Ploafmaster General

In a move that's sure to reinforce the notion that TV stars transition poorly to the big screen as leads, The Office's Rainn Wilson is starring in The Rocker this summer.

It's disappointing to see an actor who plays such an intense and well-done character as Dwight Schrute reduced to a low-brow slapstick comedy role. Ooooooh...a washed up hair band drummer. Playing in a high school prom. And making a come-back.

I can't imagine this film will be any good, so I'll stick to watching Dwight behave like the weirdest paper salesmen imaginable.

I'm a huge fan of 30 Rock - Tina Fey's razor sharp writing and comedy timing keep me entertained for thirty minutes every Thursday night. So I was okay with the idea of going on a date with my wife which included a viewing of Baby Mama, which opened last night. Until I watched it.

To be fair, the parts that were funny were EXTREMELY funny, and Steve Martin's character was one of the funniest parts he's played in years. But the rest of the movie was absolutely ridiculous. Cliche jokes, over-predictable situations, and stereotypical characters plagued the feature throughout, and I couldn't help feeling like the lead actors were stifled by an underwritten script. But the script wasn't written by Fey - it was written by Michael McCullers. McCullers has such stellar writing credits as the last two Austin Powers movies and Undercover Brother. w00t!

Two out of five, man, because this movie didn't even meet the lukewarm expectations I barely had.

After work, I'll head straight to Best Buy to purchase There Will Be Blood since it's released to DVD today. I can't recommend this movie enough if you haven't seen it already.

It's Saturday and I'm still sick, so while my mother-in-law went out with Valerie to look at bathroom furnishings I decided to finally try out Hulu. Now enough has already been said about this video service that I don't wish to dilute the stream any further. I'd rather talk about the first film I watched: A Life Less Ordinary.

I have to be honest - the only two reasons I decided to check this film out before hand were because I knew Beck had a song on the soundtrack ("Deadweight") and I had a vague notion that it was some non-mainstream movie when it was released. I've since found out it was directed by Danny Boyle, of Trainspotting and 28 Days Later fame. While A Life Less Ordinary certainly reflects Boyle's good direction, the story ends up feeling flat.

A love story at its core, the movie features two angels tasked with setting up two humans to fall in love on earth. There are some rather surreal and strange events along the way that make the movie feel as if it's trying to channel Raising Arizona, but ultimately the ending feels too predictable and the story too thin to warrant high praise.

3/5

On a side note, I hope Hulu can expand its full-length film offerings. This was a great way for me to check out a movie that I was on the fence about without wasting a slot on my Netflix queue.

My Autumn's Done Come from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

Excepting an unfortunate choice to use Eccentric Std for the typeface of the titles, this short makes me smile in a melancholy way.

Momentum from ploafmaster on Vimeo.

Ze Frank posted this video on his website, and it's pretty much the coolest animated short I've seen in years:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-yldqNkGfo&hl=en&w=425&h=355]

I was so impressed, in fact, that I had to know more. I found that this masterpiece was crafted by Stefan Nadelman as part of his own Tourist Pictures. Peruse, and be sure to check out his 2007 demo reel.

My nephew is more awesome than your soul.


Donoblaster from ploafmaster on Vimeo.

This is too cool to ignore:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z25t-PQDn5A&w=500&h=418]
(via kottke)

"Five Primal Emotions" OR "Watch Dan Practice Facial Gymnastics" from ploafmaster on Vimeo.

Less artistic, but more appropriate to today (just make sure you turn up the volume, it's pretty quiet):


February 29 from GuySansom on Vimeo.

Tasty.


18fps from 16:9 on Vimeo.

Today Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited releases on DVD. After I pick up my developed film, I'm heading straight to the store to snag a copy. HUZZAH!

I have to say, it was refreshing to see an Academy Awards ceremony last night where major award categories were mostly devoid of "mainstream" films. I don't know whether that bodes ill for ABC's ratings or not, but at no point did I feel as if a quality actor/actress or film was usurped by crap. I was particularly happy to see Daniel Day-Lewis pick up Best Actor, and while I'd have liked to see Brad Bird snag Best Original Screenplay for Ratatouille, at least he collected Best Animated Feature.

