Back in the blogsphere

Thesis delivered and it's TV season! So much to watch and so little time. That might change soon as Pushing Daises has not been picked up for season 2.5 and thus ends with 22 episodes. What a shame. It's probably one of my favorite shows. Fullers talents will not go to waste as he is likely to return to Heroes, but still, it's not the same. Unfortunately it seems they ended with a cliffhanger that obviously will not be followed up so it's too bad they weren't able to wrap up the series. It's talk of continuing the series in cartoon form so that the story will continue there, but it's all rather new, so we will see. I know I'm going to watch the last 4 or 5 episodes religiously with as much candy, hot chocolate and attention they deserve. On that not I'm going to go cry a little in the bath room, brb.


Ok, all cried out and ready to move on. Guitar hero seems to be the everyman's rock dream, and there's nothing like cranking up the star power and go full out! Now, I'm still on medium so I shouldn't brag too much, but these guys are pretty awesome!

David Lynch

Awesome!

David Lynch on product placement


David Lynch on watching movies on a phone. (notice the setup of the clip though with the cozy apple music and the convenient "iPhone" in bold at the end - someone's been having some fun)

The Visitor

The Visitor is coming to Norwegian theatres this friday and was given a 6 (out of 6 possible) in one of the biggest Norwegian newspapers. Grounds to look further into the movie! It's by the director of The Station Agent and the producer of Sideways, which turns up the anticipation even more. It's apparently about a university professor who has a rather straight forward life which doesn't really fulfill him. After the loss of his wife he shut down emotionally and doesn't find any pleasure in living. During a trip to New York for a conference, two foreigners (a man from Syria and a woman from Senegal) are living in his apartment due to a misunderstanding. But as it turns out, this meeting will be his awakening. There seems to be some sort of political agenda in the movie, but according to the norwegian review this is done in a subtle way.

The trailer didn't really mesmerize me, but considering the rating of 8.1 at imdb and the review in Dagbladet it is definitely worth a look.

HIMYM Season 4

They are back on set and filming for the new season yay :D It's sad though that all the focus is on the guest stars such as Britney and that other fella they talk about appearing this upcoming season, cause the show in itself is awesome! Seriously, who cares about them! Neil Patrick Harris is funneh! "Look away Josh Radnor, look away".

Watchmen

Zack Snyder, the director of 300 is currently working on Watchmen which is based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore. The comic was released in 1986-1987 and became an acclaimed piece of litterature. The writer set out to do a comic for adults and so Watchmen is not the straight forward superhero comic, but rather superheroes flawed. The movie is highly anticipated and according to the crew working on Watchmen, the movie is very true to the novel. It's already been filmed but the release isn't until 2009, so this trailer might ease the wait.

Everything is illuminated

Everything is illuminated was shown at the film festival Kosmorama 2 years ago but I wasn't able to see it. I did see it this weekend and it is a sweet little movie. Jonathan is a collector. He collects everything of value to him and puts it in small bags. This obsession as one might call it, started after his grandfather died. Now on the deathbed of his grandmother he is given a picture of his grandfather and a woman that saved his life during World War II. Jonathan sets out to find this woman. He hires a rather disturbed tour guide company and the guide, his seeing eye dog and the grandson take young Jonathan on a trip he will never forget. The images are beautiful and the nature is stunning. The characters seem a bit stereotypical at times. There's the grumpy grandfather, the strict waitress that only serves meat and the somewhat dim-witted grandson that loves Michael Jackson. It atleast feels like they try to portray the east european culture to it's full extent. When (if) you get past that then it's a nice, witty and a little bit sad movie. 7.7 on imdb - maybe a tinsy bit lower in my opinion.

Fun fact: The actor playing the grandson is the front man for Gogol Bordello. Saw them at both the Roskilde festival and the Quart festival and although it's not my kind of music they sure know how to put on a show and put you in a good mood no matter what! It's a lively bunch and they just go nuts on stage!

