New Beginings.

Not that anyone reads this blog–at least not on a regular basis, but I have decided to resurrect it. Though unlike before, this will be a place for me (and whichever writers want to contribute) to share my feelings on life, interests without really playing to an audience.

Now, not many people know this, but I consider myself pretty well versed in film. I don’t mean the latest Oscar winner, but also with directors most people my age only know as filmmakers that their parents, even grandparents like.

I consider myself well versed, barely, but lacking substantial movie experiences. So, I have made it my task, in the last 2 months or so to familiarize myself with the works of Woody Allen.

I had seen three of his films before starting this “marathon” : Vicky Christina Barcelona, Match Point and Annie Hall.

I had also seen Hollywood Ending, though at a very young age and without the maturity level needed to enjoy a Woody Allen movie.

The criteria for my marathon was simple: all movies must have been written & directed by Allen. Here are the ones I have watched as part of the marathon in the order in which I watched them:

1. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
2. Manhattan (1979)
3. Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
4. Husbands and Wives (1992)
5. The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
6. Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)

I want to start off by stating some general thoughts and observations I’ve had on Woody Allen’s films, his themes and most importantly my reaction to those mentioned.

I being a neurotic, anxiety filled, semi cultured, teen growing up in a society of conservative/reformed faith am always a sucker for the Woody Allen Character, which has basically those same qualities I have described as mine. In Manhattan, for example, he’s asking himself why there where Nazis, while his dad’s concern is figuring out how the can opener works; in Hannah and Her Sisters the Allen character believes he is dying (as he does throughout his life), but when he finds out he might actually be dying, he turns to religion as a last hope for comfort, but his neurotic qualities don’t allow him to blindly believe in something that can’t be explained.

Allen’s ability to capture a character that I find to be so close to mine may be the big reason why I love almost all of his movies…and in those I tend to enjoy the story lines involving Allen most. Crimes and Misdemeanors, a big Oscar contender in ‘89 is composed of two stories. One is dark, featuring a man who must get rid of his mistress when she threatens to expose him to his family; and another which is more light and fun about a man (played by Allen) who is forced to make a documentary on his brother-in-law, a man he detests but happens to be a very prominent Hollywood producer.

Many consider Crimes and Misdemeanors to be one of Allen’s best pictures, while I only truly enjoyed half of that film, while I respect the other. The storyline featuring Allen is hilarious, well written and very enjoyable, while the other was hard for me to get into. I believe that there are two major reasons for this; the obvious being that I am a teenager,  and thus do not understand the complexities of love and marriage and society and status and passion. The other being that I do not belong to the society the characters in the darker storyline are written in and so I feel the language used stilted and unreal *the same problem that I had with Match Point, a film very similar to that darker storyline in Crimes and Misdemeanors.*

So, as of now,  my prefered Woody Allen movies would be:

1. Vicky Christina Barcelona (2008) – May be my growing up in a dysfunctional latin family, I absolutely love this movie.
2. Annie Hall (1977) – The funniest of his movies, a recreation on the romantic comedy.
3. Husbands and Wives (1992) – A underapreciated film, in my opinion, balances comedy and heartbreak really amazingly.
4. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) – Allen’s “B” story is really very funny, but its main story is also appealing thanks in particular to the amazing performances.
5. Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993) – His most fun movie, at least so far, many references to classic movies and an awesome cast which reunites Allen, Keaton and Alda.
6. Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) – Like stated before a good movie, though I had many issues with the darker side of the film.
7. Manhattan (1979) – People say you need to rewatch this one to really get the genius of it, but I found it to have many problems, perhaps the most important being that I did not find any of the relationships believable.
8. Match Point (2006) – Enjoyed the dark elements, and they way it defies audience expectations, but again not entirely relatable/believable for me.
9. The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) – Very  fun premise, loved the scenes featuring the rest of the cast sitting around, waiting for Jeff Daniels’ character to return, but find the characters dull at times, almost boring.

Just In Time for Valentine’s Day

 

I have no great talent, I preach no great art;

I have no tricks to coax you to give up your heart.

 

My problems are many, my virtues are few,

I can’t break your silence, or even speak true.

 

I have only my visions, my incense, and dreams:

They smoke up the mirrors, they tear at the seams.

 

I’ve nothing to give, and I need so much to take,

The shards of our friendship are strewn in my wake.

 

Words fail me when I look into your eyes.

So, with nothing to offer, I can only give lies.

 

I don’t deserve pity or friendship or love

Nor the Peony petals that rain from above.

 

I failed you, darling, with the things that I say.

You’re best off without me. Happy Valentine’s Day.

