Admit One

Transit Center Stad
Presenting
YUMA
R
10:25 PM
Fri 09/07/07
Adult
VCR $9.25
Aud 3

Movie: Having more respect for Johnny Cash than the performance that secured Phoenix the Oscar I was wary of the ability of the director to remake this well loved title. Fortunately when you have Crowe and Bale, all you need to do is open the box and every now and again inform them of their motivations. From there your plant (for the purposes of the metaphor) will turn into a 60 foot man eating piranha plant and you just let it tear the house down. The performances were beyond spectacular as Bale kept his subtext layers deep and the human element became so strong as the two men developed such a respect for each other. I vowed to see the original after a movie buff one generation greater than I beyond recommended it along with the Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns of fame but alas I haven't seen any yet.

I noted that the cinematography, while of course heavily inspired by John Ford, crafted a mood of suspense, rather than adventure, which for the purposes of this movie, worked very well.

Experience: This movie marked the very first movie I had ever seen in complete digital projection. Our entire lives we have been used to seeing hairs and scratches from filming to varying degrees (moreso to those of us in love with grindhouse/2nd run theaters) but the ever evolving business has seemed to almost eliminate these artifacts. On the other hand as any person who has ever upgraded to a DVD in their home knows, digital isn't a completely bad thing. As any person who isn't completely in love with change it was bittersweet.

I had been brought into a group of old friends a year or so prior due to a reforged friendship with a friend, Chris from high school, which over the years has proven immensely fulfilling. We, through a series of combined interests started to work on projects together and developed a friendship which I am constantly very thankful for. The insight and passion of this particular individual has opened my eyes to a great many things.

With that a group of us started to hit the theaters weekly, making events of each and every one. The events didn't stop there however. The thing I don't think I'll be able to forget about the group as a whole however is some of their parties.

During the yearly "bounce house party" the summer prior, one of the party-goers through a series of unfortunate events during the night, ended up eating a dog treat without his knowledge, failing a makeshift "field sobriety test" administered by a friend who was drunkenly obnoxious himself, was thrown off a porch, and after running away from me as another friend and I were trying to safely drive him home he got in his vehicle.

In the course of twenty seconds he knocked over a mailbox, ran into a solid wall of a house (barely missing a plate glass window and a boat on both sides respectively), and attempted to run away from the scene to which he fell face first in the mud. This could only be as hilarious as it is considering he escaped with a mild concussion and was given multiple chances to avoid his fate.

Weeks later he attempted to legally blame The Losson Group (who I have dubbed so due to their geographical location; sorry it's not more creative) and the owner of the house in particular claiming the automotive misadventure was his fault. The courts looked at his priors (he just THAT NIGHT received his license back from a prior offense which he was bragging about to multiple people) and quickly dismissed his paper thin defense.

Since then the group has not done too many movies, with or without myself due to conflicting schedules and some general life involvements, but everyone is still friendly, save for the aforementioned drunken idiot.

Ending on a slightly more movie related tidbit, while standing in line months later for a traffic violation I was listening to an interview with the screenwriters who mentioned this was their dream project which they were only able to do after writing the profitable movie "2 fast 2 furious" ::shudders:: I can not look at this movie without being reminded of this. I guess everybody has to start somewhere.

Elmwood 16 (Buffalo)
presenting
MISSION IMPO
9:40PM Sat 05/06/06
Adult $8.75
2

Movie: Having absolutely hated the travesty of MI 2 and it's gaudy Godzilla-esque motorcycle fight I never intended to walk into a movie in the franchise again. Then the trailer hit right along with the launch of the Xbox 360 and it's remarkable live service, and I was beyond wowed.



The trailer was one of those rare ones that actually do not give away the entire plot of the movie. For that it was even more exciting for it setup a concept grounded by an amazing performance by Phillip Seymour Hoffman. We get some of his best dialogue in the movie followed by a number of exciting visual tidbits.

Then an even bigger coup for the franchise happened as JJ Abrams signed on to direct followed by the celebrated screenwriting team of Kurtzman and Orci. Their concept of making the concept about the logistics of having a relationship amidst one's involvement in the intelligence community gave an actual human element to the story as in comparison to the normal tech, explosion, stunt ideology. Now there is actually a reason to care about whether these people save the world. This even succeeded in making Tom Cruise appear human, which is no small task these days as he carries his Scientological soap box with him wherever he goes.

Combined with one of cinemas first looks at the newly renovated skyline of one of the world's largest cities, I immediately liked the film and, it was probably my favorite movie of that summer.

Experience: The movie experienced was emphasized by my favorite kind of theater. More of an exaggerated stadium style setup the room is essentially more of a box than a rectangle, the screen is almost on the top of it's wall with enough space above it not to be off-putting. I remember the theater being surprisingly small for such a big movie. Sometimes saving space is a good thing.

