Category: Moving Media

  • The 65 Foreign Submissions are in + Documentary shorts

    I can feel it in the air. Award season is approaching. I think Indie Spirit Awards are also done with submissions, and their nominations should arrive come early December.

    In the meantime, the Academy Awards has released the list of the 65 countries (or not-countries… Greenland?) that will be competing for 5 spots as “Best Foreign” nominees, as well as their 8 short documentaries.

    Here are some of the reviews of the ones I’ve seen.

    Let’s talk wild guess predictions in here. Which countries will be the 5 chosen ones?

    Mexico’s Biutiful seems like an easy assumption.

    China’s Aftershocks seems to be a good candidate for several reasons besides “film”. Whatever your thoughts on melodrama are, I mean… you really need to be a sour grape not to feel something for the family in that film. Either that, or you’ve never been in a natural disaster. Having said that, it is because it’s a melodrama that it’s perfect for Oscar. Moving family drama that deals with catastrophe with a really powerful and magnificently handled Earthquake scene that was a box office hit in China. It’s just good business.

    Also, China being nominated is controversial. Anything to do with China since 2008 is controversial. Controversial always brings ratings. Also nominating China is just plain good business. If China gets nominated – I dunno, what are the chances of some state channel broadcasting the Oscar? Just imaging 2/3 of China’s internet population watches the Oscar that night. That’s 200 million viewers. Anything in China is big.

    If there’s no China, it must be another cheese movie… like South Korea’s A Barefoot Dream. An underdog story of a kiddie football team and a coach. It shall make you feel happy xD

    Canada’s Incendies?

    and… I dunno what else. Peru’s chances? From what I have seen, and what I’ve heard. It could very well get into the nine before they select the final five. I’ll have a better grasp once the 9 are out xD

  • Glee Quote of the Week – S02x04 – Duets

    Sincerely, this has been Glee’s best episode of the 2nd season so far. We learned a bit from the characters, and the music didn’t take over. There was plenty of funny moments. However, I’m lazy – so this might be my last Glee Quote of the Week. Picking a quote each week is turning into “oh I don’t know what to pick” so it actually takes a lot more time than it did before.

    With this post, I want to get off the hook in case I find it difficult next week.

    Julie Andrews needs to be Kurt’s grandma, or auntie after his fierce number of Victor/Victoria. And talking about “aunties” – Tina, ain’t nothing wrong with dim sum. Or chicken feet. The Asian in me really wanted to use the chicken feet quote… because I can’t imagine salad with chicken feet. LOL

    Having said that. What a gay episode. Rachel and Kurt are meant to be fag-hag and main-gay together. Brittany did Lady and the Tramp, but she had no one. Artie’s being a bitch. But the biggest bitch of all is Santana. The difference is that I like bitch Santana, and I think Artie’s just being a jerk. He’s all like “poor me, you took advantage of me”. Suck it, Wheels!

    BitchSantana may be a major bitch, but still ain’t bitch enough to battle the biggest bitch of all. Santana meet Nicole Julian – I think you’re both known as Satan in your respective universes.

    There was also cheerleader make-out scene. O_o

    I’m like a lizard. I need something warm beneath me or I can’t digest my food.

    I like that she doesn’t take offence in comparing herself with a lizard. xD

  • Yogashiten Coin de Rue Trailer

    Okay, too much Yu-overload this week. My fan-brain can’t handle all this information. Plus, the new film opens nearly one week after my 25th bday –oh, Grilled Cheesus! I’m so old!

    [iframe src=”https://www.nipponcinema.com/v2/play.swf?config=https://www.nipponcinema.com/cfg/yogashiten-coin-de-rue-trailer” width=”560″ height=”315″]

    Highlights from the trailer? Hello, tasty pastries? It wasn’t long ago that I was trying to think of nice Foodie films. I think Coin de Rue could be a good candidate. That mousse looked potentially-mouthwatering-inducing.

    Second, I love that Yu-chan gets to work with pastries. And this one’s even more about the pastries.

    Third, Yu-chan cheek-pulling. I literally burst out laughing when I saw that. Does that happen a lot? I know that in America is considered very “aunt-y” for a woman to pull her nephew or niece’s cheek. I think it happens a lot in Asia. All my Korean roommates (and some friends), we used to pull each other’s cheeks all the time. But then again, there was also some un-wanted Korean spanking.

    via Nippon Cinema.

  • The Town is Exciting Fun

    … but the Spanish title sucks balls. Atracción Peligrosa – meaning: Dangerous Attraction. Pure cheese. First, a couple of fun pop culture differences. When the credits rolled, and the people began discussing the film. They started talking about “the prostitute” – “the junkie.” Then came another guy that said, “that Rebecca Hall is good, huh. She’s something.” And then we talked politics. LOL

    -note: the paragraph was edited to not spoil the film-

    So anyway, while people refer to Rebecca Hall – who’s only been on Vicky Cristina Barcelona in films here, people talk about Blake Lively’s character as “the prostitute” or “the junkie” while her show Gossip Girl plays on TV every single day of the week. Not even a “the Gossip Girl girl is something.” Just saying. It was interesting to see.

    Adapted from the novel Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan, The Town tells the story of a group of bank robbers from the city of Charlestown in Boston. Passed from father to son as if it were traditional work, there’s Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck), and his fellows Jim (Jeremy Renner), “Gloansy” and “Dez” – they’re about to rob a bank, and successfully take the money without leaving any evidence, except for the bank manager Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall). They take her hostage, only to set her free and to keep an eye for anything she might know.

    As Doug befriends Claire and gets info on what she knows and is or not telling FBI agent Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm), Doug and his “buddies” get going on their next targets, because the money is never enough… not for Fergie (Pete Postlethwaite) anyway.

