Grave of the fireflies

So my choice is an animated film from 1988 called Grave of the fireflies.
For me this little Japanese animation produced by Studio Ghibli is an absolute masterpiece.
This animation is very special, such a harrowing story set at the tail end of world war 2 in Japan yet this is so beautiful.
I feel that at times when I watch this animation I get so engrossed I actually forget that it's actually a cartoon!
So I'd really like people to give this a watch and tell me what you think.
I'd also like to know if you too forget at times that this is a cartoon or is there another animation that's does this to you....?
Please be warned it is a little upsetting at times.
Carl's going to find a torrent and send it round.
Hope you enjoy it guys. Xx

Whut? Who won an Oscar?!

That's right, another mid film homework!

With all those awesome actors, well maybe performances (mickey rourke isn't always the best to be fair) I want some shout outs for some terrible choices made by the academy.

This could end up being two fold, it could be amazing performances that lost out, or just 'who won an Oscar?' moments.

A weird one, and possibly controversial one, from me is John Wayne. Have you seen true grit? It was pretty awful!

How about Marlon Brandon, on the water front beating out Bogey's captain queeg?

Sean Penn beating rourke with his soap box politician performance, grrrr.

There must be loads out there! Oh wait, Sandra Bollocks, making stallone look like a veritable Robert de Niro in demolition man along with many other similarly wooden performances on her cv managed to get and Oscar in blindside.

Have at it!

Dogma

I know it's a day late but I couldn't decide on a film for this week.

I have finally decided that this week's film should be Dogma. It's a film that I have been meaning to watch again for a long time as I've only seen it once and that was about 12 Years ago!!

With the devastating news of Alan Rickman passing away I felt that I had to pick one of his films and I didn't think that Sense and Sensibility or one of the Harry Potter films would be a big hit with everyone!!

I can't pose any questions for you to start off any discussions as I can't remember a great deal about this film other than Alan Rickman being smooth like action man and Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are rebellious angels.

Give it a watch and write your comments. As last time, first to comment after watching gets to pick the next film in a fortnight. Enjoy ☺

Pivotal movies (technology)

So, here it is, our first weekend homework!

I want to hear your favourite movies that pushed the envelope in terms of technology and why you love them so.

I'm going to avoid an obvious one and go for Blade II. I love this film so much, I genuinely can't remember how many times I've seen it, there was a spell when I would watch it instead of listening to music in my room at uni.

Who could argue when you look at 'dat cast tho';

Cat from Red Dwarf,
Ron Pearlman (Police Academy Mission to Moscow anyone?),
Wesley Snipes (great sequel to the fugitive, oh and that one with Swayze where they play dress up),
Half of Bros (awesome as nomack),
A country and Western singer/songwriter,
And a side character from a much beloved series about the living dead!

On paper it sounds like a bit of a mess but good old Guillermo pulled it off.

He managed to bring some slightly artsy smartsy stuff to a ridiculous action film using filters to reflect the day and night cycle of the vampirski, opting to give night a warm yellow hue and daytime a cool blue hue, simple, yet superb!

Superb, yes, ground breaking, no (and he seems to have used it in every film since, eek).

One thing I did love was the use of the blend of model work, animatronics, and CGI. Anyone remember the scene where Lighthammer takes on a reaper? All animatronics and make up. Awesome.

Again, superb and I think has pushed some to use models and animatronics again as opposed to just CGI (Sam Raimi you stay in that corner with the
Wachowski brothers), but not so ground breaking.

So, what can it be? You must literally be on the edge of your seat by now. He implemented something he called L Camera technology. Seen a film since where the camera passes through a keyhole (Hugo maybe I forget) or you think how did they get the camera to do that? There's every chance they used this idea. I think Orson Wells didn't actually use it in the opener for Citizen Kane however, but I could be wrong.

The first time you see L Camera technology implemented is in the scene where Wesley dives out of a building on the 7th floor (or whichever) lands and stands upright all in one shot. Now, don't get me wrong Wesley is a boss but I don't think they threw him out of the window for this scene, but you'd believe he did. There is some ropey CGI in the film, but I like to think it's deliberate, I love Guollermo!

So, there's mine, what's yours?

Favourite actors without an Oscar!

Weekend homework task to follow!

Who are your 3 favourite loser actors? They may well be nominated but clearly not good enough for the academy.

I'll start the ball rolling;

Ralph Fiennes - how has he been missed, did they not see In Bruges, and Voldermort, bravo. Actually loved him in Grand Budapest, completely irreplaceable.

Leo - so many times he could've and should've won it, but for me Monsieur Candie was just too terrifying not to win.

Last one, bit controversial but here goes...

Mickey Rourke - he was just so scintillating in that iron man sequel! OK ok, so he's actually a bit shit, but the wrestler was incredible and Sean Penn was the predictable choice that year and yes I'm still a little bitter about that one, and don't start me on district 9!

There are soooo many more out there, I know how much Carl loves Mark Wahlberg.

Let's hear them then, have at it.