Showing posts with label metapost. Show all posts
Showing posts with label metapost. Show all posts

Tuesday, 15 November 2011

Brad Pitt to quit acting

Family man Pitt considers quitting.

This monday, the American actor Brad Pitt said in an interview he's considering retiring from acting when he turns 50, three years from now. It's a remarkable decision, and I'm more than a little saddened by this. Particularly this fall, I've been talking to a lot of my friends how I think he's a great actor and perhaps one of the best in Hollywood at the moment. Now that Johnny Depp has sold out on us, ironically Pitt seems to have turned to the completely opposite direction, only making interesting films with acclaimed directors. He'll certainly leave a lasting legacy behind him. Here's a selected list of some of the directors he's worked with:
  • Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life)
  • David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
  • Joel & Ethan Coen (Burn After Reading)
  • Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)
  • Andrew Dominik (Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford)
  • Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel)
  • Guy Ritchie (Snatch.)
  • Terry Gilliam (12 Monkeys)
  • Ridley Scott (Thelma & Louise)
  • Tony Scott (Spy Game, True Romance)
That list, as well as the roles he played on those movies, is certainly is something to marvel. Being at the top of the A-list does get you access to work with some pretty amazing, visionary directors. Some other Hollywood bigshots do have almost as impressive lists:
  • Matt Damon (f. ex. Clint Eastwood, The Coens, Paul Greengrass, Martin Scorsese, Terry Gilliam, George Clooney, The Farrellys)
  • Tom Cruise (f. ex. Brad Bird, Steven Spielberg, Michael Mann, Paul Thomas Anderson, Brian DePalma, Martin Scorsese, Ridley & Tony Scott, Stanley frickin' Kubrick!)
  • Johnny Depp (f. ex. Tim Burton obviously, Michael Mann, Robert Rodriguez, Jim Jarmusch, Terry Gilliam, Emir Kusturica, John Waters, Oliver Stone, Wes Craven)
Is this just a phenomenon of the modern superstars? With the exception of Cruise, they all are not only handsome, but talented as well. But how does this compare to more classical actors?
  • Al Pacino (Christopher Nolan, Michael Mann, Brian DePalma, Francis Ford Coppola, William Friedkin, Sidney Lumet, Jerry Schatzberg)
  • Dustin Hoffmann (Tom Tykwer, David O. Russell, Steven Spielberg, Sydney Pollack, Alan Pakula, Sam Peckinpah, Arthur Penn, John Schlesinger, Mike Nichols)
  • Robert De Niro (Martin Scorsese obviously, Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino, Matthew Vaughn, John Frankenheimer, Michael Mann, Brina De Palma, Terry Gilliam, Sergio Leone, Michael Cimino, Alan Parker, Francis Ford Coppola)
On second thought, if you look at those three, 50 might be just the right age to retire. So kudos for your past work, Brad, and hope we still see three years' worth of great movies. Give Fincher a call, at the very least.

Monday, 4 July 2011

Summer MIWS

Summer is a busy time for us students, and my day job takes a lot of time. So in order not to waste my entire summer's free time on writing this blog, I'm going to take a month of vacation from updating, starting now.

I'm very pleased that my blog has skyrocketed in popularity during the last few months. Indeed, monthly attendance tripled in two months from around 700 to over 2,100 a month. Most of this is thanks to several very popular articles. But I'd like it even more if my readers would be a bot more active, and comment on if they see something they like, or dislike. Even negative criticism helps me build my website to the better, providing of course that it's constructive and not just you calling me an asshole without facts to prove it. So, dear reader, know that you are heartily welcome back again in August and I hope to see you share your favorite findings and insights in the meantime.

As is my habit with these self-congratulating posts, here's a collection of trailers, that I post on my Twitter account. You can follow me at @pmihal.

Let's get this thing started:
BACK IN ACTION
I've become fascinated with the action star/wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper. He's most often used when Kurt Russell is unwilling or just too expensive. There's still mountains of awesome in his filmography, like this one, where he wrestles the mafia.

CANDY (1968)
This psychedelic sex comedy's endorsed by Quentin Tarantino (really, what isn't?). But this gets the benefit of a doubt because of it's crazy cast that consists of Marlon Brando, Richard Burton, James Coburn, Walter Matthau and even Ringo Starr!

CELLAT 

It's the Turkish Death Wish - and seems outrageous enough to be one, too!

CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS
This is simply masterclass in weird trailer-making. I doubt the film is as good as the preview, but it might be a fun comedic ripoff of some of Texas Chainsaw Massacre's creepiest parts.

