Good morning folks! Just a little update for you all today: here in Australia, it’s a public holiday, so there will be no review up – instead, our warts-and-all look at Caligula will be online tomorrow. Stay tuned for that.

Some of you have noticed a significant slowdown in the load time for the fernbyfilms.com site over the last six to twelve months, and rest assured, we’re working on it behind the scenes to nullify any problems we are having. We believe it’s got to do with our cache system, and we’re investigating possible solutions as you read this. For this reason, you may see some slight aesthetic changes to the site. Some might alternatively label it as “streamlining”. Do not be alarmed. We’re working to make fernbyfilms.com as fast as possible in the online world.

We’d like to remind you all that our second Top 10 Greatest Of The Modern Age list comes online on Monday week (the 6th of February), and if it’s as popular as the previous one was, then we’re in for some great comments. We will be publishing out Top 10 GOTMA lists on the first Monday of each month, right up to December. Lock that in your diary!

Finally, as we’re expanding our readership across the Blogoverse, with fellow film lovers reading and commenting on our stuff, we want to throw something out to the casual reader right now – if you happen to stumble upon a great site (like this one! LOL!) then leave a comment somewhere! It doesn’t take much to throw a couple of kind words (or, not so kind, if you disagree with something you’ve read) the way of the author, and as bloggers, we all appreciate anybody spending even a few seconds to acknowledge our work – good or bad. If you look to the right you’ll notice a list of recent comments over in our sidebar, as well as a leaderboard of regular commentors; it’s called building a community, and since we all love films, it’s pretty obvious what that community likes to talk about, and we want your opinion. So for the lurkers and casual visitors, those landing here to capture some images or those who’ve followed a link in from iMDB or something, please leave a comment somewhere to let us know you’ve seen our stuff. You might never come back; that’s okay, you know, but we’d at least like to know you’ve been here! Of course, if you want to really show how much you’ve enjoyed our stuff, you can always click the “like” button on our facebook widget. That way you’re always up to date with our reviews!! Go on…. press it!

And of course, a big thanks to our regulars for always coming back to see what’s what! You guys are gems.

Rodney T – EIC, fernbyfilms.com

Happy New Year folks, welcome to the first day of 2012; the year in which, according to those who believe in the soon-to-be-defunct ancient Mayan calendar, the world will end/change.

Here at fernbyfilms.com, we don’t believe much will happen on December 21 this year, but just in case the planet Earth does suffer some terrible cataclysm, we’ll be preparing for this event with some timely final words and summations on cinema as a whole. Just in case aliens unearth our remains in the millennia to come, we want to make sure they know the truth about our world, about our culture, as we step forth into the new epoch of human civilization, be that a post-Roland Emmerich-esque upheaval or meteor strike or nuclear holocaust – whatever version of fate humanity has in store, we wanted to get our ducks in a row.

Each month, we’ll be presenting a special series of Top 10 Lists, under the headline banner of “Greatest of the Modern Age“, trawling through various films of the last 30-odd years (since 1980, to be precise), with such lists as the Greatest Actors, Greatest Films, Greatest Film Scenes and other similarly titled things to keep you entertained. Tomorrow, we present our first, The Top 10 Greatest Actors Of The Modern Age, representing the best acting talent from the last 30 years. I know some of these lists will produce some controversy, so I invite anybody with a different opinion to voice it in the comments section!

Also this year, we have a special last-gasp blow-out planned for Septembers Worst Film Week event (since we went and skipped it in 2011), as well as a number of other events planned through the course of the year – most of which I haven’t come up with as I write this. No doubt I’ll sort something out later.

So welcome to2012 folks: sit back and enjoy the ride, why dontcha!

Rodney T – EIC, fernbyfilms.com

Morning folks! Well, we’ve almost made it to the end of another year, with Christmas just under a week away. Now is the time for celebrating the holiday season, spending time with family and relaxing after spending the last 12 months or so slogging away at whatever job it is you do – me, I’m off to my parents’ farm for a bit of R&R over the break, so with that in mind I thought now might be a good opportunity to get a few housekeeping items out of the way.