The Last Kiss

The Last Kiss (2006) is an american movie based on the italian L'Ultimo Bacio from 2001. I haven't seen the italian one so I don't know how the two movies are compared to each other. The director behind The Last Kiss has mostly done tv series in the past, but the screenwriting is by Paul Haggis - the acclaimed writer behind movies like Crash, Million Dollar Baby, Flags of Our Fathers, Letters From Iwo Jima and In The Valley of Elah. The Last Kiss is centered around Michael and his girlfriend Jenna who are expecting a baby. Both are quite young, in their late 20s and the bigger story in The Last Kiss is about relationships. Not only are Michael and Jenna having problems, but so are their friends and Jenna's parents. I think the movie has a lot of potential and the directing is quite nice, nothing over the top. It's a quiet movie and the issues at hand are presented in a subtle way. The issues the character have to face are placed in the grey areas of life where things aren't certian or purely one thing or another which is good. However, I didn't feel the movie lived up to it's full potential. They have a great writer on board, the pictures were nice, most of the actors did a good job and the music was... nostalgic... Coldplay, Athlete and Turin Brakes to mention some... There are several stories in this movie and we never got to know all of them very good. The main focus was entirely on Michael and Jenna and a certain incident they had to resolve. I think the movie could have been richer had we been able to see more of the other stories as well, which may have tied together the overall theme a bit better. It's a relatively short movie, only 1 hour and 30 minutes so a little more meat to the film couldn't hurt. It's got a 6.7 on imdb which I think is a bit low and I would give it a 7.2.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

1 years has passed in the real world but in the magical land of Narnia it's been 1300 years. Yeah, this is the follow up to Disney's production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe from 2005. As a kid I was a fan of the BBC production of Narnia and I was very sceptical back in 2005 to whether the Disney version would be all glossy and disney-like. The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe wasn't all that bad in my opinion. It could have been much worse, but I guess they were able to constrain themselves and keep it relatively close to the british BBC production. I especially liked Tilda Swinton's performance as the White Witch. So my memory before the age of 8 is kinda sketchy so I for some reason only remember watching The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe and none of the other 3 BBC productions. That leaves the slate somewhat clean when I am to make up an opinion for Disney's Prince Caspian.

Well, the kids are still kids, running around with huge swords when they in real life probably aren't allowed to run with scissors. Prince Caspian, a Telmarine, is about to be killed by his uncle when his professor saves him and sends him for the woods. He receives a magic horn and is asked to use it only in the case of an emergency. The four siblings are back in London and when Prince Caspian uses the horn they are all transported to Narnia. Together with the creatures in the woods they decide to help Prince Caspian take back his throne, and the battle with the Telmarines begins. Narnia has received some heat for its religious and sexist undertones and they are still there. I think that in 2008 the most prominent and most annoying with these kinds of tales is the fact that the boys with their swords decide what to do, but the girls have to be quiet and do what the boys tell them to do, and of course in the end the girls save the day. It's very stereotypical and kinda boring. The religious connotations are subtle in my opinion, and had I not been aware of them I 'm not sure I would even notice them. Once I was aware of this link they were easy to spot though. The movies are based on the books from the 50s and it wouldn't be Narnia if it wasn't like that. So i guess the question is, do we need Narnia in 2008? In the end it's a pretty straight forward movie that doesn't take any unexpected turns. It's a fantasy movie which is good entertainment, but it's not a movie I will keep thinking about in years to come. I liked The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe more than Prince Caspian as it was more imaginative and the story was more interesting. In this film they have already established the backstory so the main focus of the film was on the big fight against the Telmarins, which to be honest wasn't all that exciting.
Trailer here

House season 5 promo

From a psychological standpoint I'm really looking forward to see how House and Wilson can come out of this. Both characters are so well written and how they interact with each other is for me atleast the most interesting part of the show. I think it's going to be quite the treat seeing how House copes with this and also how they will begin to patch things up.

Jubilee with Maynard and Trent

This has to be a great partnership :D Maynard James Keenan contributed with some vocals on this track by Jubilee, and Trent Reznor programmed the drumbeats for it.

Tool

Damn youtube and it's "related videos" section... you can end up there for hours! Anyways, I was doing some music video searches and ended up finding some Tool interviews. Tool is a band that does very few interviews but there are a couple on there. Thought I'd post one of them here. Everyone in the band keeps a low profile and as the vocalist and "main figure" of the band, Maynard is by the music industry portrayed as an almost mythical creature. I for one admire how they let the music take first place, cause to be honest that is the main thing. Another thing is that Tool's music is quite rich so to give the music its full attention during a consert I find it refreshing that they don't try to give us a flaming show with the band members raising hell, but rather let the music and backdrop images play together to create the ultimate visual and auditory experience. With that being said, I think it's about time they do a score for a movie.