 

-Pseudonym

 

Oscar Nominees: Will Win & Should Win

The Academy Awards nominees were announced earlier this week, and with it came a whole new batch of snubs and surprises.

As many already know, the snub I was mainly referring to was the absence of The Dark Knight in the Best Picture category and more deservedly a Best Director nod to Christopher Nolan. Sure, The Dark Knight is a comic book movie, but with it come questions about morality, innocence and anarchy. Though being left out of almost all the major categories, The Dark Knight was nominated for a bunch of technical awards and got Heath Ledger his second Oscar nomination.

Doubt, my favourite film of 2008 was also snubbed from the Best Picture category; but I won’t go on about that, as it has already gotten it’s own article.

As surprises go, there were two this year. Richard Jenkins being nominated as Best Leading Actor for his work in a movie that came out earlier in 2008 called The Visitor. Jenkins plays an American Professor housing a pair of illegal aliens who were the victims of a real-estate scam. Though I have not seen this particular movie, I do really like Richard Jenkins, who usually plays small parts in big budget films.

The other big surprise was Melissa Leo’s Best Leading Actress nomination for her work in the small, indie film Frozen River.

Frozen River takes place in a small town near a little-known border crossing on the Mohawk reservation between New York State and Quebec. Here, two single mothers support their family by trafficking immigrants from Canada into the United States.

Though similar to The Visitor in theme, Frozen River is said to be much darker while The Visitor is more of an uplifting experience.

After the jump you will find the nominees of The 81st Academy Awards, the main categories have a paragraph on who I think should win, and who I think will win and why. The ceremony will take place on February 22, 2009.

Check it Out Now…

Just a quick post paying our readers’ attention to the new ‘About Radioview’ page located on the right side column.

Golden Globe Movie Snub – Doubt

The 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards will be held on January 11th 2009; and while The Golden Globes may not be the most  prestigious of all film awards, it’s a preview of the upcoming Academy Awards. Not all Golden Globe winners go on to receive an Oscar, but winning a Golden Globe seems to give nominees a slight lead come Oscar season.

With that said, I was disheartened when I learnt that Doubt, one of my favorite films of 2008, was not nominated as a Best Picture Drama. Sure, The movie has it’s faults like the excessive use of diagonal shots and the overstated symbolism. But still, I believe that even with those faults, Doubt is much better than at least 2 of the films nominated.

Doubt revolves around a very old fashioned Nun (played by Meryl Streep), who suspects that Father Flynn (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), may have molested a black student at their perish. Amy Adams plays a young and naive nun who is stuck in the middle of the conflict, and Viola Davis plays the black boy’s Mother.

The content is one that could have turned out to be preachy, but the screenplay which deals with faith, authority, race, among other issues, walks a very fine line. One which shows the events happening, rather than having a character explaining them; and while this film doesn’t hold your hand, it gives you enough information for the viewer, not the director (who, again was writer John Patrick Stanley), to come to their own conclusion on what happened.

All the performances in this movie were incredibly realized, and while I’m happy that the four central actors were nominated (Meryl Streep for Lead Actress in a Movie-Drama, Phillip Seymour Hoffman for Supporting Actor in a Movie-Drama, Amy Adams & Viola Davis for Supporting Actress in a Movie-Drama), I was still upset that Doubt was left out of Best Picture, while movies which I consider to be inferior, like Revolutionary Road and The Reader were recognized.

Cera holding out on ‘Development’

A month ago, Jeffery Tambor, one of the stars of the cancelled TV show “Arrested Development” announced that a film version was now underway. Many fans of the show were hesitant, as they believed that it would be difficult to gather the original cast to make the film…it turns out that the cast agreed to star; but for one exception.

In a recent interview, the mastermind behind Development, Mitch Hurwitz stated that contrary to rumors that both Will Arnett, and Michael Cera had not agreed to do the project; that Arnett has in fact agreed.

I don’t want to talk about who is holding out right now because we might still work that out and I don’t want to pressure anyone through the press. Although I will say that Will Arnett is gung-ho, so there’s a big clue!

This seems to imply that Michael Cera, who has recently found success in movies like Superbad and Nick and Norah’s Infinate Playlist, is the only cast member who has not agreed to star.

As a recent fan of Arrested Development it worries me to think that Cera’s character George Michael might not be in the movie version, as I feel that his character is one of, and sometimes the only character actually grounding the show. I feel that without him, the movie might feel like an extra long episode of Kath and Kim.

For those who don’t know, Arrested Development was basically a comedy about Michael Bluth, a widower who is forced to keep his large and dysfunctional family together after his father is arrested for shifty accounting practices.

