be overcome, but overall the ceremony went off without a hitch. It’s just that it was so boring – at least with MTV you have the chance to get slimed; with the Academy you have the chance to get bored.

I hate to say it -and remain in line with a fair majority of critics around the web today – but Ricky Gervais might have pissed people off at the Golden Globes, but at least he got people interested in them. Maybe the Oscars need some controversy to remain relevant in this Facebook/Twitter age of sound bites and two minute news cycles. Otherwise we go back to Billy Crystal – no offense Billy, but he’s been-there-done-that and they can’t keep going back to that well. Less of the scripted farce and more spontaneity.

In my day to day life, mainly at work in the office, people often ask me for my opinion on various films that they’ve seen, and what I thought of them (if I’ve seen them too). To most film critics, bloggers and cinema lovers, especially the “serious” type, this will be a common occurrence. There will always be a person in your social group, be it at work, through friends or family, that is the go-to guy or girl for all your general information about films. When a film was made, who directed it, and how many Oscars it got; all relevant information a serious film fan, heck, even just a casual one, would and should know. Quiz nights become a must-attend event, because all your friends know that if somebody asks who directed the little known black & white doco about extinct forest-dwelling pygmies who ate their own poo, it’s gonna be you that provides the answer. You stupid schmuck.

It’s as if, by some fluke of cosmic alignment, you (and by that I mean myself and anybody else who writes film reviews or articles) have become the de facto Leonard Maltin of your friends. Because you watch a lot of films, and probably have a keen interest in film and all its sub-groups, people assume you’re knowledge and appreciation of the medium is of a heightened standard than the rest of the mere mortals who steal your oxygen. Which begs the question: what makes me think I know about films? Does my predisposition to enjoy a good action film, as well as the latest offering from David Fincher or a classic David Lean piece, make me in any way an authority on the subject? And why do I expect that my appreciation (or lack thereof) of various film genre’s gives me some sort of heightened ability to grant a film a score, of any kind? Consider the following a manifesto of sorts, a small indication of just where my thoughts on all this actually lie.

(more…)