Part 1

Part 2

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along is once again available, official and for free at this site. (Some ads this time around)

The Dark Knight

Wow... for so many reasons. There's been a lot of hype around the latest Batman movie and to come out of the theatre not being dissapointed says alot. First of all, it's a Batman movie. We've all seen the classic Batman movies featuring George Clooney, Val Kilmer and Michael Keaton but this doesn't even come close to those. Batman movies have been more or less straight forward with the typical heroes and bad-guys and very accesible (without sounding condecending.. they have all been easy to follow by a large audience) The Dark Knight turns the stereotypical hero/enemy picture upside-down and then a little to the side. The Joker played by Heath Ledger is a great character and becomes even better by his great performance. He doesn't seem like the typical bad guy as he seems insecure and not in control. He stutters and walks without confidence. His weapon of choice is psychological terror and simple dynamite. He doesn't aim to get rich or rule the world, he just does what he does for the fun of it. Refreshing to see a character that does somthing out of the simple pleasure of it (even if it's mean) instead of having motives like money, fame or power. Alot of the movie is carried by the Joker in my opinion.

Secondly, the story in itself is also rather sophisticated and not very predictable. The plot takes a lot of turns and the characters first thought of as the good guys might end up doing some bad things which keeps things interesting. Batman himself played by Christian Bale has to struggle with being hated by the people, not so much for the things he does interestingly enough, but for the consequences of his presence in Gotham City.

Last but not least, much of The Dark Knight's success should be assigned to Christopher Nolan (Memento, Insomnia, The Prestige and Batman Begins), who has given this cartoon character substance along with rich supporting characters, an interesting story, a dark Gotham City and morals not often seen in a Hollywood blockbuster. Batman is the hero but not for obvious reasons like him being able to kick ass and drive around in fancy cars, but because he does what is best for Gotham City, even if that doesn't make him a hero in the eyes of the people of Gotham.

I was very surprised at how interesting and rich this movie was considering it is yet another Batman movie. It does ofcourse have its moments with flashy cars and pretty girls but to the large extent this movie is everything it shouldn't be which I think is why it's been such a success.

NIN The Slip Physical Release

Some time ago NIN released the new album free to download from www.nin.com as a thanks to the fans thoughout the years. The album has now been released in a physical release with a bonus DVD edition and six-panel layout, 24 page booklet and an exclusive three sticker set.

The bonus DVD includes 5 live performances filmed during rehearsals for
Nine Inch Nails' upcoming tour, including album tracks Echoplex, 1,000,000
and Letting You.

The Slip digipaks will be LIMITED to 250,000 pieces only!

For more information go to: http://theslip.nin.com/physical

For a free download of the album go here.

Premiere dates for next seasons Tv-shows (Fall 2008)

16. September
- House MD (season 5)

22. September
- How I met your mother (season 4)
- The Big Bang Theory (season 2)
- Heroes (season 3)

01. October
- Pushing Daisies (season 2)

Battlestar Galactica (cont. season 4) Jan. 2009

Pushing Daisies

I stumbled over a new tv show the other day called Pushing Daisies and after the first episode I was pleasently surprised. In my opinion it's a combination between Amélie, Tim Burtons universe and a hint of six feet under. The bright colors and kind of naive universe reminds me of Amélie, while the almost absurdly strange characters are familiar from Tim Burtons world, and the subtle six feet under part comes from the sort of sadness that comes from dealing with death, and the fact that the two main characters aren't able to touch. This last comparison to Six feet under may not be obvious outside the inner workings of my tiny brain, but i kind of think that the main character bears a silent and gloomy persona. So far there is only 1 season released and due to the writers strike season 1 only contains 9 episodes. Already the main character has been nominated for an Emmy for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series and the show has got another 11 Emmy nominations.


