IRON SKY

Over a recent weekend me and my better half decided to give the small-town-cinema a try and surprisingly so we were surprised. I thought the darkness of the theatre would have let us do all kind of inappropriate things but instead we ended up laughing. "Iron Sky" is an excellent Finnish/ German/ Australian production, that doesn't seem to worry not even a tiny bit about mocking the US government. So, if you're up for a good, un-Hollywood comedy about Nazis and their base on the moon, check it out! Actually, it's a damn good comedy.

To ROMA With Love

Ah, what a feel good movie (I say that as if I've seen the film, which I haven't). All I'm saying is that the film looks good and makes me think back to that summer in Rome. It is a wonderful city (that's the reason it's on our 'places to visit' list). However, back to the trailer: the cast looks amazing, that's all I wanted to say! Joking. We'll see what Woody Allen's latest film will give us. To Rome With Love will premier at the end of April, so keep a watch for that!

ISABELL

WHAT SORCERY IS THIS? REVEAL YOURSELF, TINY SONGSTRESS!

Oooh yes yes yes. This looks amazing accompanied by an amazing cast! Darks Shadows directed by (surprise, surprise) Tim Burton. The film is set to be out somewhere in May, so until then we'll have to do with a trailer. Enjoy.

ISABELL

HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH

Hedwig and the Angry Inch was quite an interesting film which at first didn't feel like anything special. Although, if you've read the screenplay it obviously let one know that the actual story is quite interesting (personally, I preferred reading the screenplay before watching the actual film).

The film is basically about Hedwig (John Cameron Mitchell) touring with her band in the States and at the same time following her ex-boyfriend, who stole her songs and thus became a famous singer. Through the song the main character tells her life-story starting from her origins, East Germany. The story is pretty unusual in a good way full of witty lines and besides believable acting the film has animation parts, which pretty much complete the story (in my opinion).

Check out the trailer and yeah, this isn't a must-watch (in my opinion although all the awards might speak differently) but definitely a good way to spend time. So, if this comes off as your kind of film make sure to take a look.

Directed and written by John Cameron Mitchell

ISABELL

BIUTIFUL

Biutiful, directed by Alejandro Gonzalés Iñárritu, has definitely been one of the best films I've seen lately. I always have these vague adjectives to describe films but this was truly amazing. For some reason I used to think this was a film concentrating on romance but I was quite wrong. Instead this is a complex piece containing multiple stories that all affect each other from such categories as family, relationships, immigrant struggles and working class. I'm not planning on writing a review here but I'm just trying to convince you to take a look at this one.

The film is quite long, two and a half hours, but it's worth it because it's one of those you don't really want to end. Javier Bardem does an excellent job, as usually, but so do the other actors. It's a Mexico/ Spain production and I guess that has a lot to do with the fact that this drama film is indeed convincing and let's one get close to the characters. Bla Bla Bla... I do recommend this to be on your watchlist.

Biutiful was nominated last year for Best Foreign Film Academy Award and Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. It was nominated for BAFTA and for Palme d'Or at Cannes. Those are just some of the nominations the film received. I know awards aren't all in all but I guess some of them give an idea of what kind of feature film we're discussing here. So take a look and enjoy.

ISABELL

The Hobbit - Official trailer released.

I don't want to plan things toooo much, but I WILL take you out to see this movie, Isa :D.
K

THE ART OF FLIGHT & STANDING SIDEWAYS

I LOVE IT how snowboarders have to dramatize everything. Just kidding, actually, semi-joking because take a look at the first trailer.

The first trailer is for The Art Of Flight and I'm not going to go into the details about riders and sponsors etc. (just check out the site for that, obvi). The second one is Burton's Standing Sideways which, in my opinion, has a more chillaxed vibe to it and yeah, the trailer actually made me feel like this dark, rainy Toronto Sunday won't be so bad after all.

TO DO: Get my hands on these films.

What I like about snowboarding films is the beauty of the nature (and the fooling around) BUT mainly the cool camera angles and the beautiful scenery... And yeah, the talent is okay, I suppose.

