Blog News 9/17/12 & Blogging Around

The fall season is about to begin and this is where the real good movies start to come along as I'm excited about it. I just wish I had some pocket money to spare so I can go see these films. Especially the ones that had just played at the film festivals in Venice and Toronto as it was fun to read about them and following the various film news sites and blogs that were covering these festivals. I just hope I can catch up with some 2012 films as I haven't seen a lot of new films this year.

At the moment, I'm currently working on my next Auteurs piece on Paul Thomas Anderson as it's slated for a late September release, hopefully to coincide with The Master when it arrives in Atlanta (which sadly won't be shown in 70mm). One project that unfortunately won't come out was supposed to be the next part of my Favorite Films essay series on the Dollars Trilogy. I fucked up. I couldn't really think things through and I had only written about a few pages. For me, it wasn't enough to my liking as I wanted it to be grander so it can live up to the pageantry of Sergio Leone. As a result, I scrapped it as I'm not really sure what film I will want to write about. There's a few that is lurking in my head but I decide to do it when I feel like it.

That's pretty much it for now as far as what is happening with the blog. Now, let's see what's been going around in the blogosphere.

The Toronto Film Festival has just finished and for anyone interested in reading the coverage. I suggest going to these blogs for the coverage. Big Thoughts from a Small Mind, gmanReviews, the Matinee, JustAtad, and Duke and the Movies.

James of Cinema Sights has a great piece on Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami that is worth checking out.

Dan of Dan the Man's Movie Reviews has a brilliant review on P.T. Anderson's The Master that is a compelling read.

Bonjour Tristesse has an amazing review of one of my favorite films of the 1990s in the Dardenne Brothers' Rosetta.

Sati of Cinematic Corner has an amazing review on a film I'm eager to see in Compliance.

Alex of And So It Begins... has a very insightful piece on 10 Films that aren't deserving of the Best Picture Oscar.

Chip of Tips from Chip has a review of one of my all-time favorite comedies in A Fish Called Wanda.

Finally, there's Diana of Aziza's picks who gets a chance to see a film I'm eager to check out the new version of Anna Karenina.

Well, that is all for today. In the coming days, I'll be watching films from Francois Truffaut including a few films of the Antoine Doinel series that I haven't seen. If there's time and some access, I'll also watch the films of Samuel Fuller as I'm also planning to put out some old reviews of movies by Robert Altman in October along with the films of Sergio Leone for next month's Auteurs series. Until then, this is the void99 signing off...

(C) thevoid99 2012

Blog News & Blogging Around 7/23/12

I'm aware that it's been nearly 2 months since the last time I've done this but a lot has happened. Particularly on a personal level where if anyone did read my last month's end of the month post. I went to the hospital for a few days for stress as I'm right now doing OK but I feel tired all the time. I'm pretty worn out and I've been having mood swings. It seems like I'm back in depression mode again though I'm not sure how severe it is though I'm currently taking medication for the time being.

Due to my condition for the time being, my film viewing output has slowed considerably as I've paced myself more in watching films. Particularly longer ones at over two hours or two-and-a-half hours, depending on the film, where I'll watch an hour and a half of it and then stop and watch the rest a few hours later. It's often because I would feel tired to the point that I need to rest or something. Plus, I would have to write something down immediately just so I can come back and process everything in my head.

Aside from the Bond marathon and the essays that I've been doing, there was supposed to be a few things I was supposed to do but the stuff like watching a few Werner Herzog films I hadn't seen as well as a mini-Samuel Fuller marathon are now being pushed by the wayside. Either I don't have time for them or I'm just into something else for the time being. I can't predict everything I want to see as I would schedule everything else days before I see the film and have a review prepared. Right now, the output is slowed a bit but at least I'm doing something.

In the world of the blogosphere, there's a lot going on.

There's a lot of reviews of The Dark Knight Rises that I think people should seek out. Among them are Courtney of Big Thoughts from a Small Mind, Red Georges @ Anomalous Material, Ryan of The Matinee, Dan @ Dan the Man's Movie Reviews, Film Intel, Norma @ The Flick Chick, Andy @ The Film Emporium, Stevee of Cinematic Paradox, Phil on Film, Sam of Duke & the Movies, Alex of And So It Begins..., & MovieNut14 @ Defiant Success.

Alex of Film Forager has a great review of one of my favorite films in Trois Couleurs-Bleu.

Jake of Not Just Movies has a review of Alps that has me interested in Yorgos Lanthimos' new film that has definitely divided audiences.

Bonjour Tritesse has a review of Lindsay Anderson's If... that I really want to see as I hope to watch it for next year's Cannes marathon.

Corey of JustAtad reveals Why He Loves Movie Theaters in a very compelling and poignant piece.

Sati of Cinematic Corner has a great visual parallel on Mulholland Dr. and Young Adult.

John of John Likes Movies has been doing a James Bond marathon of his own where he has some very kind words for Timothy Dalton as James Bond and I felt Dalton doesn't get enough credit as Bond. He is really underrated.

Diana of Aziza's Picks has a review of another of my all-time favorites in Almost Famous which I still think is one of the great films of the 2000s.

Finally, there's Tyler @ Southern Vision who lists The Piano Teacher as one of his favorite films and it's a film I hadn't seen in a while and hope to revisit. I do remember that ending and how unsettling it left me.