This was the last movie I had seen stateside with a dear friend that I had spent the majority of my time with for three years, just weeks before he decided he needed a life change. He felt couldn't bear to be apart from his new girlfriend any longer and promptly moved to Canada without a word to anyone, much to our surprise as you can imagine.

SHAUN OF THE DEAD
Regal Quaker Crossing (Orchard Park, NY)
4:45pm Monday 11/1/04
Matinee $6.00
Aud 14

Movie: I have a tendency over the past five years to come out of a movie not decidedly liking or disliking a film. This bothers me greatly. When this started to happen it would send me into a place where I would naively mistake this feeling for dislike but I've since learned that it places me in a good analytical place to make judgments based less on emotional aftermath than careful consideration.

So it's a good thing that I was exposed to this movie multiple times because it is, in fact, amazing. Since coming out of the first viewing I must have seen this movie roughly a dozen times considering how jam packed the DVD was with extras. I can now honestly say that this is one of my top 5 favorite movies.

The editing is top notch, Edgar Wright (the director) having been in school around the time that computer based, non-linear, editing systems were revolutionizing the way people cut movies together is a master of using cuts to convey emotion and style. He tells a story how he wants to tell it.

Unfortunately this tends to make some directors lazy when it comes to the visuals of a movie, but thankfully not here, the choice of lenses and medium shot/ closeups send the visual comedy through in the way a lesser movie might have missed.

Without the tremendous talent of the writers/actors (Wright having co-wrote the first of his "Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy" with star Simon Pegg) the film wouldn't have been as layered either. Each character that comes on screen has an entire backstory woven into sometimes a single line of dialogue and the characters never feel like disposable horror cliches. The duo also seems to enjoy putting power in the hands of those that typically don't wield it in these types of films as our heroes are functional stoners and yet they are trumped by the power of the man's girlfriend. Not to mention it's nice to have some honest emotion in these types of movies every now and again.

Experience: This was my first ever visit to Quaker Crossing, and it wasn't a good one. Just something about the place always makes me feel like I am on the outside of myself looking in, some of the larger theaters inside also tend to have that feeling of being in a long warehouse with high ceilings and you are almost looking through a long tunnel at the screen. Leaves me unsettled sometimes.

Not that I needed any help to get that way. My best friend at the time had been slipping, the past months he had squandered everything good and decent in his life as he started to feel he wanted more in his life. Not more in the sense of wanting to appreciate what one has and work for better circumstances, but more for the sense of just having more. Unfortunately as he now has learned, "more" never satisfies, unless you earn it. The mind naturally wanders sometimes, but never should you make life decisions based on it.

In any event this was the last time our group spent any time together in more than small factions, my friend's decisions brought us all to a darker place for some time, and for his sake hopefully he can someday recover and turn it into something positive like the rest of us have.

This is the end of the first section of my journal, more precisely the end of a seven year stretch. I had never the patience nor what I considered the talent to continually update my journal with any great value. Originally I had hoped to constantly update, and that fell by the wayside, then the journal became essentially a scrapbook and a base for cryptic one-liners either targeted at an individual or targeted at myself. Unfortunately they are so cryptic that I myself sometimes even forget them.

If I ever look back on this moment. I would like to point/counter point where my life is at.
- I am 24 years old and I have not yet moved out of my family home but that goal is coming to the forefront more each day.
- I have one month ago purchased my very first car. I was thrilled they gave me so much for my old one but car payments suck.
- I am a media study student with a focus on film/video production. Despite the fact that I am considered an international honor student with a GPA in the top 15% worldwide I realize that accomplishment is not going to make waking up without a job any easier.
- I am in a relationship with a beautiful woman that loves me and we both constantly worry that we are too much for the other to handle.
- I am in a stage in my life where I am trying to improve my personal relationships through helping those I care about and it consistently seems to either not do anything or makes matters worse.

Now as I move on to the next chapter/ format. I hope you'll somewhat enjoy my strange experiment in nostalgia and attempting to stretch my creative muscle. Rarely will I write a conventional entry from now on but it might happen...

Me: Good evening, Front Desk.

Girl: Hi, my TV is not working, can you come down and fix it?

Me: Well what seems to be the problem miss?

Girl: The TV isn't turning on...

Me: Well miss, are you sure the TV is plugged in?

Girl: One sec ::goes to check:: ::sheepishly returns:: Thank you very much.

Me: Have a good night miss.



.These Canadians will be the death of me yet.

Well that explains a lot...

I just realized that when I leave this place, I am not taking a goddamn scrap of fabric with me.

During the course of half-assedly writing journals that I consider to be the worst assignment ever (It's blatantly obvious you don't care about my opinions prof) I found something extremely interesting.

