Archives For Moving Media

Re-picking Up French and Where to Watch French Films for Free

April 1, 2025 — Leave a comment

Gomen, gomen. I skipped two months of random blogging this time around. I did, however, write my late 2024 Peruvian box office wrap-up, published in late February. And I did a small write up by the end of March about Malayalam cinema that is yet to be publish in case Jude Anthany Joseph’s 2018 is released locally this week. Just in case.

I have also picked up French once again! Officially since mid-January ;D Thanks to Nelly of Français avec Nelly. Everyday French (and slang, especially online slang) has improved, formal usage (has returned), but writing refuses to go back to levels (^=^!) to when I was a formal student and could actually write. It takes me ages to actually write, so it takes triple the ages to get something out in French.

Anyway- in one of the most recent videos where Nelly answers some subs questions, user tomas_valiunas asks about a website where you could watch French films for free, which is -of course- my expertise. I may not focus on writing about French films and festival films, because there are hundreds of others who do, but I do watch a number of French films and co-productions. And even though the French, and Europeans (and first worlders) in particular, are very finnicky about geo-restrictions and copyright, there are ways.

And the first and most obvious legal answer is TV5 Monde Plus.

I still have cable, so I don’t know how people who don’t have cable are supposed to find out about the TV5 Monde app for download or that they have a streaming website. Of course, there are a number of shows (broadcast on TV5 Monde) available to stream for free on YouTube like Echappées Belles or Des Racines et des Ailes.

They let you browse without an account, but you have to create one to actually watch the shows and films, otherwise you hit ‘play’ and just get the TV5 Monde logo and a ‘sad face’ lol

According to current (Mar 4th 2025) FAQ, opening an account and accessing the programs in the platform is free.

Right now they’re offering a bunch of Brigitte Bardot films like Boulevard du Rhum, Viva Maria!, La Bride Sur Le Cou, L’histoire très bonne et très joyeuse de Colinot Trousse-Chemise and En effeuillant la marguerite. Other classics like Peau d’âne by Jacques Demy, Jean Eustache’s La Maman et la Putain, and Truffaut’s Les Quatre Cents Coups are also available. And that rare Marlene Dietrich French film, Martin Roumagnac is also available.

Some of their co-productions are available, like Papicha by Mounia Meddour and Noces by Stephan Streker. However, considering the vast recent production of French animated films, I was a little underwhelmed from the selection of animation available; though Alain Ughetto’s Interdit aux chiens et aux Italiens, Florence Miailhe’s La Traversée and Une Vie de Chat by Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol are available as well.

But my favorite discovery available is Adrien Beau’s Le Vourdalak [Trailer] which I had been looking forward to watching. Sadly, it’s the only film labeled a fantasy. ^^’

Subtitles seem to vary, most (if not all) content seems subbed in English and French, there are also options for German (?), Arabic, Romanian and Spanish, though these two vary depending on the film you’re watching.

So I thought you should all know, even though no one reads blogs any longer, maybe someone will find this information on the vast nothingness of modern-day internet.

In English, Films, French, Jobs, Misc., Sharing, Spanish , , , , , , , , ,
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Maria Callas Triple Feature

January 7, 2025 — Leave a comment

A while back I was able to catch a viewing of Tom Volf’s Maria by Callas documentary, which I adored. Some time last year (near my birthday?), I got to catch a special screening of Callas – Paris, 1958, which we got to see alongside a very very very tiny group of people ^^’

And, of course, I made sure to watch Pablo Larrain’s Maria before the year was over, because why not.

It’s the perfect Maria Callas triple feature-

  • The divine diva of Callas – Paris, 1958
  • Maria seen through the eyes of Callas in Maria by Callas
  • The human being in Maria.

My absolute favorite sequence in Larrain’s depiction is probably the whole segment at JFK’s birthday party. Though Maria’s scene with her sister is devastating.