First, I’d like to extend a massive “thank-you” to all those folks who contributed and commented on fernbyfilms.com over the last 12 months. Special mention to Al over at the dry-zone that is The Bar None, and Dan Stephens at Top 10 Films, as well as regular back-patters Dan O, Vik, Rory, Castor, Sam, Fitz, Matt S, Scotty S, and a fellow Aussie, Tom Clift, all of whom have become regulars around here.

Second, and this almost goes without saying, I’d like to thank my good wife, the gorgeous Lisa T, and my daughter Mikayla, for allowing me to watch films and write about them here for you all to read – if they said no, I’d be gone, so be thankful they said yes! On another note, I’m also happy to announce that midway through 2012, Lisa and I are expecting to welcome a new member to our family, so wish us luck with that! No, not a puppy – a new baby!

Thirdly, I’m happy to report that a few months ago we re-registered fernbyfilms.com for another 3 years, meaning you’re all going to have to put up with us being an online presence for a while longer! Yay! Thanks to Mick Kubler, our magnificent back-room administrator, for keeping us ticking along.

Speaking of online presence, keen eyed observers of this site would have noticed that a few months ago we passed our 1,000,000th visitor to the site – a massive thanks to all those who’ve read our stuff over the years, and those regulars who keep coming back for more. 1 million hits is a pretty big number for a small site like ours, and we’re pretty darn impressed with all those zeros ticking over like that! By the time sunset hits the last day of 2011, we’ll have posted 95 official movie reviews in the last 12 months, six Top Ten lists, and, sadly, more than a few obituaries – and we have plenty of new material already planned for next year. I can say that with a fair degree of certainty too, because as you read this we’re working on reviews which will be published here around mid-May, that’s how far in advance we work. I know what’s coming, and it’s gonna be cool! (Let’s just say, the Millennium Trilogy is going to make May an awesome month, that’s for sure!).

Finally, I’d like to let you know that as of tomorrow, I’m going to be taking some well-deserved time away from the site for a couple of weeks, so until just after New Year’s the site’s gonna be on auto-pilot. If you don’t get a response from me about something, that’s why. Okay?

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Now, on to 2012. As many of you know, 2012 is apparently the year in which the world will end or some other such nonsense – at least, the Mayan calendar runs out and we’re going to find ourselves watching December 21st very closely. That’s the day everything will change – apparently. [Mind you, the same was said with Y2K too, when planes were gonna drop from the sky and nuclear missiles would self-launch... and look where that got us!] With that in mind, and with the endless hype this date is no doubt going to bring, we’re jumping on the bandwagon (not really, just figuratively) and have something huge planned that will run throughout 2012 – I’ll tell you more about that very soon. Let’s just say, we hope it’ll be a spark for some massive conversations about film. I must also mention the regrettable lack of a Worst Film Week this year, something we simply ran out of time to organize and achieve. Hopefully it’ll be back in 2012, bigger and better worse than ever!

Before we get to the new year, however, we have to muster the courage to get through Christmas – eating has never been so much fun! This week, a couple of Christmas-themed film reviews pop up for you, beginning with Tim Burton’s classic Nightmare Before Christmas, and the second Santa Clause film, both of which I think suit the holiday season ever so nicely. Tomorrow, however, comes our last regular review for the year, on the delightful animated film Gnomeo & Juliet. It’s a cracker! There will be no reviews here between Christmas and NYE, and we’ll be back here come January 1st with an update and the kick-off for the new year.

So, I wish you all the very best for the New Year, a very merry Christmas, and lots of fun watching plenty of films across the holiday season. Stay safe, stay strange, and we’ll see you in 2012!

