The real Blade Runner.
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Posted in 🍿 F I L M : M O T I O N, 📰 N E W S
Tags: actor, Life & Death, Narrow-minded "Blade Runner" Producers, R.I.P. Rutger Oelsen Hauer 1944 ~ 2019, sci-fi, Science Fiction Movie
New Zealand International Film Festival (2019)
•July 19, 2019 • Leave a CommentIt is that time of year again when the NZ International Film Festival rolls into town, and I have decisions to make!!
Poster artwork: illustration by Ken Samonte, design by Ocean Design.
My sister Matisse and I caught the NZIFF opening night screening of La Belle Époque and it was hilarious and heartfelt. Prior to its screening, New Zealand Film Festival Trust (NZFFT) member Dr Andrew Langridge took to the podium and welcomed everyone to the event, in a long speech about the film festival’s success, the 40 year tenure of festival curator/director Bill Gosden, as well thanking ALL the sponsors (it was a very long speech).
Here are a few entries in the 51st programme (18 July to 4 August 2019) that I am interested to see:
Long Day’s Journey into Night (2018) Di qiu zui hou de ye wan /
Part film noir, part dreamscape, this oneiric love mystery – acclaimed for its hour-long 3D sequence shot in a mesmerising unbroken take – intoxicatingly captures romantic obsession in southern China.
La Belle Époque (2019) Directed by Nicolas Bedos
A 21st century riff on second chances at first love, La Belle Époque takes a giant conceit – an agency can grant you the chance to play the lead role in any point in history, with full cast and costume on an authentic set – and focuses on a sad, aging cartoonist (Daniel Auteuil, in a late career peak) who’s feuding with his VR-obsessed wife (Fanny Ardant, equally terrific). Instead of drinking with Hemingway or fighting Nazis, he chooses to return to the happiest day of his life: 40 years prior, when a beautiful woman walked into a cafe…
High Life (2018) Directed by Claire Denis
A forbidding spaceship carrying death row inmates hurtles towards oblivion in Claire Denis’s long-awaited, intensely hypnotic sci-fi opus.
Children of the Sea (2019) Kaijou no kodomo / Directed by Watanabe Ayumu
With an enchanting attention to oceanic detail and the mysteries of the deep blue sea, this blissfully moody anime follows the journey of a teenage girl spirited away on a fantastic aquatic adventure.
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927) Directed by Alfred Hitchcock Live Cinema
Celebrate Alfred Hitchcock’s 120th birthday with “the first true Hitchcock movie,” an atmospheric thriller set in the London fog. Accompanied by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra performing Neil Brand’s brilliant new score, conducted by Peter Scholes.
Stuffed (2019) Directed by Erin Derham
A fully rounded, elegantly observed documentary on the world of taxidermy, its dedicated practitioners and their empathy for the animals whose lives and beauty they lovingly preserve.
Escher: Journey into Infinity (2018) Escher: Het oneindige zoeken / Directed by Robin Lutz
This vivid portrait explores M.C. Escher’s life and imaginative world through his own words and visions. Narrated by Stephen Fry.
The Art of Self-Defense (2019) Directed by Riley Stearns
After a brutal mugging, a man takes up karate to better defend himself but soon falls under the spell of the dojo’s enigmatic leader.
We Are Little Zombies (2019) Directed by Nagahisa Makoto
Four teenage orphans form a kick-ass band to express their emotions and end up taking the world by storm in this visually dazzling triumph from first time director Nagahisa Makoto.
Apocalypse Now: Final Cut (2019) Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Welcome back to the jungle with Brando, Duvall, Fishburne and Hopper for Francis Ford Coppola’s final – and finest – version of the ultimate Vietnam War epic.
Ruben Brandt, Collector (2018) Ruben Brandt, a gyűjtő / Directed by Milorad Krstić
Boasting batshit surreal imagery, fist-pumping action sequences and a wall-to-wall shrine of art and cinema references, Ruben Brandt, Collector is a new milestone for animated invention.
The Wild Goose Lake (2019) Nan fang che zhan de ju hui / Directed by Diao Yinan
Gangland subterfuge tumbles into a dazzling nocturnal manhunt in Chinese director Diao Yinan’s film noir par excellence – a modern genre classic in the making.