In Celebrity, DVD/BR, English, Films, French, Misc., Music, Posters/Artwork, Sharing , , , , , ,
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YAMMag Mononoke Happened

December 30, 2024 — Leave a comment

This is likely the last post of 2024, breaking a dry spell of the last few years with a record 20 posts since 2018 when I posted 38 times.

This last post of 2024 is dedicated to Kenji Nakamura’s Mononoke the Movie: Phantom in the Rain (劇場版「モノノ怪 唐傘」), which crowfunded a while ago and has recently fulfilled orders. What an adventurous journey! We got a special credit for YAM Magazine!

It is an honor that we get to put our name in one of the team’s favorite series.

Let’s all look forward to what 2025 may bring!

I hope you all had an incredible 2024, and that you all were able to achieve what you set out to do (or close to achievement, anyway).

In DVD/BR, English, Films, Fun, Japanese, Sharing, Snapshots, Torrents & Digital Streams , , , , ,
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Koreeda’s Putting an Asura Team Together

December 2, 2024 — Leave a comment

Promotion season has just started for this dream collaboration that all quality J-Film fandom had wished for— a Koreeda series starring Rie Miyazawa, Machiko Ono, Yu Aoi and Suzu Hirose. Loads of crossover fandoms. Even if expectations are too high and are not fully met, it will still be good.

Specially good for Yu-chan and Suzu-chan fans who have been wanting a collaboration since we saw Suzu-chan in Shunji Iwai-verse.

Yu-chan fans are also being fed well with a quick comeback since Yu-chan became a mom and did her quick appearance on NHK’s asadora. Netflix’s Asura (阿修羅のごとく) re-adaptation is also a milestone for Yu-chan because longtime fans know Like Asura is one of Yu-chan’s favorite projects.

The +30min press conference is super fun, and YouTube auto captioning Japanese to English immediate translation is decent enough, even though translate features in browsers don’t seem to be doing well translating Yu’s name for some odd reason.

Netflix only has a 1min clip of the opening (of the show?). I would love love love the name of the song featured, though. I wasn’t able to find any info on that other than it being by Takeshi Yoshida (吉田武史) and Katsura Uehara (上原桂). The show is supposed to be available in early January 2025 (though Netflix has been known to make stuff disappear in different regions).

I’m really really excited about this project.

In English, Graphics, Japanese, Sharing, Television , , , , , , , , , ,
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The Meenaxi Vinyl We Needed

November 2, 2024 — Leave a comment

I stumbled across a vinyl version of Meenaxi – A Tale of Three Cities, and I’m almost disappointed it’s just a generic pressing of one of A.R. Rahman’s most underrated soundtracks and, of course, one of Tabu’s most underrated gems.

For a while now, I’ve been lamenting the death of physical media in India. The movie collection is really really suffering from it.

The world is also suffering from lack of high definition promo materials and HD transfers for M.F. Hussain’s Meenaxi. The world deserves multiple color vinyl editions to play on the Yeh Rishta [MV]/Rang Hai [MV] color palette themes of the movie. Blue, yellow, orange, purple, besides the red one.

In Celebrity, English, Films, Graphics, Misc., Music, Products, Sharing , , , , , ,
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When you’re on the train, and you Chaiyya Chaiyya~

September 29, 2024 — Leave a comment

I forgot to post this a while back, but this is a total feeling when you’re listening to music and the song comes up.

In Celebrity, Clips, English, Fun, Graphics, Misc., Music, Screencaps, Sharing, Television , , , , , , ,
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Shin-chan vs. Earwig – FIGHT!

August 12, 2024 — Leave a comment

If twenty years ago you had told me that Crayon Shin-chan was gonna have a smoother transition from 2D to 3D than Studio Ghibli, I would’ve asked you what you were smoking. Yet here we are. lol

The plot for Shin Jigen! Crayon Shin-chan the Movie wasn’t even all that bad, and gets quite meaningful by the end! What a wild world we live in.