Rodney T – EIC, fernbyfilms.com

This year’s Beneath The Earth short film competition was an undoubted success – just check out the quality of the entrants and short list of films to choose from. While perhaps not achieving the same broad-spectrum appeal as, say, Tropfest, BTE gave us some truly extraordinary short films this year, each with a style and individuality unique to their respective filmmakers. That’s the thing about short films, I guess: the filmmaker responsible has the ability to tell the story he/she wants without the constraints of studio interference or hindrance.

The two winners, one winning the judges prize and the other voted for by the public, are equally deserving of their place, although only one of them (I believe) is truly the best of the bunch. You can click here to see all the entrants and learn who won, but I’m about to cast a critical eye across both of the winners and let you know what I think, without prejudice.

Judges Choice: Photographs – Directed by Brendan Clogher & Christina “Kiki” Manrique

This short film tells the story of an elderly woman traipsing around a town taking photographs of herself. Sounds boring if you say it fast, but this is one hell of an elegant short film, a heartbreaking, wonderful, uplifting essay into loss, memory and revelation. Stunningly animated, Photographs is one of those shorts that transports you to your own childhood via the parallels of its own narrative, capturing the essence of time passing by with consummate ease. The old woman, taking photographs around town, is trying to recapture the memories of her younger days, as seen in one of the final sequences of the short, and it’s this that brings the moving elements of the short into focus (small photographic pun there!).

If there’s one thing any aspiring filmmaker can take from Photographs, it’s that animation doesn’t always have to be Pixar level quality or even realistic – the crux of a good animation is the story you have to tell, and Clocher/Manrique have got a good one. Simple, well told, Photographs is a short film that’ll stay with you long after you’ve watched it.

Audience Vote: After Ever After – Directed by Jeff Pinilla

While this film didn’t connect with me emotionally, at least compared to the other films on offer, I did appreciate the attempt to dissect a relationship breakdown. I felt After Ever After was a solid effort, even if I didn’t appreciate the story it was trying to tell. Visually, it’s quite modern, with abrupt angles, focus and color enhancement adding to the stylish, often claustrophobic nature of the imagery. I think Pinillia has tried to give the film a sense of emotional grandeur to which it’s unable to achieve, but I commend him for trying.

If I could be so bold as to mention my own personal favorites, they would have to be 2 Ambassadors and It’s Natural To Be Afraid – two exemplary examples of the short film genre. 2 Ambassadors is funny as hell (well, it struck a chord with my sense of humor) and Be Afraid is slick and stylish and so sexy-cool. It would be great if you could also check them out.

I’d like to thanks to organizers of BTEFF for asking me to participate in the judging, I had a great time watching and enjoying all the selected films, with special thanks to Antonia for her hard work behind the scenes. I do so hope to be a part of it next year!

All the films from this year’s festival are up on the main site until November 15th, so get in quick to watch some great up-and-coming talent in action! Click on the logo at the top of this post to go to the BTE Main Site!

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.

We hope you all enjoyed last week’s Matrix-themed event, at least as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you. I tell you, we’re so glad to get the Matrix reviews out of the way finally, after promising to deliver them back in 2008. Yeah, we’re a bit slow. I want to take this moment to officially thank our contributors over the last week, Dan, Al and Camielle, who assisted with some words of their own about the franchise. It was much appreciated, and I thank you all very much.

Now that the hurley burley of Neo, Trinity and Agent Smith has passed us by, I thought it’d be a good opportunity to give you a heads up on what’s happening in the coming months around the site. Since January, we’ve tried to keep the site’s main focus on film reviews and cinematic opinion, and we hope you’re enjoying our stuff. Our reader numbers are up, although we’re a little disappointed that new commenters aren’t flocking to the site (the regulars are still regular, and we thanks them for sticking around) in the numbers we’d hoped. Still, as long as the viewing numbers keep climbing, it’ll only be a matter of time.