Well, that's it for today. In the coming days of July, I will finally post my Auteurs piece on Christopher Nolan this coming Friday which I finally finished yesterday. I'll also be watching a few Ingmar Bergman films as well as a couple of Bond films. I'll also be starting my piece on Andrei Tarkovsky by watching a documentary on him as well as his first film Ivan's Childhood for next month's Auteurs piece. My Favorite Film series will continue as I'm still early in writing my essay for The Dollars Trilogy which I hope will come out somewhere in August. Until then, I'll close with some music I've been listening as I'm currently going through a synth-pop phase for the moment.

Blog News & Blogging Around 4/16/12

Well, the 2012 film is already getting to a pretty good start as I saw a couple of new features so far.  Still, I'm more focused on other films for the time being as I'm nearing completion of my next Auteurs piece on Guillermo del Toro which will arrive this coming Friday.  Meanwhile, I've already started work on the next part of my Favorite Films essay series in 24 Hour Party People.  Originally, it was going to be Y Tu Mama Tambien but I had no idea what to write about as it's been some time since I've seen the film.  I hope to revisit it later this month or early next month but there's other projects that I've been trying to set up or be involved in.  Notably the upcoming Cannes Film Festival marathon for May 16-27 as I've already selected the films that I will be watching.  All of them are films I haven't seen as I'm not going to do re-watches this time around.

In the meantime, I'm just trying to see whatever I can find as I have a lot of films saved up on my DVR.  There's a lot that I want to see as I have a couple of Robert Bresson films set to arrive on Turner Classic Movies a week from Sunday that I'm eager to see.  I'm also going to post and re-edit the old reviews of films by Werner Herzog that I wrote back at Epinions.com as well as new reviews of Herzog films I haven't seen.  One of them is Bad Lieutenant:  Port of Call New Orleans but I want to re-watch the original Abel Ferrera film that I haven't seen in years.  There's also a bunch of Akira Kurosawa reviews that I've written that I hope to re-edit later this month though it's hard to keep up with everything I had written during that time which was essentially six-seven years of work.

That is all that is coming ahead as I'm also eager to watch upcoming blockbuster releases like The Avengers and Prometheus.  Plus, I'm still working on my screenplay projects even though it's been sporadic at the moment.  Particularly as I've decided to temporarily close my music blog for the time being due to lack of interest.  Plus, I've grown to despise the current state of music altogether as I'm now content in being an old fart to these young little brats.

In the world of the blogosphere, there's a lot that I've been enjoying that's been worth my time. James @ Cinema Sights has this amazing review of Jean-Luc Godard's Vivre Sa Vie as it's a film I really want to see.

JBT @ Big Thoughts from a Small Mind has a great piece about a very underrated performance from Marlon Brando in the film Don Juan DeMarco which I thought was a really good film. Notably the chemistry between Brando and Johnny Depp.

Andy @ Andy Buckle's Film Emporium has been exploring the world of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki as he has a great review of My Neighbor Totoro that I really want to see as I've only seen one Miyazaki film in Howl's Moving Castle.

Stevee @ Cinematic Paradox explores the world of the trailer cliches as her recent piece explores the lameness of Textbook Teen Trailers and what she says is spot-on.

Jessica of the Velvet Cafe has a great review of a film I'm eagerly awaiting to see in Andrea Arnold's adaptation of Wuthering Heights.

Sati of Cinematic Corner has what I think is one of the best reviews written about Steve McQueen's film Shame.

David of Taste of Cinema has a great piece on one of my all-time favorite filmmakers in Sergio Leone.

Alex of And So It Begins... does another director's profile on Oliver Stone where I voiced out my opinion on his recent work while we both disagree on The Doors which I think is one of the worst bio-pics ever created.

Finally, there's a new blog that I'm following in The Vern's Videovanguard which has great pieces on actresses and reviews of old-school films like Heathers.

Well, that is all to state as I will close the blog with what I think is one of the coolest clips out there on the Internet. It brings me hope that there will be a bunch of kids playing cool music.

Blog News 2/20/12 & Blogging Around

The Oscars are finally coming and well, I don't think there's a lot of excitement happening. Let's be honest, the lack of really surprising and eclectic nominees don't make it very much fun. No Drive, no Melancholia, no We Need to Talk About Kevin, no Shame just makes it dull. I just hope there's some live Oscar-chat thing happening that I can attend with the rest of the blogosphere.

The one thing that might prevent me from attending is the fact that I've been dealing with Internet connection issues for the past few weeks. After having to get a new router from AT&T (scumbags) and learning that I'm on an outdated system for hi-speed wireless Internet (as I'm now connected to Ethernet). It's been a downer-of-sorts for me as I'm unable to download films that I want to see and such that I can't find on DVD, TV, or anywhere. Even films that aren't playing at my local theater that I want to see as I'm trying to find screeners. Fortunately, I've been spending a lot of time just writing and working to just to have something to do as I'm currently starting work on the next essays for my Auteurs and Favorite Film series.

Speaking of the latter, what happened to the essay on Secretary? Long story short, I fucked up. I spent more than a month writing the damn thing and just as I felt it was in near completion. I looked at it and I didn't like what I was writing. I admit to over-writing and writing very long pieces. With that essay, it went way over what I've expected as I felt there was too much about the film's plot and analysis that got over-explained. It got to the point where it wasn't going anywhere as I'm abandoning it till later in the year. That's when I chose to move forward and do the essay on Chungking Express which surprisingly took about a week to do.