CLASS REUNION MASSACRE AKA The Redeemer, Son of Satan.
If God's son took the form of a Jewish carpenter, it figures, that Satan's son would take the form of a extra-creepy ventriloquist's dummy.

CLOWNHOUSE
And speaking of creepy horror movie subgenres, clowns are definately up there with the dummies and corpse-huggers. "If you should die before you wake... BUHAHAHAHA" "Can't sleep, clown will eat me. Can't sleep, clown will eat me"

DABANGG!
Bollywood action films tend to be pretty Bad-Ass, so when you cross Robin Hood with El Mariachi and John Wayne, it's a total overload.

THE DAY OF THE ANIMALS

This Leslie Nielsen starring film is supposed to be a bit more serious than Airplane! but doesn't seem to manage that. Don't be surprised if it crops up sonner or later in one of my blog posts. ;)

DEATH WARRIOR
My post about Weng Weng has been super popular, so I can reveal here and now that I plan to do a post on another king of the exploitation. You can see Cüneyt Arkin's best scene in any of his Turkish ripoff films from this video.

DETROIT METAL CITY 
And Now For Something Completely Different: No trailer, but a collection of kick-ass animated GIFs from a weird-ass Japanese action flick.

DR. GIGGLES
Honestly, I'm all out of doctor-related puns for life after this trailer.

ENDHIRAN (ROBOT)
Remember what I said about Bollywood action films? Well, this one's badassiness can only be counted with the following equation:
Hard-Boiled * Terminator 2 ^ (Matrix Reloaded) = Endhiran

EXECUTIVE KOALA

Such a gritty thriller about such a silly subject couldn't come from anywhere else than Japan.

FOREST WARRIOR
I've seen way too many Chuck Norris films to be filled by anything more than dread about the ones I've missed. That being said, with crazy Chuck premises and antics, this one surely takes the cake!

GALAXINA
Barbarella was pretty tame given its reputation, so I prefer it's exploitation ripoffs, that actually allow me to see boobs in space.And this seems like a freaky trip to psychedelia otherwise, too.

THE GIANT CLAW
Beware of The Claw - The Scourge of tiny model trains, aeroplanes and buildings, everywhere.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME
I hate my birthdays so watching this would allow me to let off some steam next time.

HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN

This must be Roddy Piper's Magnum Opus. His Predator or Total Recall to They Live's Terminator. I really don't know what to say. If you watch only one trailer from this post, make it this one.

KILINK IN ISTANBUL
Dear God, the Turks have been doing their films for years. I love the titular character's Badass name. The Turks also often seem to have problems in their rip-off films in telling who's bad or good.

MACHO MAN!
This isn't about randy Savage (RIP), but moustached germans fighting a lot, with boobs galore! Can I get a Hell yeah!?

MAD FOXES
They certainly are mad. The clip features about 10 minutes of crazed Neo Nazi bikers smashing shit up.

MICROWAVE MASSACRE
I really don't know too much about the film, but based on the title and this opening, it seems to have everything I love.

THE ONE-ARMED EXECUTIONER!
Bobby Suarez made some really crazy films in the Philippines, that are chronicled in the film Machete Maidens Unleashed. This is one I'd like to see the most.

RAMPAGE - The Turkish Rambo

The trailer alone is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. All I got to say about this is... Ploomp!

SAVAGE (1996)
Good luck trying to figure out what the hell is this movie about. I suppose putting only action scenes in the trailer hides the fact that the film is probably horrible. Or horribly awesome - horrisome!

SLAUGHTERHOUSE ROCK
Seems to be, like, the most awesome 80's movie ever! With music by Devo.

SQUIRM
I wonder how many worms they needed for that Shining-referencing closet shot.

STING OF DEATH
Featuring a silly jellyfish monsterman and not a lot of sense.

STONE COLD

How on Earth was Brian Bosworth never a bigger star. It's beyond me.

VENOM
In memory of the late great Michael Gough, Co-starring Kinski, Hayden and Reed. Fun!

W IS FOR WAR
True, and not just with Herr Bush's politics, also with Philippino filmmakers! I love the cheap synth-score in this.

YETI: CURSE OF THE SNOW DEMON
There are two of the films titled like this. This trailer is for the remake. Frankly, I'd watch either one.

YOKAI MONSTERS SPOOK WARFARE
This is a batshit insane monsters vs. vampire movie even for Japan. And y'know, it's for kids.

So have a Good Summer, Everyone! I'll see you in August!

