How To Make It In America

Just remembered how good the opening credits is for this HBO Series How to make it in America. So creative and the composition of the shots and photos they use are so well chosen to represent NYC and what the show is about itself.

If you haven't seen any episodes from this series, do so now!

Maxence Cyrin

My good friend Zoe showed me this cover by Maxence Cyrin, a cover to the Pixie's song "Where Is My Mind", and it really is a very beautiful cover. I love piano, the sound of it, the way it is played by these delicate little bones we call fingers. The style of this video really creates a nice essence to it overall as it also matches very well with the genre of the song. The fact that this composer decided to go with an old looking film as the music video is really fascinating. Though short, the short film's story is almost being told through the music which is a very difficult skill to do. Overall a really good music video for this amazing cover by Cyrin.

Tom Ford

Designer Tom Ford has really impressed me I must say. To be able to expand his talents and skills to step forward as a film director is great, and he sure has been successful as a director. I just watched his film A Single Man with Colin Firth and Julianne Moore, as well as Nicholas Hoult from Skins, and couldn't have liked it more. It was shot incredibly well which only shows Ford's great eye for things considering he was the creative director for YSL and Gucci. The simplicity of the entire movie is really what made it very interesting to watch, and of course, the narration was the icing on the cake.



Even as much as the decision to create a trailer without one word shows the creativity this whole movie takes on.

True Blood

This evening Ynes and I watched the new episode of True Blood, and I've got to say the opening credits are SO well done.
Kudos

Artificial Light

Artificial Light from Daniel Hopkins on Vimeo.

A video I stumbled upon through Vimeo, I love the way 8mm videos look. This overall was done in a real unique style in my opinion. The way the filmmaker decided to use the voice from a computer rather than a real human's voice gives it a nice twist, and the constant of having words that relate to the video appear through out it really grabbed my attention from the start.

Watch.

Alejandro González Iñárritu

Alejandro González Iñárritu has got to be one of my new favorite directors. He directed Babel and 21 grams, and directed a movie which I just watched tonight called Amores Perros, which translates as "loves a bitch".


What makes his films so great is the technique and skill he has in which he's able to create several stories in one movie which all seem to come off as random and non-relatable to one another, yet by the end weave them together with such simplicity. It's brilliant, and he exhibits this style in Amores Perros, as well as Babel and 21 grams. If you haven't seen any of these movie, though it's a handful, add them to your list, now!


Before this evening, and before watching this movie, I had completely forgotten about 21 grams and it made me sort of upset that I'd so easily forgotten about what has got to be such a well directed and produced movie I've ever seen. The narration, which as not many people know is one of my favorite elements to a movie, is so great. The script and the words that were put together really accentuated the story of 21 grams.

Because I couldn't find the ending scene on youtube due to copyright issues, I'll share the ending narration with you although it really doesn't capture as much as it did in the actual film.

"How many lives do we live? How many times do we die? They say we all lose 21 grams... at the exact moment of our death. Everyone. And how much fits into 21 grams? How much is lost? When do we lose 21 grams? How much goes with them? How much is gained? How much is gained? Twenty-one grams. The weight of a stack of five nickels. The weight of a hummingbird. A chocolate bar. How much did 21 grams weigh? "

Some of that narration is in the trailer.
Watch:

SALT & Inception

Salt just came out, and from what I've heard, and read from reviews, it's supposed to be dope. The whole movie itself really was an A+, or so it seems. Definitely trying to see that asap, plus I'm kind of obsessed with Angelina Jolie, her beauty stuns me and she's such a great role model.

However, I'm curious to see how the reviews of Inception contrast to Salt's. Inception was in my opinion, one of the best movies I've seen in a while, considering I also saw it 3 times, all in the same week.

What made Inception so interesting was the theme that was created for it, this idea of dreams versus reality, which also immediately caught my intention because I find myself often thinking about dreams and how that differs from reality. So the story chosen for Inception I feel, is what really made it a great movie. Plus Leonardo DiCaprio has got to be one of the best actors of our time right now. He's awesome.

Next on my list to go out and see=Salt.

Rainy Day

It's a rainy day, see a movie or watch one. Lately I've been reminiscing the movie, which happens to be one of my favorites (considering my blog is named after it), "Almost Famous".

Peep the trailer:

There isn't one thing I dislike about this movie. The movie itself was based off the director (Cameron Crowes), experiences of traveling and touring with rock bands such as: The Eagles, The Allman Brothers Band, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd. It's pieced pretty damn well together, and the acting is sensational. Definitely recommend this to anyone who hasn't seen it. Also, Kate Hudson is actually quite good in this considering a lot of her other roles in movies aren't that great.

Not my first

So, this isn't my first blog. I actually have another one meant for more personal use, which usually is either venting my teen angst, or addressing the random thoughts in my head.

However, recently I've been contemplating creating another blog that would now address my interests in film, and today I finally did it! So for anyone who has stumbled upon this 2nd blog of mine, basically what I'm aiming for through this one is to use this as an attempt to hopefully get myself out there as much as I can through Blogspot as well as use this to discuss movies in a variety of ways. I currently aspire to become either a film editor or producer for major movies, still working that out, but I do know that's what I will be applying to college for.

So, I guess this is somewhat of an experiment, but also an opportunity to take a more serious approach to my main interest in film, so I hope you enjoy and please share this with friends or follow me if you'd like :)

Thanks!