My dad gave me two movie theater gift cards, luckily Tara Cinemas on Cheshire Bridge is part of the Regal group. I checked out Doubt tonight and I must say I was like... eh. Hmm...

Doubt is set in 1964 and deals with those flashbacks many middle aged men started getting a few years back. There is a young black boy that becomes the first of his kind at a Italian and Irish Catholic school in the Bronx, the pastor there, Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) takes a liking to him and cares for him in the awkward atmosphere that follows you when you're breaking barriers.

Sister Aluyisious (How the hell do you spell that? anways, Meryl Streep) takes much concern to this relationship as it seems very out of ordinary. It's never revealed if she actually cares about the child or if she mostly concerned with salacious-ness and excitement of uncovering such scandalous things.

The movie presents a lot of questions and doesn't out right answer any of them. It leaves the truth to be found through mise-en-scene and underlying thoughts. I like that to a certain degree but this movie hung to this too closely for my liking. I wanted and needed them to come out and tell me what was going on, that's why I wanted to see the movie, so, I'm just aggravated and I won't tell the ending or other key situations or circumstances. Go see it for yourself.

The cast was great and I think Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman (gotta love the succint-ness of his three names, they can never be interchanged, Philip S. Hoffman, P. S. Hoffman, you never see that. If I met him I'd probably call him Philip Seymour Hoffman, lol) did an excellent, excellent job. They made Meryl look as a ugly and plain and shrewd as possible and her delivery of the lines was just right. She's one of those nuns that uses religion and chastity as a reason to control and restrain people. I hated her character but I thnk we all know someone like her and that's why it worked so well. She will definitely be nominated for supporting actress, and I hope she wins, but I don't know her competition and I haven't seen Revolutionary Road yet.

P. S. Hoffman did a good job as well. His character was likeable yet distrustful at the same time. He was fun and easy going but you could see some form of sneaky-ness, not a harmful kind, per se, but one that was definitely not Christ-like or papal. Once Sis. Alouyisious (I should really look that up, I didn't even know that was a feminine name)

I'm not leaving out the other actress, I just can't recall her name or character's name, her character of a mousy young bright eyed chaste nun was too quiet, it was a good job, but like they say "Quiet Woman Rarely Make History." Also, Viola Davis played Donald Miller's mother, she only had one scene but it was intense, I couldn't watch the acting too closely, I was too busy watching the snot running out her nose and thinking "Geez! Wipe it off, already!!" or atleast give your upper lip the lick off like I used to do as a kid (don't act like you didn't do it, lol)

The film was based on a Pulitzer winning play and even though it was rewritten for film, I think it stayed true to that "play" feel. There was only about two settings. We didn't follow characters home and most instances of descriptive imagery lie within dialogue.

Cinematography was delicious. Opening shots comprised mostly of repetitive lines, all over, I'm trying to find the symbolism behind it. Maybe order? Uniformity? Maybe that means that this story repeats itself in parishes all over? I thnk that would be right (A+ for Cam, :-) Black, Red, White were constant, I'm guessing for the Church. Sis. Aluyi (Meryl Streep's character, I won't butcher it anymore) office was strangely my favorite color green, the color of an old school chalkboard after you wash it off and the water has yet to dry. The whole school was all white walled except for that room, I wonder why?
Also shot composition was very nice. There were a lot of shots where the camera peeked from around a corner on a conversation or peeked down a staircase, which is very fitting for the subject matter.

It was very entertaining, but, as I said before I didn't like the openness of the subject matter. Molestation is something to leave suggested. Either it happened or it didn't, don't make me guess. Don't leave me with doubt.

Labels: Cam Goes to The Movies

That's what this guy at my office said. I thought it was a novel idea and I vowed to follow that mantra, but like most new traditions I try to keep, it didn't carry into the next week. I don't go out on Sundays for the fact that I have to go to work in the morning. I swear the weekend is really only Saturday.

This Sunday I feel really empty and sad. I worked through the night cleaning my place up and fretting about life. Today, I woke up and that feeling of ennui and emptiness came back after I got back from the gym. I'm glad I went to the gym tho and my usual 30 minute became 45 minutes and that made me feel good. I just don't know what's going on with me or my life at this moment, I'm just living through each day, I have goals, but for right now my goals seem to be make it through the day. I'm quite satisfied with the cleanliness of my place, so that was one goal I met today.

Right now, I'm going to try to soak off the sullies with a nice bath. Warm/Hot water with milk and green tea, mmmmm..... that'll be nice. I'll give myself a facial and I'll do my hair while I watch tv and then go to bed. Monday has indeed ruined my Sunday.

Labels: thoughts

I met Danny Boyle a few years back, when he came to screen "Millions" in Atlanta. I was nervous to meet him. I've met a few directors and it's just so strange how ordinary they are. If you watch their films and then meet them, it's hard to believe that they are the vessels of such great work. He was eerily humble and he was even shocked when this guy asked him to sign his Trainspotting dvd.

Slumdog Millionaire is such an amazing story. I know it's based on a book, but, WoW! what a story. It follows these young street orphan brothers through life and shows all the downsides of being muslim homeless orphans growing up in the slums of Mumbai.
Jamal somehow ends up on "Who wants to be a Millionaire" and has actually made it all the way to the end to the very last question. The fact that he knows all the answers doesn't astonish people, but offends them. They automatically assume that a kid from gully can't possible know anything. so he's interrogated instead of celebrated. The movies follows his life story framed around each question that he correctly answered. The set up itself is just great, who could ever think of that?