That shocked me as I learned what to do and what not to do. I don't have to explain too many things and don't have to reveal a lot about plot points. I just go with the flow and see what I can do. I guess reading all of those essays on those Criterion Collection DVDs have helped me out. I've found an angle where I can write about a film and simplify what I want to say without being overly-pretentious and drawn-out. This new approach is something I'm going to do with my essay on Elvis Costello's Imperial Bedroom which I will still write for next month as well as Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

The Auteurs essays are an entirely different beast where I can take my time on each film but also try to find various projects these directors have done outside of the medium. They usually take a few weeks to a month for me to do depending on the filmmaker and the films that person has made. As I'm going to do the Coen Brothers for March, there's only three films I haven't reviewed from them. Intolerable Cruelty is a film I've seen but don't really remember as I'm going to revisit it while The Hudsucker Proxy and The Ladykillers are the only ones I haven't seen. Everything else is pretty much covered as I will hope to have it late in March. Well, that is all for what's going on in my two blogs.

There's a lot that's going around in the blogosphere that I've been happy to read. First is James @ Cinema Sights who has been watching a couple of films by Vincent Gallo in Bufallo '66 (love that film) and The Brown Bunny (it was OK but I want my money back after discovering that Gallo's cock was a fake).

There's a couple of great reviews of Lynne Ramsay's We Need to Talk About Kevin that I think people should read. One from Courtney @ Big Thoughts from a Small Mind and Ryan @ The Matinee.

Dan @ Dan the Man's Movie Reviews presents his Top 10 Films of 2011 which is actually impressive.

Bonjour @ Bonjour Tristesse has been watching a few Dario Argento films that has me interested in the Italian horror filmmaker as it includes a great review of The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. I'm not familiar with Argento's work other than his contributions to Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West as well as the films that starred his daughter Asia. Where should I start with Argento?

Andy @ Andy Buckle's Film Emporium has a great piece on an amazing scene in the Coen Brothers' A Serious Man which I think is one of their best films.

Stevee @ Cinematic Paradox has this great conversation with Jodie Foster's The Beaver pondering what worked and what didn't as it's a fun read.

Jessica @ The Velvet Cafe finally sees a film I'm waiting to see in Yorgos Lanthimos' Alps and... I guess I'll have to wait when it comes on the TV.

Corey @ justAtad is doing a 50 book pledge as he reads the much lauded Peter Biskind book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls about New Hollywood. I don't recommend that book at all since I felt it didn't tell more about the movies of that period. I also don't recommend watching the documentary of the same name. Watch A Decade Under the Influence by Richard LaGravenese and Ted Demme.

Sati @ cinematic corner has divulged the secrets of Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan which is making want to revisit the film over and over again.

David @ Taste of Cinema has listed his 10 Favorite Romance Films which is fun to see and who can argue with these choices?

Alex of And So it Begins... gives a great tribute to the late, great Ben Gazzara who will be missed.

Finally, there's a couple of reviews of a film I refuse to see for Oscar season in Stephen Daldry's Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close as Phil @ Phil on Film & John @ John Likes Movies reveals more reasons not to see and confirm my belief that Stephen Daldry is among one of the worst filmmakers working today.

Well, that is it for now. Expect for me to hash out my old Coen Brothers reviews (in revised and re-edited forms) in the coming weeks as well as watch some 2011 and 2010 films that I've been needing to catch up on. I will close this piece with a video that I think is very adorable and I showed it to my mother who loves it. If any of you doesn't think this video is cool, I will fight you.

And Depeche Mode is awesome!

Blog News 1/17/12 & Blogging Around

Hello humanoids. It's another blog news/blogging around post but one for the new year that is 2012. It's already starting off well as I'm nearly set to complete my Auteurs profile on Lars von Trier while my upcoming essay for Secretary is also in near completion. My essay for David Bowie's Hunky Dory is sort of half done as I'm trying to get ideas on what to write. Other than that and writing some reviews. I'm doing quite well though my output on script projects are still going quite slow as it's hard for me to come up with something.

In my last blog news post, I mentioned a list of projects that I was going to do for 2012. Among them was the James Bond marathon which I had hoped to start this month as I've already finished a review of the original Casino Royale TV episode which is currently in draft form waiting to be released. Well, I'm temporarily postponing it for sometime in the spring so I can gather some funds or whatever to get some Bond DVDs for me to watch for the marathon. Late last year, I was checking the TV guide schedule and they had a listing for a bunch of Bond movies playing and I had my DVR set to record these movies. All of a sudden, the channel Epix3 suddenly changed its format to Epix Drive-In where they ended up playing a bunch of B-movies and such.

Unable to deal with the situation and having no money to pay the entire Epix package where I could watch those Bond movies on HD. Yet, they're currently not playing Bond films as the moment as I've decided to wait out a bit so I can have more time to plan what I'm doing for the marathon. It's still going to happen as it is the 50th year of the release of Dr. No as it's on hold for now.

With the array of film reviews and various projects I'm doing at the time being, I'm still uncertain about writing music reviews for the time being. I guess I was just underwhelmed by the music scene in general as I've gained more disdain for what is happening in the world of popular music altogether. The recent Lana del Rey incident on Saturday Night Live confirmed for me that no one should ever buy in to the idea of hype. The last thing I had been trying to work on since November was a review of My Bloody Valentine's Ecstasy & Wine which I had already prepared but I never got around to writing it. I've shelved it for now so I can figure out what to do for the time being. I think that is all there is to say for now. Let's see what I've been enjoying lately in the world of the blogs.