Friday, 31 December 2010

New Year's resolutions

A New Year is coming! I think I've made some real progress on this blog during the course of this year, but since I still have only two subscribers, I'll try to enhance this blog even further. Here's some points of what I'm about to do.
  • More reviews. I feel genuinely bad for not doing a proper review about The Social Network and some others even though I went to the press screening. That's about to change. I'll write a review here on every film I see, providing I won't write the review to another publication.
  • More obscure films! I realize I've been focusing too much on stuff that other blogs write about as well. I see plenty of weird shit as well, including a lot of those Movies I-wanna-see. I'll try to write about them, as well as a lot about finnish films. I feel not enough of them is written in English, so I might have a clear advantage on a lot of finnish-written movie blogs.
  • Personally, I'll try to watch as much as I can from my pile of unwatched DVD's. Currently, it includes the following:
  1. 8 1/2
  2. Arabian Nights
  3. Bandolero!
  4. Bay of Blood
  5. Big Bullet
  6. Boiling Point
  7. Caligula
  8. The Canterbury Tales
  9. Confession of Pain
  10. Dave Chappelle's Block Party
  11. The Dead Zone
  12. Decamerone
  13. Delta Force
  14. Delta Force II
  15. Death On The Nile
  16. Les Diaboliques
  17. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
  18. Eyes Without A Face
  19. Fanny & Alexander
  20. A Farewell To Arms
  21. Fata Morgana
  22. Full Alert
  23. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
  24. Glengarry Glen Ross
  25. La Grande bouffe
  26. Heart of Glass
  27. The Insider
  28. Joe
  29. Jules & Jim
  30. Kabuli Kid
  31. Ken Park
  32. The Killing of Satan
  33. Machine Girl
  34. Mamma Roma
  35. Obsession
  36. Once A Cop
  37. Once Upon A Time in China II
  38. Once Upon A Time in China III
  39. Pieces
  40. Prison
  41. Punk: Attitude
  42. The Promise
  43. Rififi
  44. Rude Boy
  45. Saló, or the 120 Days of Sodom
  46. Scum
  47. Seraphine
  48. Sonatine
  49. The Story of Richard O
  50. Stroszek
  51. Tales From The Golden Age
  52. They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
  53. Tremors
  54. Twilight Zone: The Movie
  55. The Valachi Papers
  56. The Vanguard
  57. Vengeance is Mine
  58. Violent Cop
  59. Zorba The Greek
So that makes 60 films to watch. More than one for every week. And I'm not even including the Blu-rays and TV DVD's I have. I shoud try to be less a collector and more a watcher. Which I promise to be.

Have A Happy New Year!

Thursday, 18 November 2010

Movies I-wanna-see Rises

First things first. You may notice a small difference in the title of this blog. Yeah, I figured that since I usually spend weeks to perfectly tune each blog post to be absolutely perfect, it's not so Fast any more, is it. So with just changing one letter I made a reference to a british sketch comedy a reference of a rarely-seen arthouse film. And what does "Last" mean? Is this the last, final word on movies and you don't need to turn to any other blogs for advice afterwards? Or is it just that each post takes so long that this will be the last one to report? You be the judge. As I'm fairly sure that my Best-of-the-2000s series will continue to 2012, while other blogs finished their lists about a year ago, I'll try to do it as a little bit of both. I'll also keep developing the blog. The URL will stay the same for now, but if some morning you won't find it in the old address, try to change the letter as well. And now, to business.

You know what we haven't had in a while? Pointless lists of awesomely shitty movies I haven't seen yet. Having a little more ambition with this blog certainly didn't mean you would get rid of those. So, like a zombie or the Dark Knight, here's another installment in our exciting series.

ALLUDA MAZAAKA! (1995)



Some of my friends have seen this batshit insane Indian actioner and say it's the greatest thing since the domestication of the horse. Unfortunately the link of the awesome tractor fight from the film has been removed from YouTube, but at least this scene is some compensation for it.

AMERICAN COMMANDOS (1982)



It's the Philippenean Death Wish meets Delta Force - and so much more including a ninja picture.

BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA (1966)
http://www.youtube.com/v/AjgJ3gMF2sk?fs=1&hl=fi_FI

This is a match I'd like to see! Although I do hope Billy has some Blade-like garlic weapons or something or this'll be a one-sided match.

CEMETARY MAN (Dellamote, dellamorte, 1994)



I'm not entirely sure if all of this comedy is intentional or not. This could be the italian Evil Dead II.
"Why?! You were always so understanding!"

THE CRIPPLED MASTERS (1979)


If people missing limbs can play music, they can do kung-fu too!

DARK ANGEL (a.k.a. I come in Peace, 1990)



Dolph Lundgren vs. a Mortal Kombat-powered alien! YES!

E'GAD, ZOMBIES! (2010)


Ian McKellen in a period zombie film?! Yes, please!