It asks the audience, how do you think he knew the answers?

• A. He Cheated.
  
• B. He's Lucky
  
• C. He's a Genious
• D. It is written.

You have to see it to find out.

I always see movies and rant and rave about them and then later i'll read reviews and they usually get ok or bad reviews (i.e. Australia and Miracle at Saint Anna) and then after reading what they say i think to myself, "hey, that's true" but this movie is great and was reviewed great. I can safely say that it is my absolute favorite movie.

Cinematically, this was definitely a Danny Boyle movie. There was the backward shot, the enormous zoom out to aerial shot, the impoverished or challenged characters. These aesthetics create a great film visually. Everything was so poor, yet colors were so rich. Danny Boyle has a working class background and he tends to stay true to that and because of that he's able to capture their life without coming off as preachy or as unrealistic due to not knowing. Acting was great, Jamal's love interest was hispanic, but that's cool, she looked beautifully Indian.

I just loved this movie.... please go see it. I know Atlanta represented for this Indie. There was such a long line at Tara Cinema. It was so nice being in a huge auditorium watching a quality film and not some dribble. The indian kids all came out, there were a lot of old white people there, and me. lol.... M.I.A. provided some songs to soundtrack. I'm just blown away.

Labels: Cam Goes to The Movies, interesting people, my favorite things

Just got back in from a special screening of Chop Shop. There was a Q&A afterwards with the director, Ramih Barahni. The film was a neo-realistic look at the life of a gully kid and his sister, not trying to grow up, not trying to get somewhere, just trying to survive. It was super raw, you could all the poverty and hopelessness and even the happiest or funniest parts had underlying somber tones. I don't know why people who don't have a love for film attend film screenings. If you want to see Snakes on a Plane or Eagle Eye or some huge Hollywood stinker, then Indie film and it's aesthetics are not for you. I don't mean to be an elitist but why waste your time and my ear space with your failure to appreciate or understand.

Labels: Cam Goes to The Movies, improvement, self image, thoughts, work

Saw Cadillac Records tonight. I love the blues, my grandfather played blues guitar, blues is what made me start my record collection. When I heard this movie was gonna be based on Chess Records, I was excited! I'm always skeptical of historic re-enactments cuz writers always hand pick events that they find "filmic." It's been a long time since I've seen a popular movie that was in a huge stadium (maybe it was the last Lord of the Rings) but it was fun, even the idiot behind me made it fun.

Jeffrey Wright did a good job as Muddy Waters, whom is a dear fav of mine. It was nice to see behind the music and see what kind of people they were, but at the end of the day, all I care about is the track I listen to on my record player. Adrien Brody did okay, he had a generic "i'm upset" acting tantrum (i hate those) but it was good. Beyonce, whom everyone was looking out for, did okay. Not to be a hater, but the easiest role for "us" to play is a sassy black woman, cuz that's what we are. She did favor Etta and her renditions of Etta's best songs were just that, renditions. In a biopic, I'd like her to act and sound like Etta, not Beyonce. But the songs were a dream.

I'm glad they make these films, school the children on our history. I searched for these things, but I'm glad they've pushed it into mainstream. People need to know where they come from. Most musicians that make our music that we listen to already know this music. Hopefully someone will go out and you tube their music.

Muddy Waters, "Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had" (ain't it the truth?)

Labels: Cam Goes to The Movies, interesting people, my favorite things

Right now, my application to the Grad Film Program at Tisch at NYU is sitting on someone's desk. It will stay there until they make a decision and tell me in April (at the latest) whether or not, I made it or not. I really really want to know. I don't think I can wait till then. 

Labels: dream, improvement, self image, thoughts, work

I dont' know what happened with this post y'all... just put your scramble vision on and sort through it, sorry... (is anyone out there? lol)

I've basically grown accustomed to dissappointment. I try not to think about it or feel sorry for myself but it happens you know? Things start out well and then it just goes down hill. But 

that's just with jobs and men. I hate my job now and I hated the one before that and I hated 

the one before that one. I hate the neglectful fake boyfriend type person that I have infested 

myself with, I hate mendacity. I'm forever surrounded by mendacity. It follows me constantly 

through life. Mendacious people with mendacious tendencies. But, I must continue on because 

I know that things will get better, but I must practice patience and forward on in this life. It is 

true that I loved my job at one point and at that time, it was better than my previous job. It is 

also true that I was crazy about my beau and I thought he was so much better than my ex 

before him at that time, it was better. I try not to lose sight of those things.

I usually get so consumed to my annoyance with my situation that I always do some hasty 

thoughtless things, like getting in my car and driving to Savannah, crying most of the way 

and getting there, drove to Tybee Island and stood at the edge of the shore in winter, ate at 

Vinnie Van Go-Gogh's, went to a studio from my old school (SCAD! Bzzzzz.....) and then drove 

home. Waste of time and something I've never mentioned until now. I do things like that all

the time. I've made the biggest decisions of my life within minutes of being given the option... 

maybe that's why I've had so many dilemmas?! lol, maybe. I'm young, now, but when I'm 30 

and I'm still doing dumb shit, then it'll just be sad.

Labels: improvement, self image, thoughts