Aside from a lot of year-end lists which have been fun to read. There's a lot going on that I've been enjoying. James @ Cinema Sights is currently watching some Godard films lately as he's been viewing Alphaville and Film Socialisme.

Edgar @ Between the Seats is doing a marathon on the BBS Productions that started the New Hollywood movement of the late 60s and 1970s with the very strange Monkees film Head.

Courtney @ Big Thoughts from a Small Mind revealed some of the films he's seen including for the first time ever, The Red Shoes as he is joining those who are becoming enamored with the films of Powell-Pressburger.

Marshall @ Marshall & the Movies has a very nice review of My Week with Marilyn which I still think is pretty good.

Ryan @ the Matinee asks Where did the Crowds Go?

Dan @ Dan the Man's Movie Review took a bullet for the bloggers and watched what is probably one of the worst films ever made in Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star. I pray for his recovery.

Norma @ the Flick Chick lists her 10 Best Scenes of 2011.

Bonjour Tristesse has a great review one of the best foreign film of 2011 that I want to see in Once Upon a Time in Anatolia.

Laura @ City Lights reveals why she hates the term "chick flick".

Corey @ justAtad reveals his love for one of his favorite filmmakers in Andrea Arnold whose work I'm also interested in as I've only seen Fish Tank last year. Jessica of Velvet Cafe also explored Arnold by displaying an excellent review of Red Road.

Alex @ And So it Begins... has a fantastic review of one of my favorite films of 2011 in We Need to Talk About Kevin.

Finally, there's a couple of blogs that I want people to check out as I've become fond of these blogs that I've discovered. First is cinematic corner. from Sati who always some great reviews and lists that I enjoy reading. The other is Taste of Cinema by David Zou whose exploration into Asian cinema and thoughts on the Criterion Collection are a joy to read.

Well, that is all for today. In the meantime, I'll be finishing up all of my Lars von Trier-related material while getting set to do Wes Anderson as I've couple of old reviews of his films to re-edit. The only thing I'm planning to do for later this month and through February is catch up on some 2011 releases and watch some early Merchant-Ivory films along with Satyajit Ray's The Music Room which I got on the last Criterion sale. Until then, take care and remember to take the good with the evil.

Blog News 12/19/11 & Blogging Around

Well, the holiday film season is well underway but it's also overcrowded. Right now, I have a list of films that is in my top films of 2011. Here's the list so far:

1. The Tree of Life

2. Shame

3. We Need to Talk About Kevin

4. Drive

5. Melancholia

6. Midnight in Paris

7. The Descendants

8. Hugo

9. Take Shelter

10. The Skin I Live In

11. 50/50

12. Moneyball

13. George Harrison: Living in the Material World

14. Pearl Jam Twenty

15. The Ides of March

16. My Week with Marilyn

17. The Muppets

18. Contagion

19. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2

20. Memphis Heat: The True Story of Memphis Wrasslin'

21. Hanna

22. Source Code

23. From the Sky Down

24. Circumstance

Honorable Mentions: Sleeping Beauty & X-Men: First Class.

I have to admit, I'm impressed at what I've seen so far but there's still about nearly 30 films that I want to see so my list is not likely to be done. I still haven't even finished my 2010 list as there's movies that I'm trying to see. That the fallacy of what I do when it comes to lists is because I want to do it right and have it be presented on my own terms. I will probably come up with a list if I'm asked to do one but I'll do it with some reluctance.

Meanwhile, the only other thing I'm working on other than reviews is my list for the Most Anticipated Films of 2012 which is nearly done though I'm aware that I'm overlooking a lot films. Yet, I'm very specific in what I do as I don't count films that came out in film festivals this year as I'm just focused on actual 2012 releases. That is coming probably next week along with the sixth part of my Auteurs series on Lynne Ramsay which I'm still in the middle of working on.

That's pretty much it that is happening on my blog as I'm also doing some final work on what I will do for 2012 which I will announce next week. For the meantime, I'll just post some old reviews of movies I've already seen and maybe a few new ones of films I've already seen as well. I'm a bit burned out right now and going to take a bit of a break though it's likely I will see new films like Young Adult and Girl with the Dragon Tattoo during the Xmas holidays along with a review of its soundtrack for the latter in my music blog where I'm in the process of moving all of my music reviews on this one to the other.

There's a lot that's been going on in the blogosphere that I've been enjoying lately.

James @ Cinema Sight has this amazing review of a film I just saw around the same time he did in Robert Bresson's Mouchette.

CS @ Big Thoughts from a Small Mind and Andy @ Andy Buckle's Film Emporium have 2 great reviews on Pedro Almodovar's The Skin I Live In.

Andrew @ gmanReviews has one of the best kills out there as he destroys The Sitter.

J.D. @ Radiator Heaven goes inside into the Criterion DVD contents of one of my all-time favorite trilogies in Trois Couleurs.

There's a couple of great reviews on Lynne Ramsay's We Need to Talk About Kevin from Dan @ Dan the Man's Movie Review and John @ John Likes Movies.

There's also some wonderful reviews of Young Adult from Ryan @ The Matinee and Jake @ Not Just Movies.

Norma @ The Flick Chick has a great review on one of the year's best films in The Descendants.

Bonjour Tristesse has a review of the Spanish film Black Bread where he wonders why Spain chose this film for its submission in the Foreign Language Oscar category.

Stevee @ Cinematic Paradox is doing a Harry Potter Marathon as so far is Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix as we both seem to really hate Dolores Umbridge.