Regarding the 2019 poster artwork; the posters (in the poster?) featured on the wall are from past NZIFFs. The one with the elephant is from 1994, a programme which I happened to have held onto like a proud hoarder/stolen from my dad’s belongings when I was little. Incredibly different time for cinema compared to today’s offerings.
Photographs of Films: Movies Condensed Into a Single Frame — “its visual DNA” by Jason Shulman
•July 17, 2019 • Leave a CommentJason Shulman photographs the entire duration of a movie with ultra-long exposures, creating a single image, these impressionistic blurs with faint distinguishing features:
“You could take all these frames and shuffle them like a deck of cards,
and no matter the shuffle, you would end up with the same image I have arrived at.”
Dumbo (1941)
Blue Velvet (1986)
Taxi Driver (1976)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
In an interview with Another Magazine, Shulman elaborated; “I set up my camera […] pointed it at a movie, expecting that, if you expose the negative for an hour and a half with a film in front of it, you’d get a bit like what you get when you mix balls of Play-Doh together— just a brown monotone hue. So I was very surprised when in fact these kinds of rather interesting translations of films started occurring.”
“You can learn something about the director’s style from this kind of kooky translation: you can learn that Hitchcock deals with people, for example, Kubrick deals with composition, Bergman deals with … I mean lots of Bergman films are kind of moody and psychological, much more so than other films.”
“So it’s odd that in one exposure all of these things, although very subjective, kind of come through.”
“There are roughly 130,000 frames in a 90-minute film and every frame of each film is recorded in these photographs,” Shulman says.
Some films didn’t work so well, however. “I shot Avatar, for example – I shot all James Cameron’s films – and what I got most is literally just a kind of Pantone swatch at the end, a kind of plain, flat blue, because he cuts very quickly, the camera’s always moving. So it all depends on the director’s style.”
Shulman’s other work extends beyond photography, encompassing installation, sculpture and video.
Dr Strangelove (1964)
Alice in Wonderland (1951)
Under The Skin (2013)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Le voyage dans la lune (1902)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Alien (1979)
Stalker (1979)
“Each of these photographs is the genetic code of a film — its visual DNA”
Com Truise – “Ultrafiche of You” [music video]
•July 15, 2019 • Leave a CommentInspired by the evocative, haunting atmospheres of the track and the cinema of Andrei Tarkovsky, Ingmar Bergman and Krzysztof Kieślowski:
Directed by Gianluca Minucci / Talent Kseniia Dubovitz Dubovitskaia / Produced by Liana Rae Perez, Catherine Dewar / Prod. Company Mad Dogs Film / DoP Jeremy Kerr / Editor Ian Degrassi / Colorist Mariateresa Ventrella / Costume Designer Lenka Padysakova / Prod. Designer Mike Maggiano […]
I am glad the makers gave credit to their inspirations, as I can definitely see Andrei Tarkovsky’s influence. There is something rich and incomparable about the way in which Tarkovsky framed and captured environments, imbuing them with metaphysical properties that seem to defy time and reason.
Andrei Tarkovsky; so good.
Jellyfish Goes for a Spin on a Bubble Ring 💫
•July 12, 2019 • Leave a CommentOff the coast of Menorca, Spain; the moment when a jellyfish collides with a bubble ring:
Jellyfish: “woah, a ring, what if i we’KSNCJFUDKEKANXUCUFBFKSJDUDUJDNFJF”
Doja Cat — “Mooo!” [music video]
•July 5, 2019 • Leave a Comment“If someone walked into my room I’d switch to pornhub because it’d be easier to explain.”
Doja Cat on making people horny, scared and confused, responds to the best, worst and rudest comments on her video for ‘Moooo!’
This artist is gonna glow up! DOJA CAT live at Bitterzoet Amsterdam, followed by some calcium rich entertainment:
Weval — “Someday” [music video]
•June 17, 2019 • Leave a CommentWatch this mesmerizing music video if you like photography, architecture, geometry, juxtapositions, stop-motion animation, and/or just kick’n tunes in general:
Amazing editing work!