Just on a side note, I ended up bumping into these two trailers due to unexpected circumstances and oh maaan did they bring good AND bad memories. Of course I managed to miss both film premieres this week (oh well)... But I strongly feel like it is time to get back into the whole snowboarding scene although my board is literally 6280.619 kilometers away from me. FML.

BUT it is the perfect time to have breakfast (thank you megaphone man who woke me up at 9 am).

ISABELL

IMITATION OF LIFE (1934)

I ended up watching this beautiful film in my class. I didn't think I would ever be able to properly enjoy black and white films but little by little I'm starting to understand their beauty.

This particular film was good but, what especially caught my eye was Claudette Colbert's amazing beauty, good acting and gorgeous costumes. That sentence pretty much says all I wanted to say so maybe I don't need to continue with my blabberings...

But seriously, just take look at the costume design. It's incredibly elegant and the way Colbert carries all those dresses is amazing.

I realize the point of the whole film is a bit different but I was not able to pay as much attention to anything else but the costumes. If you find this kind of style elegant and beautiful then I am totally recommending this film because, yeah, it won't disappoint in that area.

I'm too tired to find the costume designer right now and I'm sorry for the picture quality but one can only do so much with youtube quality videos, right? RIGHT?

Do take a look at the film though because it is a story that has it's moments.

Directed by John M. Stahl

ISABELL

UNAUTHORIZED: THE HARVEY WEINSTEIN PROJECT

Here is an interesting documentary-like film of one of the biggest names in the whole Hollywood film industry: Harvey Weinstein. This was an interesting film. It showed how Weinstein pretty much changed the industry, what he added to it and how he got to where he is at the moment.

You know how you can pretty much expect the film to be a good one when you see that The Harvey Weinstein company produced it... But with this documentary I just have more respect for this person. It's always admirable when one achieves all the things they were going for so yeah... I do love my school because after the film screening there was a discussion board with the director and other interesting people. So, I would say that do give it a watch if you're interested in the industry somehow, heh.

(And also forgive me for my tired writing but I am tired at the moment. Lol)

Directed by Barry Avrich

ISABELL

CONTAGION.

Yeah, glad I paid that crazy money. This film was pretty good. The whole spreading-disease subject has been used and over-used but this film kept it interesting and I guess films like this always get to me. Eventually I end up thinking what's the point of it all? As in, of course we have to have goals in life etc. BUT we shouldn't invest our well-being and absolutely everything, we shouldn't drown in it because one never knows what can happen. So, do what you love to do because our time might be shorter than we think.

As what comes to the film, surprisingly I liked the ending, which wasn't the best one but there was something amusing about it. I would say that give Contagion a watch in case you're into the whole epidemic-stuff and chaos. Haha.

I'm glad I'm not in my Intro To Film class because otherwise the whole 'I'm feeling like this about this film' - stuff would never work. But I don't have any evidence to back up my sayings right now. Also, I lost my popcorn.

ISABELL

pictures via IMDB

CALENDAR

I just love my Introduction To Film course. The amount of introduced films is gorgeous but the best part is that all the films are good ones. Studying film-watching (not a legit term) feels like a dream, probably always will. Hahaha. Alright, that almost sounds wrong but what I mean is that it is amazing.

So, without further blabbering, I want to mention this one film here.

Calendar (1993) is directed by Armenian-Canadian Atom (epic name much?) Egoyan. This film is absolutely beautiful. It does sort of mind-fuck one in the beginning but eventually it all makes sense. The scenery is beautiful, the shooting is beautiful, acting is good and yeah, simply put it is worth a watch.

This is not the trailer for the film because I honestly did not find a trailer for this during the five-minute-search I had. So, you'll get a short clip from a scene (which doesn't give any idea about the film, really). But try to deal with it.

Also, a definite plus (like it always is) is the soundtrack, which isn't huge but pretty suitable for the film.

ISABELL