Congratulations

Congratulations to Adam and Sam at Cinecast for reaching their 50th podcast this week. A great achievement. I listen to this show religiously and have found it great in helping me to develop and enhance my love of movies by allowing me to think about them differently.

Check them out.

Also Cameron and Mick at the TPN have got a great sponsorship by Motorola, who have brought out their fancy new iTunes mobile phone. Well done.

Podcasting is a great medium and if you haven't checked it out, have a look.

Elizabethtown

I went with one of my friends to see Cameron Crowe's latest film last night, and came away bemused. This was a film where the whole was truly not greater than the sum of it's parts.

I'll explain. Individually, each of the scenes was wonderful. I though they were well acted (even Orlando Bloom, although he struggled with some of the heavier stuff), well scripted, well directed, well shot, and overall, wonderfully brought to life. But none of them seemed to fit with each other.

Yet i still loved this film. It's Cameron Crowe, and lets face it, i'd rather watch a bad Crowe film than a good film by a lot of other directors (although Vanilla Sky is an exception that proves the rule.) It is cliched to talk about the music in Crowe's films, because of all the directors around i think he has the best grasp on using music to make a film special. Think of Almost Famous and the scene int he bus where the band sings Tiny Dancer. He loves music, obvious throughout Almost Famous which is a partial story of his life, and understands it's signifigance.

Perhaps that is what saved this film for me. Without the music making every scene so wonderful, this may have felt like another confusing hotch-potch of a film. Yet both myself and Blackers loved it.

It is great to see a flawed film that still uplifts you. And i will be buying the soundtrack.

Films i've watched recently.

Whilst i'm venting my spleen on Total Film, i'll comment on a couple of films i've recently seen.

Just now i finished watching P.T. Anderson's 1999 film: Magnolia. It's an interesting viewing experience, if slightly long. Many will be upset at the fact that i actually opted to watch it over the top of Punch Drunk Love , a film i know many love. In the end, i think i enjoyed it. There were some amazing performances, and the common links of family, love, betrayal between these characters did inspire in some way. Plus it had a rain of toads for no apparent reason other than to prove the point that weird things happen. Long though. Almost 3 hours. Luckily i loved Aimee Mann's soundtrack.

Also saw 40 Year Old Virgin starring the great Steve Carell the other week. Really enjoyed this film, and would rate it alongside Serenity as the best film i've seen this year at the cinema. There were a lot of points that it could have fallen into mediocre gross out humour that we've all seen before, but it never managed to fall. It stayed upbeat and true, in particular the relationship between the 4 friends. Highly reccommend.

Strangely, i think it has been a good year for cinema. I've enjoyed pretty much all the films i've seen this year. Batman Begins. Sin City. Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Hopefully it keeps up. I'm looking forward to Cameron Crowe's latest: Elizabethtown, as well as George Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck about newsreader Edward Murrow and the Maccarthy era.

Kane is Blasted Down list by Total Film

Cam Reily of The Podcast Network's Movie Show (and pretty much everything else over there) pointed out that Total Film Magazine have just released their Top 100 Movies of all time.

He has expressed his disgust of the great film Citizen Kane being placed despicably placed at NUMBER 6!!!!!!!!

And what got the top billing? Scorsese's "Goodfellas." Followed by "Vertigo," "Jaws," "Fight Club," and "Godfather Pt II."

Now i'm all for equal rights in movie lists, and it could be argued that perhaps Kane has had top spot on just a few too many. But really folks. It is, plain and simply, an awesome film. No ifs. No Buts. And in no way any maybes. "Goodfellas" is a fine film, as are the other four, but it in the same league as Kane, or even Godfather and Fight Club.

So my message to Total Film? Take a good hard look at yourselves in the mirror. You sicken me.