Though I an a little worried that this might be the case, I am confident that the writers will be able to make a movie of as high quality as the TV show.  For the entire interview with Mitch Hurwitz, you can head over to Fancast.

Family Man Shot While Watching ‘Benjamin Button’

The shooter, James Joseph Cialella

It happens every time you go to a theatre to watch a movie. A certain person and/or persons are either talking, texting or are just being unaware of the other members in the audience.  You usually have a couple of choices when this happens: You can try and ignore it; you can tell management and hope that they can deal with it; or you can say something yourself…maybe not “SHUT THE FRAK UP”, but, “Do you mind SHUTING THE FRAK UP”. Then of course there’s that odd person that decides to shoot the disruptive person in the arm…wait, what?

A man by the name of Joseph Cialella Jr actually shot a man in front of the rest of the audience, (which included the man’s family), in the arm. Luckily the man is reportedly in well condition; though I doubt that his children are the same after this experience.

The details of this charming story go like this:

29-year-old James Joseph Cialella Jr went to see the new David Fincher movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttonat the UA Riverview Stadium 17 movie theater in South Philadelphia on Christmas. The family in front of Cialella began to talk during the film, so he asked them to be quiet. But that didn’t stop the younger son from making comments. Cialella even threw popcorn angrily at the talkative son, but the boy did not stop. Cialella became so angry that he took out a Kel-Tec .380-caliber handgun and shot the father in the left arm.

As others were running from the theatre, Mr. Cialella  sat back down in his seat and continued to watch the movie. The police were called and arrived shortly after, less than an hour into the film.

James Joseph Cialella Jr is being charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and weapons violations.

INTERVIEW!

Ahh, Radioview; my home. The summer was long, hot, and most of all, pretty damn awesome; but I’m glad to be back here writing. Well guys, as you all know, school’s back on, which flat out sucks; but we’re all at different schools, so we’ll keep you updated on that, like Casey did.Here’s a post we’ve been meaning to get up here since the end of July.

We caught up to the band Powerspace (http://www.myspace.com/powerspace … check ‘em out) while they were here in the summer on tour, and managed to get an interview asking them some questions and finding out some cool stuff. The video is about 11 minutes long, but it’s fully featured with the two band members (Alec and Tom) cracking some jokes, and appearances made by two homeless men with amazing talents. Be sure to tune in for more videos along the lines of this.

 

I’m Dane C. You stay classy San Diego.

 

Ah, the first day of school…

Well, jeez. Summer’s over way to fast, don’tcha think? We all know what “the end of the summer” means: SCHOOL.

NOOOO! DON’T MAKE ME GO BACK.

Unfortunately, I already have. (For an hour…)

Now, let’s clear things up a bit. I’m still at KDHS. Wooo… >> Like I said before, everyone has up an’ left for various other schools around Vancouver, leaving me all alone. Literally, all alone amongst people  that I don’t like/ act like they don’t know me. It was like going to a new school on the first day, not knowing anyone. 

Plus, I keep getting all sorts of comments that I don’t really have a proper response to. Like, when you get a new haircut, an’ people are all like, “Wow! it looks so… /Different/.” Er, what are you supposed to say to that? “Thanks?” it’s not really a compliment.

“Oh, ok. Yeah. Great.”

“It IS different, isn’t it?!!”

“I’m glad you think so!”

“Thanks for noticing…?”

“Huh. What an interesting observation.”

I don’t know if people try to be polite when they say things like that, ’cause it just makes for awkward conversation. 

 

I am not excited for the school year to take off, an’ if things keep up the way I expect them to be, I might just become a suicide risk. Just warning you, if I ever stop posting. You’ll know what’s happened. Maybe you could like, submit my story to the paper. We could have a book written about me!

I hope Dane, Clint, an’ Pseudonym’s first day experiences were better’n mine.

The Purina Diet

The following story is not true. In fact, it is total dog sh*t.

Yesterday I was buying a large bag of Purina dog chow for my Golden Retriever at Wal-Mart and was about to check out, when a woman behind me asked if I had a dog.

What did she think I had, an elephant?

So since I’m a teenager, with little to do, on impulse, I told her that no, I didn’t have a dog, and that I was starting the Purina Diet again… although I probably shouldn’t, because I’d ended up in the hospital last time, but that I’d lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IV’s in both arms.

I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet, and that the way that it works is to load your pants pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry, and that the food is nutritionally complete so I was going to try it again.

(I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was by now enthralled with my story.)

Horrified, she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food poisoned me.

I told her, “No; I stepped off a curb to sniff an Irish Setter’s ass and a car hit us both.”

I am no longer allowed to shop at that Wal-Mart.