Finally, there's And So It Begins... which is my new favorite blog at the moment for its reviews and pieces on actors and their performances. My favorite piece is on Michael Shannon who is hot right now. My favorite performance of his is Petey from Cecil B. Demented.

Well, that is pretty much for today. Monday, I'll do another post to reveal what I'll do for 2012 and hopefully have something new out there as I'm just working on other things. Until then, happy holidays and have a woo-woo-woo new year!!!

Blog News 11/14/11 & Blogging Around

The 2011 film is still underway with the good stuff though I've been unable to see them at the moment due to a few things. Still, I'm trying to figure how to schedule everything that I want to see that's coming in the new year. Fortunately, there's been a few films that is available on VOD that I was able to see just to help me save money from going to the theaters. It's probably likely that I'll catch up to a lot of the films by January though I'm doubtful that I will have a list of the best of films of 2011 anytime soon as I still haven't created an official list for the best of films 2010.

Meanwhile, I'm currently doing other projects for the time being. Among them is my screenplay that I've been working on for months as it's nearly finished and I will hopefully post it on my Live Journal page. Later tonight, I will post the third part of my Favorite Film essay series as I'm already working on a fourth one for next month. That along with my Auteurs essay on Alexander Payne and the first of my Favorite Albums essay are currently in the works. The latter of which will be the concluding part of my 1991-20 series which is currently on hold as I'm trying to create a list of the 50 best albums of 1991 to finish everything off. Meanwhile, you can check out the 1991-20 series on my music blog.

That's all I'm doing as I'm already making plans for 2012 in terms of what directors I'm going to profile and what films and albums I want to write about. I will release a final list next month while working on other projects that includes the sixth profile on my Auteurs series and a list of the Most Anticipated Films of 2012.

In the world of the blogs, there is a lot that's been happening as everyone has been checking out new releases or finish up some James @ Cinema Sights has just finished his James Bond marathon as he expresses his thoughts on his James Bond Postmortem while Edgar @ Between the Seats is nearly done with his marathon with a very scathing review of Die Another Day.

Bryce @ Things That Don't Suck continues to express the love that is given to Drive while he also posts a video piece about a statue for the late, great Harvey Pekar.

Sasha @ Final Girl Project has a very fun review of one of my favorite films of the 1990s in Hackers. Yes, I think that movie is awesome and I did manage to tell Jesse Bradford at a screening for Happy Endings that Hackers was da bomb!

Andrew Robinson of gmanReviews puts The Dark Knight in his list of all-time favorite films.

Marshall of Marshall & the Movies has a wonderful review of what I think is one of the year's best films in Moneyball.

Ryan @ the Matinee has a very thorough review of J. Edgar which convinces me that Clint Eastwood is in a slump as I recently saw some of Hereafter and found it to be boring.

Jake of Not Just Movies has a great review of Le Havre which is getting me interested in the films of Aki Kaurismaki.

Bonjour Tristesse has an amazing review of Melancholia which is currently in my top 5 films of 2011 so far.

Andy of Andy Buckle's Film Emporium has a review of We Need to Talk About Kevin that is making want to see this film even more.

Stevee @ Cinematic Paradox lists 52 reasons why The Social Network is awesome.

Jessica @ The Velvet Cafe asks What is a good film critic? Well, it's not the following: Armond White, Ben Lyons, Shawn Edwards, Pete Hammond, Cole Smithey, and most of the fuck-heads writing movie reviews at Epinions.com.

Finally, there's Sam @ Duke & the Movies who reveals reasons why to avoid Jack & Jill. I'm trying to convince my parents not to see it. It is a matter of life and death when it comes to Adam Sandler these days.

Well, that is all for now. In the coming days and weeks right up until mid-to-late December. I will try and catch up on films such as Take Shelter, Martha Marcy May Marlene, The Skin I Live In, My Week with Marilyn, A Dangerous Method, Shame, and The Descendants. The last of which will help me close my Auteurs essay on Alexander Payne slated for a late November/early December release. After that, I will do my final Auteurs essay of the year on Lynne Ramsay. Also coming in a week from today will be a list of my favorite performances from one of my favorite actresses in Jena Malone to celebrate her 27th Birthday. From my music blog, a list of the 50 Best Albums of 1991 and my inaugural Favorite Albums essay to close the series as I hope to have it out by the end of the month. Until then, I will close with a recent discovery of an album that I've fallen in love with.

Blog News 10/19/11 & Blogging Around

Well, it's been a while since I've posted some news. Right now, I've been busy with a myriad of projects including reviewing the script that I've been working on for months where I hope to have the first draft ready for November. At the same time, I'm writing a treatment for another project that I started work on since late September. It's going to be the first part of a trilogy of stories about lonely American women set into different continents around the world. I guess after seeing Drive, I became inspired though I'm planning to do things differently based on the films that I've seen for the past month.

I've finally released the fourth part of my Auteurs series on Gus Van Sant although I'm a bit disappointed that it didn't come out the way I had hoped to do it. Largely because I wanted to see Restless and get a chance to see it so I can complete it in a proper form after doing this project since late August. What happened was a bunch of things that included family visiting, money, and timing that all came in a bad way and the film only played one week in Atlanta. Thanks a lot Sony Classics for giving it a very limited release. Fuckheads.

