colinjlouro.tumblr.com
I’ve been posting over on my tumblr site, colinjlouro.tumblr.com. For what is really a blog, this WordPress is too complicated and tumblr is much more contained and easy to maintain. It’s simple, straightforward and easy to manage. For now that’s where I’ll be writing. I’m also working on a much larger film site, hosted through WordPress, that will go live in (hopefully) under a month. Follow me at my Twitter or tumblr pages for updates on that, when they should arrive.
CinéasteJohn.com
For all the readers out there, I’ve purchased my domain name and moved everything over to http://cineastejohn.com. I’ll be writing there from now on and probably changing more in the future and bringing new aspects to the site. It’s hosted outside of WordPress, so I’ll be able to add more features and have much more control for customization than is allowed for free through WordPress. I’m trying to figure out a way to forward the domain to go straight to the new address even if you type in cineastejohn.wordpress.com, so if anyone knows how to do this, I’d greatly appreciate the help. Thanks for reading.
The Oscars Preview: Part 2 – My Picks
I waited to write this column until I saw A Serious Man, the last of the bigger Oscar nominees I had yet to see. Ummm yeah…I shouldn’t have bothered. I haven’t included every category because I feel I couldn’t appropriately address everything, and while I love original scores, the music wasn’t fresh in my mind for a lot of films and as such felt I couldn’t give an informed opinion. However, I would like to note that Abel Korzeniowski & Shigeru Umebayashi’s score for A Single Man is beautiful and everyone should check it out if they enjoy that kind of thing.
Anyway, here’s my selections for nominations, and again, picks for what I would personally choose as my best of the year in bold. And this includes my Top 10 of 2009. Have I egregiously left anything out? Let me know and fire back in the comments below.
Read the rest of the article at my domain, www.cineastejohn.com.
Quickfire reviews. (2.6.10)
I’ve watched a bunch of different stuff the past couple weeks, and this edition of “Quickfire reviews” is long overdue and includes several Oscar nominees and 11 flicks in all. A new decision on my part: the order of reviews will begin with the bad and end on the good. I’ll save the best for last.
Big Fan. (Overall 2/10)
Read the rest of the article at my domain, www.cineastejohn.com.
The Oscars Preview: Part 1, Nominations
The Oscar nominations have arrived. In years past, I’ve been very bitter about certain snubs and certain inclusions. Last year, The Dark Knight and WALL-E were my biggest snubs for Best Picture and felt it was a complete failure on the Academy to have left them out. The system is very flawed, but that’s a much longer conversation. Last year was relevant though because it forced the hand of the Academy to expand the Best Picture nominees from 5 to 10 due to the exclusion of The Dark Knight. The last time we had more than 5 nominated films was 1943, when Casablanca took home the prize in a field of 10. Anyway, I have my reservations about what this means, but again, that’s a longer conversation. Here are the nominees and who I think will win in bold. I’ll offer up my nominations and what I think should win to follow in Part 2 next week in the major categories, as I can’t speak to some of what’s below because they are inaccessible (e.g. Live Action & Animated Short Films).
Read the rest of the article at my domain, www.cineastejohn.com.
Lifting the Curtain.
When I was a little kid I used to think about how it was physically possible for a film to be made. I thought maybe it was shot in real time and that everything on screen was occurring simultaneously and filmed in one swift motion to create the complete motion picture. Crazy, yes, but I was a kid, and what did I know?
Read the rest of the article at my domain, www.cineastejohn.com.
A Spider-Man Reboot?
With the shocking news of Sony Pictures’ decision to drop director Sam Raimi and star Tobey Maguire from the future of the Spider-Man franchise and re-visit Peter Parker’s high school beginnings, it’s hard for anything to come to mind other than, “Umm…what?”
Comic books and superheroes have long been an escape from reality for young and old alike. From 1978-2000, only two were relevant in Hollywood: Superman & Batman. Both had spawned franchises, both lasted four installments, both initially had two great films, and both, in the end, had two shitty films. In 2000, the next big comic book franchise arrived in X-Men, directed by Bryan Singer (whose previous film was the modern classic The Usual Suspects). X-Men may have been the experiment to see if audiences were interested in comic book adaptations. After grossing $157 million domestically, X-Men proved the public, movie-going draw of superheroes. You may call X-Men the birth of the comic-book-to-screen adaptation frenzy, but the real catalyst was the release of Spider-Man two years later.
Read the rest of the article at my domain, www.cineastejohn.com.
Quickfire reviews. (1.11.10)
Last weekend I was searching for a movie to go see in theatres. I had seen The Princess and the Frog on Friday, and wanted to check out a matinee on Sunday. I couldn’t justify spending money to see Sherlock Holmes. I just can’t find any interest there. Why is Sherlock Holmes a borderline superhero engaging in bare-fist fighting? I just don’t get it. It has Netflix Watch Instantly written all over it.
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus? Ehhh…honestly, I think the trailer is cool as hell, but Terry Gilliam is too weird, and I’ve disliked too many of his films to believe that this will be any different. My main motivation is really just to see Heath Ledger’s final performance. I still want to see it, but I think I’ll wait for Netflix.
Anyway, here’s what I have seen the past two weeks, whether in theatres or at home, but still 2009 releases…
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The “Just Missed” List & Looking Ahead.
Here’s the final 73 that round out my top 100 of the decade. In compiling the overall list I went through the weekly release schedule for every year since 2000 and picked out the best. Then, from the best of each year, I picked out the cream of the crop and went from there. It’s hard to imagine if I really missed anything, and if I did, it’s likely the case that I haven’t seen it. Either way, if you feel I’ve neglected anything, let me know in the comments section and voice your own opinion for why you feel a certain film has been ignored.
Read the rest of the article at my domain, www.cineastejohn.com.
cinéaste john 
The Revisited.
Sometimes reasons for not liking a film are tangible; something was off with the story, the acting or direction and you can pinpoint right away what put you off. But occasionally the reasons are intangible and can result from subconscious feelings or moods that you may not be able to articulate for even yourself, let alone a friend you may have been with. It’s possible you walked into a theatre pissed off at the popcorn guy for skimping you on your butter or you got into a fight with a significant other. Maybe it took you a half hour to find a parking spot and angrily strolled into the theatre during the trailers and couldn’t find a good seat. Maybe you’re watching at home and you’ve got other distractions all around you pulling your focus away from the screen. There’s a million ways outside influences can spill over into an experience of seeing any film for the first time, and for this reason exactly, you should never be afraid to see anything twice.
Read the rest of the article at my domain, www.cineastejohn.com.