THE DRAGON LIVES AGAIN (1977)


If you don't want to see Bruce Lee meet (and fight) Popeye and James Bond, you're dead to me.

HALF A LOAF OF KUNG FU (1980)


But Jackie Chan doesn't meet Popeye...
...Jackie Chan BECOMES Popeye. Mind = blown.

JACK FROST (1964)



This is crazy film based on a a Russian folk tale, not the Michael Keaton snowman movie, although that sounds awful too.

L'EXECUTEUR


This is the sort of thing most french movies would need. Take notes, Godard.

MATANGO - ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE (1963)


I wonder what shrooms the makers were on?

MYSTICS IN BALI (1981)



I see Re-Animator got some ideas here - but toned them down. This is one of the most fucked-up-looking films I've ever seen!

NORWEGIAN NINJA (2010)


I have a thing for Scandinavian ninja movies.

THE ONE-ARMED EXECUTIONER (1983)


The first Bobby Suarez film I-wanna-see, inspired by the documentary Machete Maidens Unleashed.

OUTLAND (1981)


According to Empire magazine it has Sean Connery making Space his bitch. Ace.

RAZORBACK (1984)



It's got only two states of being - dangerous or dead. It being a murderous giant wild hog.

RIGHTING WRONGS (1986)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN_xxs_8Kqg

“Over studying makes you a moron.” - tag line from Righting Wrongs.

R.O.T.O.R. (1988)


Or Robotic Officer Tactical Operation Research. With a name like that, you'll just know it has some robots going on a rampage!

THE SUPER INFRAMAN (1975)



This chinese Ultraman-clone seems to be even more insane.

TIGER ON THE BEAT (1988)


I heard from trustworthy sources that this is mad as hell. Chainsaw fights and the lot. And seems to be cheerfully misogynistic to boot. Nice.

THE TOUGHEST MAN IN THE WORLD (1984)


I miss Mr T. The T used to mean Tough.

WHEELS ON MEALS (1984)


Nothing silly about this one, just seems kickass enough for my tastes.

WHO KILLED CAPTAIN ALEX? (2010)



Seriously THIS is how to do low budget films. Uganda rules!

ZOMBIE LAKE (1981)


Dead Snow didn't invent nazi zombies, although they weren't as lovelorn in that one.

Tuesday, 15 December 2009

C-c-c-changes, plus some more movies I-wanna-see

I haven't updated for a while, as I've been having a small crisis as to where I should take this blog. At first I figured I'd just put up small reviews of every movie I'd seen, creating a sort of database in my movie-seeing in the long run. But then I began to think that it wasn't too appreciative for the movies. They deserve to be analysed deeper than just a couple of sentences. So, from now on, I'll only do posts in regards of a bigger theme. For example, soon I figured I could do a list of my favorite Christmas movies. If there really is someone other than me reading this blog, please feel free to comment on what sort of blog would you rather be interested in reading.

And now, as a thanks for reading this news update, I'll give you some more of movies I-wanna-see:

Blood Freak

This is a perfect film for Thanksgiving, a pro-jesus, anti-drug, sadistic killer turkey film.


Bloody Pit of Terror! http://bit.ly/IoKyA
Paha Mustanaamio!


Color Me Blood Red http://bit.ly/6RLDPW

The Hidden! http://bit.ly/2S7jud

I 3 Fantastici Supermen! http://bit.ly/1X5AJ1
It's like Italian Spiderman, but for real!


Incense for the Damned! http://bit.ly/2jiRTh
Starring the late, great Edward Woodward.


Murphy's law!

There's only one law - Charles Bronsons's law!


The Protector! http://bit.ly/4EKyBM
To be fair, I'll probably include all the Tony Jaa films I haven't seen to this.


Raging Phoenix! http://bit.ly/16PYVn
Awesome, although I hope they aren't in fact all real fights and real injuries
.

Rock 'n Roll Nightmare! http://bit.ly/sSXCK
Oh Yeeeeeah!


The Room
This seems on par with one of my all-time favorites Russian Ninja with acting abilities.


Savage! http://bit.ly/14fPpD

Secret Agent 00 Soul http://finnish.imdb.com/title/tt0114375/
A Bond spoof starring Billy Dee Williams! It's a miracle it doesn't have any YouTube videos


Street Fighter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb0Ty41jWxQ

For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me... it was Tuesday. What?

Top of the heap http://bit.ly/2Konxj
A rare blaxploitation flick shown at Night Visions festival, but I missed it.

666 - the Nigerian Omen http://bit.ly/V6FYK
Reading Vice sure pays off.

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