Well, that is out of the way as I've gotten a lot of work done on the fifth subject of my Auteurs series on Alexander Payne as I'm expecting that one to be released in late November/early December following the release of The Descendants. Then, I will do Lynne Ramsay and hope to have it out by the end of the year. There's a lot of subjects I plan to do for 2011 though I won't reveal much on which filmmakers I plan to profile next year. The one I will mention that I will profile since I am familiar with his work is Lars von Trier which I hope to do around late December through January.

I'm currently trying to pace myself as the reviews are easy to do since it only takes me a few hours to do them. The essay stuff is a bit tricky as I work it on it for a while and stop. Then come back to a few days as I've now begun work on the first essay of my Favorite Album series that I will post late in November as the conclusion of my 1991-20 series on my other blog. There's a lot of albums I want to profile for that series but I will reveal more about that as well as other 2012 plans in December.

For now, I'm trying to take one project at a time while whatever old reviews that I have that I feel needs to be fixed will be re-written entirely. That's all the news that I feel that needs to be discussed as I'm trying to take it slow and figure out what to release in the coming days.

In the blogosphere, there's a lot going on that has kept me awake from boredom.

There's a great debate about the idea of having no narratives in films that was started by Corey at Just Atad where James@ Cinema Sights has a great counterpoint which I agree with.

Edgar @ Between the Seats is doing his Shaw Brothers marathon as well as the Bond marathon where he finally gives his take on the two Timothy Dalton-starring films in The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill.

JBT @ Big Thoughts from a Small Mind has a great piece of one of my favorites of the 1980s in Sixteen Candles which I think is a better movie than a lot of people give credit for despite my mixed opinion on John Hughes.

Bryce @ Things Don't Suck has been doing a marathon of horror films in spirit with Halloween as he has a great review of Howard Hawks' version of The Thing that should be read.

Ryan @ the Matinee has a great review of what is certainly going to one of the year's best films in Take Shelter.

Dan @ Dan the Man's Movie Reviews is also doing a Halloween marathon of sorts as he has a review of David Fincher's Se7en that I think people should check out.

Jake @ Not Just Movies has a wonderful review of one of my favorite films of the last decade in May.

Bonjour Tristesse has a great review of the new Dardenne Brothers movie The Kid with a Bike is one of those films I'm dying to see as I'm a big fan of the Dardenne Brothers.

If anyone is going to check out the new Paul W.S. Anderson film version of The Three Musketeers, Andy @ Andy Buckle's Film Emporium shows why you should not spend any of that money on Anderson's new film.

Stevee @ Cinematic Paradox reveals the world of film posters of how to sell a movie the right and wrong way.

Phil @ Phil on Film is doing some report on the London Film Festival where he gives a very scathing review on the new Fernando Meirelles' film 360.

Cinema Du Meep is doing a marathon of 80s Horror which includes a fun review of Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors. Goddamn, that fucking Dokken song is stuck on my head right now.

Finally, Leysa @ Eternity of Dream closes her Heath Ledger marathon with a review of one of my all-time favorite films in I'm Not There.

Well, that is all for today. Expect more parts of my 1991-20 series at my music blog as well as reviews of albums by Nirvana and My Bloody Valentine in the coming weeks as I'm currently assembling a list of the best albums of that year to conclude that series. I will also work on some mini-marathon of horror/thrillers to watch for the remainder of the month which will conclude with a review of a film I had never seen in Guillermo del Toro's Cronos. In the meantime, in tune with some of the music I've been really getting into as of late. I will close with a clip of one of these pieces that I've been getting into. Until then, take care and spike your hair. WWWYKI!!!

Blog News 9/12/11 & Blogging Around

The fall season is kicking off to a great start already as is the news about various film festivals in Venice, Telluride, and Toronto. This is the season where the real serious film-going season starts to happen as it's already been kicked off with Contagion. Of course, there's a lot of films coming out in the remaining months of the year yet it's not going to be easy to see all of them. Particularly as there's still some economical issues and location problems. This coming weekend will see the releases of two anticipated releases in Drive and Restless. The latter of which, I'm aware has received somewhat lukewarm reviews, will be the one of the final Gus Van Sant reviews that I do as I will release my fourth Auteurs essay on Van Sant within a couple of weeks.

With the little amount of cash that I have and a lot of the films that I want to see not really nearby a multiplex as the closest art house theater is about 15-20 minutes from where I live. Having to spend $15-20 on gas, since I drive a gas guzzler, definitely strains my funds as it's not enough to spend $8-10 on a movie and then go to that same art house theater a week later and lose money again for another movie. I've already decided that in order to save money, whatever art house theater is showing two films that I want to see. I will pay the ticket to see the first film, stay in the theater to type down notes on my laptop for a review and then sneak into the door to see other film.

I've done it before a few times and it's something that I need to do. Plus, I don't really think it hurts anyone unless you've paid to see a bad film. Besides, it's kind of a troubled time and you need to take advantage of what you can see. Notably as there's probably 4 films right now that I'm eager to see. One of which is the Pearl Jam Twenty doc that is only playing for one night on Tuesday as I hope to go to the 7 PM screening (that isn't sold out hopefully) and see another film at that theater. After I do that, I take a week off and wait for a chance for two other films to play in the same theater so I can go see it. Besides, I feel that it's better to spend your money wisely and save it rather than blow it easily.