Fredrico Fellini, one of the greatest italian directors of all time, was in the practice of not only adding all sound in during post production (which was widely practiced in italian cinema at the time), but would play music on the set during filming silently, and would make up the lines after filming; having actors just mouth random things on the set.

I suppose this project isn't all bad. Especially considering the light at the end of the tunnel is seeing my girlfriend for lunch, and finally getting to take advantage of the wonderful gift she gave me.

I just saw a little boy cautiously carrying a bowl of fruit loops through the lobby, constantly looking over his shoulder as if someone was about to steal them. That made my night.

Avoided doing any of the 18 pages of journals due one week from today that I haven't even started. Apparently you can waste obscene amounts of time on the internet. Who knew?

Discovered that I inadvertently befriended a hooker as she continues to talk to me for extended periods of time each night. They come here, they all come here.

Befriended a Russian photographer who I debated the necessity of upgrading to vista for 30 minutes. He now plans to continue this debate tonight. Pity his english isn't better.

Had a southern girl follow me around all night. My ability to make small talk at 4am is somewhat hindered.

Possibly solved my music problem for my project.

Had a long overdue conversation at 3 in the morning.

Realized a friendship is essentially over. Shock of all shocks.

Realized this job will probably kill me.

So there is this girl... Not my girlfriend, nor anyone I've had romantic interludes with, or even someone I have really had any communication with in any way lest you think this entry was going in that particular direction but I digress. This girl has been in the majority of my production classes, rare to me since film making has been for better and for worse, a boys club for the most part.

Her work started off strong to me. She made something extremely personal straight out of the gate. She spoke about her father's death and showed some of the scars that she carried as a result. A bold move, and quite the stand out piece in terms of her narrative and voice over. It was personal, harsh, and beautiful. The visuals weren't quite there but we are all essentially novices at this, right? I was impressed, I did my best to give whatever suggestions I could to further her work, I badly wanted to see her succeed.

Her work...changed after that. As best I could describe it for the most part, she and her friends would get high and turn on the camera. Not necessarily Tenacious D or Cheech and Chong so much as "Woo, wouldn't it be funny if the mannequin head was smoking a joint and then we juxtapose this image by showing a man who has fallen asleep on the toilet?" This was just the beginning, and I admit I found my admiration somewhat waning and my anticipation of further projects somewhat non-existent.

So fast forward two years later to today's class. People were showing a number of promising projects. Some funny, some dealing with movement on different levels, some trying to mend society's ills, when she steps up to the monitor. She had a disc of voice over recordings on a new project about her older brother living with autism and how she has taken care of him most of her life. It's far from finished and I can only wonder what images she'll use.

It's honest and good.

Everyone goes back to the well eventually.

Sometimes at the end of the day, you feel like you just shouldn't have gotten up in the morning...

To tell the truth is a duty but is a duty only towards one who has a right to the truth.

Yesterday I:

- Had a long overdue talk with someone close

- Was called a racist for not giving someone their money back

- Went for a walk by myself and had a crap time

- Had a taco for dinner that was overhyped by my mind and did not live up to the hype

- Went for a walk with May and had a great time

- Watched by far the cheesiest movie ever made on celluloid which I happen to own

- Ate two candy bars during this time and the resulting sugar high put me to sleep during part of the end

- For the first time in two years noticed no flowers on that street corner and that was more bittersweet than seeing them there

I just fired a gun for the first time. I went out with my friends and soon to be weapons advisors for my films. I wore my fake military hat and was given a ballistics vest to wear because they knew I'd get a kick out of it. I fired a Colt 45 handgun and it was loud. I feel I should now go have a steak or something...

Next on my list. Ride a horse.

And the water just flooded over my head...

I just was awoke by an amazingly vivid nightmare in which I was a terrorist and my aunt assisted in my capture. You can continue to sleep soundly.

The walls have crumbled down and the tide is rushing in.

Al, who was one of the security guards from the time I started at the hospital, died last week. He was a stocky man with silvery, slightly longer hair, and a pair of aviator glasses. He pretended to be a grumpy old man to mostly everyone but really lit up whenever we discussed comics or movies. He perticularly liked Batman and Spider-man. Turns out he was putting up a fake front because he had been battling cancer all these years. A movie which he spoke about very highly to me the last time we really spoke was the 1950's version of 300 Spartans. I wonder if it had anything to do with the fact they actually filmed at the Hot Gates and he wished to visit there himself. I'll never know. He really responded to the fact that I wasn't put off by older movies like most people my age. I'll most remember him for the stories of bittersweet heroism that he cherished and that he was a living example that people need something to live for in order to live their life to the fullest. He died a month after retiring from his job and he was close to 80 years old. Goodbye Al.

You have a working computer on top of one that doesn't.


Thats me for the next few weeks unfortunately :(