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.