In English, Films, Japanese, Screencaps, Sharing , , , , , ,
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Miss You, Zhao Wei

You’re often on my mind.

Thank you for giving us Two Tigers (兩隻老虎) and its theme song Ke Yi (可以) [1].

And off-topic, this amazing commercial.

Posted on July 7, 2024 In Celebrity, Chinese, Clips, English, Films, Music, Sharing , , , , ,
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Nicole Kidman and her Weird Audience

June 30, 2024 — Leave a comment

It’s been about a month or so since the first reports of Nicole Kidman’s AFI Lifetime Achievement Award started trickling. I had already read that she was thanking the audience that had stuck by her doing some of her weird little films, but it was still different watching the video and hearing her say it.

the audiences that have stuck by me through everything — I just want to say thank you because there’s so many little weird films I’ve done and I know there’s people out there that go and find them and watch them. You’ve stood by me and stuck up for my weird, weird choices and I’m so grateful for that.”

I was obviously to young to watch To Die For or Portrait of a Lady in the mid-90s, but it is no wonder I’m thought of as one of those odd ones when I had dragged friends from school to watch things like Birthday Girl or Steven Shainberg’s Fur, which I have rewatched this past weekend. Reese’s speech about Kidman’s passion for cinema just reaffirms my love for Nicole and her body of work throughout these past two decades, in which she has been resurrected by the press more than once with so-called “comebacks.”

Here’s to two more decades of amazing films (and series). *Cheers*

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From the Vault: F.R.O.G

June 4, 2024 — Leave a comment

I was doing one of those random searches I do (every other year now) in search of an old show from early to mid-90s, which featured Canadian actress Lani Billard, who later starred on 1993’s Ready or Not alongside Laura Bertram. It was called F.R.O.G and it aired on Discovery Kids Latin America. The show, which apparently was produced by Toronto’s OWL TV (maybe PBS in the US?), was a shown now commonly known as “edutainment” -entertainment with an educational take- about a group of children that used to get together to discover or solve a physics/mechanical/nature/science issue of the day.

I clearly remember two episodes of the show— one featured electromagnetics, which were used to power racing toy cars. The other one featured hydronic heating systems, which were built with a water hose installed on the roof of a shed to “warm up” with the sun. Apparently, the show only featured 13 episodes, to the surprise of everyone’s brains who feels like shows used to last forever, but they were all miniseries (eg. The Storyteller, Mr. Bean, old Shogun, etc.).

My old scattered cable magazines must be somewhere around, but that’s basically the only hard copy I have of the show’s existence. I have never been able to find digital proof of the show ever existing, except for this low resolution picture I just found on one of the few videos that talk about old Discovery Kids Latino.

I barely recognized it, mainly because that’s Billard in the pink sweater. I suppose the kid in blueish green could be Gideon Arthurs, while the kid in red could be Ivana Shein.

I also found this Reddit thread saying it’s “Fully lost” and learned (finally?) that F.R.O.G stands for “Friends of Research and Odd Gadgets,” ha! I had no idea.

According to one of the links above, and the info on WorldCat, the show’s distribution is or was done by Bullfrog Films. For educational purposes, Bullfrog Films used to offer a VHS tape per 30min episode at $50 on a dedicated F.R.O.G page that is no longer available. I tried browsing through their catalogue and doing a search to see if I could find more info on the show, but no luck. I even went through all their YouTube archive to no avail, even though they are still releasing material. In theory, you should be able to order these from them.

In related things— I did find the whole original Ghostwriter series, which had been released on DVD back in the day, as well as a whole collection of Lost Telecourse, which includes a series on American Cinema, and a series about physics and mechanics (also done by TVO) called Eureka!. Outside the collection, I also found some episodes of Newton’s Apple, episodes of Art Attack, and episodes of Pingu.

In English, Sharing, Stills, Television , , , , , , ,
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