To let you know about some of the films we’ll be reviewing over the next few months (we plan our material about 2 months in advance – this post was written back in April!), we’ve got some great stuff on the way. Tomorrow, we give you our opinion on the recent Marvel release, Thor (starring local Aussie-lad-made-good Chris Hemsworth), and in the coming weeks we check out some horror films, some dramatic films, and some action films. In June, we’re pleased to announce reviews of Mel Gibson’s Edge Of Darkness, Zac Efron’s tear-jerker Charlie St Cloud, as well as (finally) Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief and Where The Wild Things Are, among others. July’s roster is also looking good, with the Clint Eastwood companion film to Flags Of Our Fathers, Sands Of Iwo Jima, as a major highlight. In July, we have a little bit of Shrek action for you, as well as some words that George Lucas really needs to hear.

Our next major event here at fernbyfilms.com is going to be our traditional September exercise, the Worst Film Week – and boy do we have some doozies lined up for you then. We’re already scouting for more worst film posters, and we’ve got a few selections for dreadful films already lined up to review. Look for more news on that in the months to come. Also coming up this year, we’ve got something special lined up for the video-geeks amongst you: we’re currently working on some video reviews to upload. Yes, that’s right. Me, in front of a camera again, giving my verbal reviews on some of the films we see, as well as my opinion on all things cinema. It’s not entirely set in concrete yet, but we’re working on it. Look for that in Q4 as well.

As always, we welcome your comments and thoughts on all our stuff, so don’t be afraid to drop by and give us your impressions of both what we do, and what we review. Enjoy!

Rodney T – EIC, fernbyfilms.com

This week marks the long awaited debut of a series of reviews we promised back when fernbyfilms.com first went online as a film review site! Finally, after years of promising, and not delivering, we’ve scraped together enough of our thoughts about the almighty Matrix Trilogy to bring you reviews on all three feature films. Tomorrow, we bring you a look at The Matrix, while Wednesday sees the appearance of The Matrix Reloaded, and Friday will be the date on which you’ll be able to check out our thoughts on The Matrix Revolutions. I’ve also asked some of our good friends to have their say on the Trilogy. Dan from Top 10 Films, and Al from The Bar None, as well as part-time contributor Camielle White, have all thrown their hats into the ring for this auspicious occasion!

It’s our shiny new May-trix Week this week, and we hope you enjoy it. In the immortal words of Neo: “Whoa!”. Yep. To kick things off, though, we thought we’d scrape up some of the best bits from the web for you – specifically the original trailer to The Matrix, which debuted back in 1999. Feel the excitement!

Since the official site keeps crashing out, here’s the details I managed to score from the few seconds I was able to get on!

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A special FTE tonight folks, because some news is upon us. No, I’m not talking about a new Katherine Heigl film (although that would be cause for concern!), nor am I announcing my intention to run for Government. No, dear readers, I’m here to inform you that one of our good friends here at fernbyfilms.com, Dan Stephens, is about to get married. Dan runs Top 10 Films over in the UK, a website I occasionally get around to contributing to, and Dan’s assisted (and will in the near future) with some stuff here as well.

Pre-wedded Dan

Dan takes the plunge on Friday (UK time, which will be Saturday sometime here in Australia) this week, so before he goes off into the state of wedded bliss we all know is coming his way, let us toast to both him and his soon-to-be-Mrs Stephens and their good health. If you wish to leave Dan a well-wish, may I suggest traipsing across to his site and doing so there!

Dan, from all of us here at fernbyfilms.com, best wishes for your upcoming nuptials, and a long and happy married life together. And hey, it’s another person to write stuff for your site, right?

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On an unrelated note, you may have noticed that tonight we began using a blog protection tool here at fernbyfilms.com. We believe that some of our material is being plagiarised by unscrupulous types in China, and as such, we’ve taken steps to prevent this. Copying a blog post, converting it into a different language, and then re-posting it online as their own material isn’t new, but more advanced security here at fernbyfilms.com hopes to make this site the only place you can read our stuff. We will be monitoring the bot count behind the scenes to see if this makes any difference at all, and if it does, we’ll know we’ve been successful. For those wishing to copy+paste our stuff for legitimate reasons, I apologize for the inconvenience.

Rodney T – EIC, fernbyfilms.com