A clip from the show. Notice how great that voiceover is. Just ties the mood of the show together.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Joss Whedon has made a Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along starring Neil Patrick Harris (How i met your mother) and Nathan Fillon (Firefly). There are 3 episodes available today only, as the 3 acts have been released during the past week. The free viewings end today and will be purchasable though iTunes after today. I watched them last night and acts II and III are quite amusing.
Check them out on http://drhorrible.com/

Mamma Mia

So I wasn't going to write about Mamma Mia here cause I don't find it worty words, but I'm bored so why not. Well, it wasn't great. Not sure what i expected, thought it was going to be a shallow summer movie, but it was even worse. It was a shallow summer movie with horrible acting, bad directing and just an orgie in bad choreography and ABBA songs. Now, I've never been a fan of musicals on film, but I did enjoy Sweeney Todd. I think the main consern about Mamma Mia is that they basically filmed a theatrical version. Never did it feel like a movie. There were long scenes, overdramatic gestures and stereotypical dance moves. I guess this is something that works in the theatre, but in a movie it becomes way too much. Last but not least, NO ONE is that happy all the time! Freakin annoying! It's got a 7.8 (!?!) on imbd, but you should definitely check out the score breakdown as it's not very balanced between sex and age. Go see it in the theatres or wait for a real movie, this one is not worth it.
Trailer here

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Now I've been a fan of the sitcom "How i met your mother" for years and had a certain idea of what to expect from Forgetting Sarah Marshall. The main character in the movie isn't very different from Marshall in himym, which may have something to do with the fact that Jason Segel playing Marshall wrote the script for Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I've never been a fan of teenage comedies and knowing that this was an Apatow production did make me somewhat sceptical. I once started watching Superbad which is another acclaimed Apatow production, but ended up turning it off half way through cause I found it horribly embarresing. Knocked up wasn't that great either, although it did receive some good critics. I was very positively surprised by Forgetting Sarah Marshall as the comedy and story is much more "grown up" than in other Apatow productions. The main character gets dumped while naked (which actually did happen to the writer Jason Segel in real life) and this is just one of many sad but sympathetic situations we get to see of Peter. Who hasn't been watching tv in pj's crying over a bowl of ice cream? It's time the heartbroken boy gets to come out of his shell. The movie has alot of funny lines which makes for an entertaining movie experience. A nice movie if you need a good laugh. Trailer here

21

A couple of weeks ago I was given som free tickets to see 21. I went with a friend and neither of us had any idea of what the movie would be like. I think i did a quick imdb check on it before we left and at that point it had a 7.0 or something. I also knew that it was based on a true story which i think made it a little bit more interesting. 21 is about a group of MIT students, with the help of a professor, learn how to count cards so that they can win money by gambling in Las Vegas. Together they create a system so that the casinos don't see the scam. The main character in this film initially has some doubts, but as he is denied a scholaship and he needs 300.000$ for Harvard medical school, decides to join in afterall. Now it all starts out well, they win alot of money and everyone is happy and go for a major shopping spree at the hotels designer stores. Very glamorous. Then personal issues starts to lurk and it all goes horribly wrong.

It's an entertaining movie, I'll give it that. The music is tailored and holds the movie thoughout. But, it's all very unrealistic. I would think this being based on a true story they could have made it more... ehm.. realistic? There is alot of expensive designer clothes, flashing lights, alchohol, money, shoes, bags, makeup.. the works! It's like they are trying to sell the idea of how fun money can be, instead of telling the story that easily could hold its own without all the flashy bits. Now I love a movie involving anything science related and it doesn't get more nerdy than math.. But insead the focus of the entire movie was on the glamorous life of wealth and fortune, with the intelligent part being just the backdrop. A rating of 6.9 being well deserved.
Trailer here

There will be blood

This has been a long awaited movie from Paul Thomas Anderson, director behind award winning movies like Magnolia, Punch-drunk love and Boogie Nights. After a long break he returned to the movies with the highly anticipated There will be Blood. The movie is set in early 20th century and is centered around the character Daniel Plainview (played by Daniel Day-Lewis) who by luck finds oil while mining for silver. He then sets out to find more oil and by accident one of his workers gets killed which makes Daniel the caregiver for the workers young kid. This turns out to be a conflicting relationship as Daniel uses this father-son bond to portray himself as a dependable businessman when he travel the US to buy land to extract oil. We follow Daniel from the beginning of his career as an oil man to the end where he sits alone in his huge estate, having lost the relationships he once had. The character of Daniel is both sympathetic and less sympathetic. He does a good job of protecting the young kid he brings with him, but then again it's a relationship he exploits to put his business in a better light. The movie can be seen in light of recent oil related interests in Iraq, with disastrous consequences. With that being said, the movie is based upon the novel "Oil" by Upton Sinclair, from 1927. The drive for wealth is however a timeless and universal topic. There will be blood has been rightfully placed on the imdb top 250 movies with a rating of 8.4.
Trailer here