While I've already gotten a strategy on how to deal with the fall film season, I'm set to release the first part of my 1991-20 project that will come out in a few days at my other blog in The Void-Go-Round. Right now, I'm finishing up a review of the Cure's 2004 box set Join the Dots that will be released later today to complete my Cure discography series. During the duration for the fall, I will release parts of my 1991-20 essay series that will culminate with the best albums of that year that will include the top album as the first of my Favorite Albums essay series. Around the same time, I will review some of the albums by acts like M83, Talk Talk, U2, Nirvana, and My Bloody Valentine during this period.

While I'm juggling both my film and music projects, I'm also starting to wind down on my screenplay which I hope to have finished at around October. Once the official first draft is completed, I will ask anyone if they want to read it as I need some critique and maybe guidelines on how it could be much better. Anyways, that's all there is to said in my own world.

In the world of the blogosphere, there is a lot going on at the Toronto Film Festival as there is a lot of great coverage happening as there's some great word on The Artist from Courtney @ Big Thoughts From a Small Mind and Ryan @ The Matinee. There's also some great reviews over Werner Herzog's new documentary Into the Abyss from Rachel @ The Final Girl Project & Courtney @ Big Thoughts From a Small Mind. Paolo @ Anomalous Material checks out Moneyball with some kind words about the film while Laura sees Drive with some good words about that film. Ryan @ the Matinee posted some thoughts about the festival to bring insight about the whole experience.

James @ Cinema Sights has a must-read review of what is one of my all-time favorite films in Todd Haynes' Safe that really dissects the film for its haunting tone as I commented that it should be re-released and remastered for a Criterion release.

Ed @ Between the Seats, among many others, is continuing his James Bond marathon as he has some very good words for another of my favorite Bond films in For Your Eyes Only.

Congrats to Bryce @ Things That Don't Suck for hitting 500.

At Film Intel, there is a great review of what I think is one of the worst films of 2010 in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps where I comment about the wrongs about the film and suggest that Oliver Stone should hang it up now.

With the buzz concerning Steve McQueen's upcoming film Shame that just won Michael Fassbender the Best Actor Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival, Bonjour Tristesse has a wonderful review of McQueen's previous film Hunger that I'm really anxious to see.

Stevee @ Cinematic Paradox has a great review of another of my favorite films ever in Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves.

Finally, there's Lesya @ Eternity of Dream who has a superb review of Cary Fukunaga's adaptation of Jane Eyre.

Well, that is all for today. I hope that Senna will still play this weekend as it will give me an excuse to see that and maybe Drive or Restless that same day so I can find something to see in the same day as the Pearl Jam doc. Meanwhile at home, I'm going to watch a couple of Godard films and see Nicolas Winding Refn's Valhalla Rising in anticipation for Drive to see what Refn is all about.

Finally, I want to express my condolences to the friends and family of Andy Whitfield who sadly passed away at age 39 from non-Hodgkin lymphona yesterday. Many will probably know him for his work on the Starz TV series Spartacus: Blood & Sand which is a great show and Whitfield had the makings of a real star. It's sad that he never got to chance to progress as he will be extremely missed. R.I.P. Andy.

Blog News 9/5/11 & Blogging Around

Well, the fall season is coming and there's some movies to see. Yes! After a dry spell for nearly 2 months, it's time for the real movie season. And of course, it's a chance for me to catch up on some early 2011 releases that I missed though I doubt I will create a final best of 2011 until 2012 as I still haven't put out a best of 2010 list.

Aside from that, some projects are nearing in completion as I am finally set to release the two 1991-20 essays I've been working on since February and it will culminate with a list of the Top 40-50 best albums of 1991 with the number one album being my inaugural Favorite Album essay. The first part of the 1991 in Music essay will come out in a couple of weeks as I'm currently finishing up on some record reviews by the Cure at my other blog in The Void-Go-Round where I will post all of my music-related projects. Another personal project in my script has reached its second act as I'm set to start work on the third and then put all the pages together to assemble it into a first draft. Once that first draft is completed, anyone that wants to read it is welcome and I wants some feedback.

Then there's my fourth Auteurs project on Gus Van Sant which is nearly finished but I'm holding it off until later this month because of Restless which I'm eager to see. After I see the film, I will officially release the fourth part while I start work on the fifth Auteurs essay for Alexander Payne in anticipation for The Descendants at around November while I will do Lynne Ramsay as the sixth profile for December. Another project I'm thinking of working in the fall is the third part of my Favorite Film series as Breaking the Waves is now the likely candidate as I hope to write it sometime in the fall. That's all of the upcoming projects I'm leaning towards for now.

In the world of the blogosphere, there's a lot going on as James @ Cinema Sights and Edgar @ Between the Seats are continuing their James Bond marathon as James has a great review of one of my favorite Bond movies in The Living Daylights while Edgar does the not-so-great Moonraker. The latter of which was pretty damn silly despite some fun moments involving Jaws.

The Toronto International Film Festival is approach as some of the bloggers will be covering the festival. CS @ Big Thoughts from a Small Mind offers up some rules on what to do at the festival while Ryan at the Matinee reveals what he'll be seeing at the festival. Corey @ justAtad offers up what he'll be seeing at the festival. I can't believe no one plans on seeing Ron Fricke's Samsara. I only know Fricke based on his work on Koyannisqatsi which is a great film and eager to see what Fricke is doing with his new, widely-anticipated project.

Dan @ Dan the Man's Movie Reviews just turned 18 so Happy Birthday Dan.

Jake @ Not Just Movies has been making some contributions to Cinema Viewfinder's Nicholas Ray blogathon with two films in A Woman's Secret and Born to Be Bad that is worth checking out.