    Actually, I’m making it sound so very complicated, when it’s not. The Town is a very straightforward film, that gets you going from the minute the film begins. It seems Ben Affleck’s talent for directing wasn’t mere luck when Gone Baby Gone was done. If you had any doubt, The Town just proved he’s good for real. In here, he does it bigger, faster and better – it’s a bigger production, it’s a faster-paced film, and it turns out better. The film’s engaging in terms of action for those who need adrenaline in what they watch, and it terms of performances for those who need “more than a mindless action flick”. It also has drama, romance… and even humor. My mom watches a lot of CSI, too.

    Best, and craziest, performance goes to Jeremy Renner who, after this and The Hurt Locker, might be turning into an adrenaline junkie for real. The highest moment of tension, for me, it’s possibly the scene in which Renner’s Jim runs into Affleck’s Doug while he’s having a lunch date with Hall’s Claire. You don’t really know what’s going to happen, but it grips you in a way none of the car chasing and shooting got to you. Maybe it’s because we’re Claire… or we’re Doug. We think she knows, but we don’t want her to know?

    The frailty of Claire’s character – she’s new in town… a yuppie? No friends in town, no family. She was just kidnapped, it’s easy to understand why she might have befriended Doug – her friends said so, kidnap rebound. Did I want the bad guys to succeed? I think many in the theater did. Maybe that’s why no one liked Blake Lively’s character. She’s a junkie prostitute with a kid… in the end, she’s still a junkie prostitute with a kid. Did not love or hate her.

    Anyway, film’s good fun. Very exciting, and very recommended. Women and men, FYI. xD

    4/5

  • We ♥ Dexter Too

    Just saw Julia Stiles on Dexter… question is, is Dexter going to kill her or not? xD Also, Kyle Butler, you’re screwed. Mazuka thinks you look like Justin Bieber. LOL

    The Daily Beast has some pretty art from shows. Including Dexter Season 1-4.

    Dexter art by Ty Mattson. For more, head over here.

  • Raiou at the Pusan Film Fest

    Yu-chan’s been busy! Or it’s actually been busy for us…

    REDLINE opened in Japan, as well as some dates in San Francisco – jealous! There was also the re-run of last-last week’s episode of Ryomaden on Friday night. On Saturday, there was a re-run of Hana & Alice on i-Sat. Plus, Yu-chan’s also been in Korea for the Pusan Film Festival to promote Raiou!

    G-Dragon must be there stalking. He really should visit the site and comment, we could really be friends.

    Anyway! As you know, Yu-chan’s pretty popular in Korea. Hana & Alice opened there as well, and even her film Letters from Nirai Kanai (with no subs yet) was released there under the name “Aoi Yu’s Letters” Snap!

    Yu-chan looks so pretty xD

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  • Music Video Director: Joseph Kahn

    Whenever I think about Joseph Kahn, I… well, now I think about stupid Torque, while my friend complained that he paid to watch the film and fell asleep. Yup, Torque’s one of those film I try to block for the sake of the Kahn – because the Kahn is a pretty kick-ass music video director.

    Before I ever EVER turned into the teenage girl that knew (and still knows) the lyrics to the Backstreet Boys songs, and before the Kahn blew me away with Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) — which remains my dad’s fave BSB song and  video. MY DAD who rocks xD — before all of that, I was blown away by Brandy and Monica’s The Boy is Mine. Not because I knew the lyrics… I didn’t. I didn’t know English then~ I just looked at them and doing the sing-off which I didn’t understand, and watched the clips of the video on Frecuencia Latina’s Ayer y Hoy. I found it fascinating.

    Of course, then I got cable… and I got MTV, and I became a BSB fan and learned English. And Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) is a bloody good pop music video. Of course it’s got tinges of Michael Jackson, that’s why it’s so good. Mind you, Nick’s mummy , Brian’s werewolf, Howie’s vamp and AJ’s Phantom are kinda lame, but Kevin’s Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde more than make up for anything. And that group sync dance, ahh… they don’t make them like that no more.

    Watch the HD version (only US), or the regular version.

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  • New Harry Potter Character Teaser Posters

    Not like I’m any taller, but if Radcliffe were taller, he’d be hotter.
    His high-contrast Harry Potter stubble is totally quiveration. LOL

    The posters don’t seem like regular character posters, though. More like teaser character posters, even if it seems late to be releasing teasers now~~~ I can’t remember if the WB has ever released teaser character posters.

    Is this being referred as HP 7 Part 1, instead of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1? Maybe it was a typographical decision more than a branding one?

    More posters over at MovieMobsters!

  • Glee Quote of the Week – S02x03 – Grilled Cheesus

    Okay, I feel kind of lame saying this but the most quotable Glee quote this week was the title of the episode. I don’t want to say that I didn’t enjoy the episode, I felt it was more like the back-9 that people didn’t seem to like, but I did.

    I feel like I’m gonna begin saying things like “Cheesus Christ!” or “You’re scaring the be-cheesus out of me.”

    Do I need to use the quotes format?
    Grilled Cheesus!

  • SF Yu Aoi and Animation fans: Redline Opens this Week in your City

    I wish I had known sooner, but I just found out today.

    REDLINE will be opening in San Francisco this Friday 8th at 7.15pm at VIZ Cinema – at the same time as in Japan! And will continue showing the film throughout the week. I already added them to the Yu Aoi Events calendar.

    Friday 8th – 7.15pm
    Saturday 9th, Sunday 10th – 12.30pm , 2.45pm , 5pm , 7.15pm
    Monday 11th – Thursday 14th – 5pm , 7.15pm

    Admission is $10

    If you catch the show, let me know. Would love to hear your thoughts.