Juno

At the time when I saw Juno I hadn't heard much about it other than it being from the director Jason Reitman, known from Thank you for smoking which was a great movie so I had hopes for something good. About 5 minutes into the movie I knew this was going to be way better than I had expected. The dialogue is like no other and the characters are refreshingly weird. Ellen Page does an amasing role as Juno. The story itself isn't anything new, but how it's done and particulary the characters and the dialogue makes it unique. The movie is about the high school student Juno which becomes pregnant and decides to put her baby up for adoption to a couple who has difficulty conceiving a kid on their own. As mentioned before, this is not a new consept for a movie, but don't be fooled by the simple and ordinary storyline. It deserves it's spot on the imdb list for top 250 movies with a rating of 8.1.
Trailer here

In Bruges

I was originally going to see In Bruges during the film festival Kosmorama in april, but the screeening was cancelled. I did however get to see it a couple of weeks ago. During Kosmorama I has high hopes for In Bruges and was dissapointed it got cancelled. I must admit I was a bit dissapointed again when i actually saw the movie. It is about two hit men, where one of them (Colin Farrel) messed up on the previous hit and have been told to seek cover in Bruges. The character played by Colin Farrel isn't very beliveable, not sure if that comes from poor acting or bad character build. Ray accidentally shot someone other than was intended on the previous hit and is having trouble coping with this, as is natural when you are a hit man? Basically I didn't find the story interesting or beliveable so I don't agree with the 8.1 on imdb. Moreover it seems like a massive tourist advertisment for the city of Bruges. But they did atleast achieve that, Bruges does seem like a nice city.
Trailer here

The Savages

The Savages was released in 2007, but recently aired on Norwegian movie theatres. It's about a sister and brother in their forties having to face their sick and dying father which never really was there for them. The movie shows how the brother and sister are able to reconnect and solve their own personal issues with attachment both to their father, each other and other people in their lives.

It's written and directed by Tamara Jenkins who has done a couple of minor movies in the 90s. The movie is quiet, soft, honest and funny, but very sad. The images are dark and the people are depressed, but this gives the movie a sense of reality. It's quite sad to see how the brother and sister tries to cope with a dying family member and also try to face how their father has treated them when growing up. It holds up to the 7.5 it get's on imdb. Definitely a movie worth seeing.
Trailer here

Let's talk business

As I am in my final stages of completing my masters thesis in psychology, why not start a blog. It's mostly to a place to write about movies i've seen, music i've heard and tv shows i love. Basically something completely new in the world of blogs ;)

My one and true love, as cheesy as it may sound, is the art of pictures and sound with all it's shapes and forms. So why not dedicate a blog to the many great works of art that are out there and that are to come.

I've seen alot of movies in my lifetime and some are definitely worth mentioning... others not so much. Luckily i share this passion with my friends which has made movie night a standard choice for recreational activities. Music is ofcourse a mandatory accessory when it comes to both the silver screen and tv so it will also be a part of this blog. Now i don't claim any real knowledge when it comes to making movies, music or tv shows. I study psychology and have only a couple of classes in media. But the beauty of movies, music and tv is its abilty to grab people no matter social, economical or educational status.

To give a sense of where we are in movie land I'll just mention a couple of my favorites. One of my favorite directors is Clint Eastwood. He makes interesting, beautiful movies with purpose. Letters from Iwo Jima is in my opinion of of his best works. The characters and the atmosphere in the movie is so nuanced. Another favorite movie if mine is Pan's Labyrinth. The world that Ophelia enters is imaginative, different and yet the storyline is easy to relate to. Which i also find holds true for anime movies from Studio Ghibli with Miyazaki directing. For me personally after watching many many movies, I find the ones that can make me see, feel or think something new are the ones that i find the most interesting. That may be either in the form of how the scrips is, how the characters are, how the pictures are, how it's edited, use of music, or the universe the story is set in. As long as it provides something new, it gets a star in my book.

Anyways, enough with the chatter, let's talk business.