I think the nominations reinforce the notion that 2007 was an uncommonly good year for the art of film making. I don't know (or much care) how the studios fared, but the craft certainly advanced, and I think the world is better for it.

I think I'm having too much fun with iMovie these days...


Hot Diggity from ploafmaster on Vimeo.

Michel Gondry created his own version of the trailer for his upcoming movie, Be Kind Rewind, illustrating rather perfectly what the whole film is about:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B0dJQ35rDs&rel=1&w=500&h=418]

Make sure you check out the official trailer for comparison.
(via kottke)

Here's a glorious little short film:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsF0Eqs8yQ8&rel=1&border=0&w=500&h=418]

I'm going to guess, by the cheesy synth music, that this effect was achieved by careful rehearsal moving in reverse. The result is incredible, in the same league as the video for Coldplay's "The Scientist".
(via ze frank)

I threw this together last night in about 1.5 hours. Be afraid...


Eine Kleine Nachtfilm from ploafmaster on Vimeo.

You be the judge...I'm still not sure yet.

http://l.yimg.com/cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/fop/embedflv/swf/fop.swf

Blue Times from Hyun De Grande on Vimeo.

This video was part of the 2007 48 Hour Film Project, a worldwide touring contest in which teams of filmmakers spend a weekend making short films. Blue Times was the 2007 winner for Best Cinematography and Best Musical Score when the project visited Ghent, Belgium.

It felt good to watch a move I could easily rate five of five.

Helvetica is a documentary of the highest order in that it could draw you in even if you had no interest in typography. The film opens with a bombardment of examples illustrating (ahem) the typeface's ubiquity. We see logos, signage, brochures, print media, and a host of other familiar uses of the venerable Helvetica. The movie continues with interviews of prominent (and some legendary) graphic and type designers loosely narrating the history and evolution of Helvetica's use, often sharing pride, wonder, and occasionally disdain. Join the fascinatingly informative content with an excellent score (primarily by El Ten Eleven) and wonderfully framed shots and you have a fine film indeed.

I plan to buy this. Check it out if you haven't already.

Vimeo recently (I think) added channels to their site which seems to function somewhat like super-tagging (did I just make that up?).

I think I could watch the Demo Reels channel for hours...

Valerie's latest Netflix choice was Marie Antoinette, and being a fan of Sophia Coppola's last joint, Lost in Translation, I wanted to give this a try.

I honestly don't have much to say about this film. It was beautifully filmed, and some of the acting was nice, but I felt that the entirety of the roughly two hours it ran was an animated slide show rather than a story. There was little to move the action along beyond history's time line. Let's hope Coppola's next effort (if there is one) does a little better.

3/5

Nima Nourizadeh is a director working largely in the UK, and seems to have made a few pretty cool music videos. Peep this awesome little example for the song "Over and Over" by Hot Chip:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHB9F8tvGVM&rel=1&w=425&h=355]

Then we have this one for Mark Ronson's song "Oh My God" with an animated Lilly Allen getting all Jessica Rabbit:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2lQcapSnXo&rel=1&w=425&h=355]

Finally, the video for Chromeo's "Bonafide Lovin'" is a tribute to Dire Straits' "Money Is For Nothin'" video:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xew85L1xyC8&rel=1&w=425&h=355]

Since I took yesterday off I decided to watch my latest title from Netflix, Easter Promises. I have to say I was a little disappointed.

The acting was decent, the direction was at least good, but there was little special about this film. No stand-out scenes or shots. No memorable score. No startling revelations or plot twists. No substantive commentary on any aspect of this world. Over all this felt like a middling story that revolved around a dead girl who was tied to the Russian mob and a British midwife who was rather unfortunately caught up in the circumstances. I think this was the sort of film that I could watch passively on television, "edited to fit the time alloted," and not feel as if I'd missed anything.

3/5. Next I get to see if the final Pirates of the Caribbean film is as weird as everybody's been saying.