Filmmaker Páraic McGloughlin’s abstract music video serves as the perfect complement to the driving rhythm and headphone-worthy sounds of Weval’s track Someday. The imagery and sounds reflect the fragility of our planet, and humanity’s desire to hold on.
“Last year Weval approached me with the idea of developing a music video for ‘Someday’. Upon listening to the track ,which I loved, I had ideas of what I thought would fit. We aimed at creating an abstract journey with a sense of ambiguity holding underlying core concepts […] super happy to put images behind their amazing sounds!”
Here is another crazy music video by Páraic McGloughlin:
Fake Sextortion Email Scam [F]
•June 15, 2019 • Leave a CommentI was targeted! Recently received an email stating my computer had been compromised with a malware virus which downloaded my list of contacts and recorded me being sexual with myself. It went on to describe what would happen if I did not transfer bitcoin to the sum of USD $999 to this anonymous sender’s account:
What a joke.
None of it made any logical sense so I wasn’t scared in the least of being “exposed.” Ignoring it was the best course of action, but I also flicked a report to Netsafe NZ and they confirmed my better judgement. Here is what they had to say:
Netsafe has received numerous reports about the particular scam email you described in your report. From what we understand, the scammer does not have access to your computer equipment or your information. They’re attempting to scare you into making payment to them.
It appears to be a variation of an email scam we have seen in the past. You can find a Netsafe advisory about this scam email here.
Netsafe will retain a record of the information you have shared with us. This will help us track who the scammers are targeting and how they operate.
Thank you again for your report. Reports like yours help us to identify emerging patterns, which we use to keep New Zealand internet users informed about scams and the ways they can protect themselves.
Netsafe directed me to a page that can reveal if email information has been stolen and from what website, which I think is cool and everyone should look into:
The website ‘Have I Been Pwned?’ contains details about a number of large data breaches. You can visit the site to check if your email address is listed as being affected by any of the breaches included on the site. If your email address is listed, make sure you update your password on any of the affected sites.
5 data breaches!! Although I haven’t used those sites in a long time (and never will again), that is most likely where my information (email & password) were taken from, in order to scare-convince me to cough up bitcoin for some anonymous moron/s.
The internet is a weird and wonderful place, but let’s be honest, not everyone in the world is weird and wonderful. Right Woody?
Uhh, where am I going with this? …Be wise and take care 😎
Office Chair Street Racing in Japan
•June 14, 2019 • Leave a CommentTeams of three compete to complete the most laps of a 200-meter course during a two-hour span, at Nakamachi shopping district special course (Oshu, Iwate Esashi), with the winning team rewarded 90 kg of rice! (Iwate Esashimi Gold Rice to be exact. Runner-up gets 60 kg and 3rd place 30 kg)
The event, which started with a race in Kyoto in 2009, was the brainchild of Tsuyoshi Tahara, and will feature at 10 different grand prix events across Japan this year.
Tahara’s idea has proved surprisingly popular, with 55 teams entering the Hanyu Grand Prix alone and hailing from as far away as Wakayama Prefecture, 600 km (about 400 miles) to the southwest. Sunday’s winning team, Kitsugawa Unyu, came from Kyoto and had also traveled several hours with their chairs for the race.
FINAL FANTASY Music Now On Spotify [♬]
•June 8, 2019 • Leave a CommentStreaming music service Spotify is generally hit-or-miss for video game soundtracks. That’s not so for Final Fantasy anymore, as official soundtracks for all the main games and many of its spin-offs are now available for your listening pleasure:
Noticed yesterday by Twitter user RickyWinsKO, the service’s FF catalogue is now quite extensive. Soundtracks from the NES original on up to Final Fantasy XV are available.
Multiple albums cover MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV and its expansions, including music from the original release, before it relaunched as A Realm Reborn. Record Keeper, Dissidia, Tactics—I am in soundtrack heaven. They’ve even got the soundtrack for Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, a movie no one cares about.
To access the soundtracks, open up Spotify and do a search for “Final Fantasy Original Soundtrack” and click on Albums. It beats the hell out of listening to FF tunes via YouTube vids.
And this announcement just dropped:
HD remaster answers the classic meme:
🎭 