There's a couple of great reviews on Lars von Trier's Melancholia floating around worth checking out from Stevee at Cinematic Paradox and Leysa at Eternity of Dream. It's just making me want to go out there and see this film because I often state it, Lars von Trier puts my ass in the seat.

Finally, there's a couple of blogs that I'm following around that is worth checking out. The Velvet Cafe run by Jessica who has a great piece about her favorite film (which is also mine) in Lost in Translation and Toby at blah blah blah gay - a movie review blog who has a great review of Kim Ki-Duk's 3 Iron.

Well, that is for today. This week, I'm going to review a couple of films set in the Middle East while re-posting and probably re-edit my old review of United 93 to mark the 10th anniversary of 9/11. I will also do a review of 11'9"01-September 11 for that anniversary which I'll release that review on that day. On the music front, I'm finishing up my work on the Cure as the next review will be on their 2004 self-titled release as I'm going to cheat a bit since I've been doing everything chronological. It's only because it's easier to do one album instead of a four-disc box set in which the Join the Dots set will be my last Cure review. I also might have a new review of one of the new albums I've been enjoying in St. Vincent's Strange Mercy which will be the first new piece of music I'll be reviewing for months.

In closing, today would've been Freddie Mercury's 65th birthday and in honor of one of the greatest vocalists ever. I offer up a video of one of Queen's greatest songs and one of their best videos.

Blog News 8/22/11 & Blogging Around

Well, fall is approaching as I'm eagerly excited for what is coming. Yet, I'm also excited that a few projects I'm working on are starting to gel with some new ideas emerging. As I'm still working on my fourth Auteurs essay on Gus Van Sant, that I'm going to have done at around September along with an additional piece about his short films and music videos, I'm still figuring out which film I want to put as the third part of my favorite films series. At the same time, I've got a couple of new ideas I want to do. One is about favorite albums that I hope to do in November while the other is a more freestyle, rant-based project on films that I loathe entitled Your Film Fucking Sucks!.

One of the projects I've been working on that is nearly 2/3 done is a very ambitious project called 1991-20. A project about the 20th anniversary of the year 1991 in terms of popular music. For me, it was probably one of the last great years in the history of popular music where everything was changing. Originally, I was going to create a seven-part essay to explore pop, dance, rock, hip-hop, and alternative/indie. Well, that turned out to be way more complicated as the alternative/indie piece became a whole lot bigger than that. That in itself is now a separate seven-part essay about its impact on popular music from the release of Nirvana's Nevermind, the first Lollapalooza festival, and the landmark albums that came out that year like Massive Attack's Blue Lines, U2's Achtung Baby, Talk Talk's Laughing Stock, and My Bloody Valentine's Loveless among many others.

That essay on the world of alternative/indie is pretty much finished as is the other essay about the year in music which is now in three parts instead of seven. The genres I didn't focus on for the essays are jazz and country. The former due to the fact that I'm not really familiar with jazz at all. The latter is due to indifference because I much prefer old-school country like Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, and Patsy Cline and I'm not really into Garth Brooks no matter how big he was.

With those 2 essays done, the next part of 1991-20 will be the biggest challenge as I have to make a list of the 40/50 best albums of that year and in order to do it right. I need to listen to these albums. I doubt I will review a lot of them but I am willing to give it a shot to listen to some of these albums that I have never heard of. There is a good idea on what is in my top 10. Yet, for the nine albums that is in the top ten. I plan to write about these records in mini-essays to explain why they're great such. For the number one album, that will be the first subject of my favorite albums essays. Anyone who is familiar with my work back at Epinions.com might have an idea what could be that number one record but I'm going to try and keep people guessing.

The music side of me is something I want to balance more as I'm still doing film reviews and film-related projects as I'm currently half-done with my Van Sant project. This week, I'm going to focus on anthology films while I also want to focus on documentaries for next week. I like to keep things in schedule. With the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaching, I'm planning to review 11'9"01 September 11 for that anniversary just so we don't forget that horrible day.

In the world of the blogosphere, there's a lot happening that I'm reading. James @ Cinema Sights and Edgar @ Between the Seats are both doing Bond marathons as James does Octopussy (which I thought was OK) and Edgar doing The Man with the Golden Gun (which I like and it has my favorite villain).

JBT @ Big Thoughts From a Small Mind has a great list of what he believes are the five best heist films ever

Max @ Anomalous Material has a wonderful review of a film I'm eager to see called A Separation

The Mad Hatter has a new site in The Matinee as he has a wonderful review of Crazy Stupid Love.

Dan @ Dan the Man's Movie Review has a very fun review of one of my favorite early 90s action movies in the bromance classic Point Break.

Bonjour Tristesse has a review of Bela Tarr'a Damnation that is getting more intrigued by Tarr's work whom I've heard of but never had seen anything he's done. Any recommendations?

There's two reviews out there of Guillermo del Toro's Cronos which I've yet to see as I've purchased the Criterion DVD a few weeks ago. One is from Andy @ Andy Buckle's Film Emporium & John at John Likes Movies.

Finally, Jason @ Cinemecca has a review of The Gold Rush that I think should check out as I just went through a mini-marathon of films by Charles Chaplin.

Well, that is all for today. This week, expect some reviews of a few anthology films plus some of my old Gus Van Sant reviews for Gerry, Elephant, Last Days, and an expanded DVD review for Finding Forrester while the rest will have some additional edits. Meanwhile, enjoy this short of one of the anthology films that I'm currently watching.