Safety Not Guaranteed is the big screen debut from American director Colin Trevorrow & writer Derek Connoly (both currently at the helm of the new Jurassic Park sequel ‘Jurassic World’) and stars Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass & Jake Johnson. Producers Peter Saraf and Mark Turtletaub were also involved with 2006 indie hit ‘Little Miss Sunshine’.
Three Short Film Reviews
As part of my ongoing contributions to film site Battle Royale With Cheese I was asked to review three short films.
These three shorts were produced in the UK by Chocolate Bear Productions.
All three will be featured at the Portobello Film Festival on September 14th, 2014.
Behind the Blog
‘Behind the Blog’ is a more personal feature that details some of my experiences as a blogger.
Firstly, these last few weeks since I have started writing again have been an incredible and fulfilling experience for me. I started with the article ‘Kevin Smith, Podcasts & the power of Fandom‘ which received a great response from the fan community and in general; it even got a mention from some actors from Kevin Smith’s film ‘Clerks’; which I never expected. This has really encouraged me to keep up with my writing and attempt more challenging articles. Truly, this is a dream come true for me. My fiancé, Lewis has also been incredibly supportive of my writing.
For The Weekend: Time Travel Movies
This week we explore the much loved and discussed sci-fi sub-genre of time travel.
We’ve chosen not to focus on blockbusters like Back to the Future in order to bring you some of the lesser known films of the genre; although films like those arguably deserve their place as well.
Although this device is often used it is rarely mastered; as attested to by hundreds of posts on blogs and IMDB ‘goofs’ pages. The true time travel fan will not be fooled if the time travel concept is ill thought out or if there are obvious problems with the time-line. Similarly, the best examples of this genre will explore the consequences; both positive and negative, of travelling through time; pushing them almost to the extremes whilst at the same time avoiding convenient plot devices.
Movie gem of the week: The Living Wake (2007)
The Living Wake(2007) directed by Sol Tryon & written by Mike O’Connel/Peter Kline is a delightful and somewhat disturbing trip to the absurd in a similar vein to Withnail & I, Napolean Dynamite & Wes Anderson’s ‘Rushmore’.
For The Weekend: Great Workplace Comedies
This is a new semi-regular feature ‘For The Weekend’
For The Weekend – Great Workplace Comedies
This week we delve into the great font of comedy that is the workplace-orientated film. Some of these you might have heard of but hopefully others you will discover for the first time. The selection is fairly complimentary so if you have seen one of these films and enjoyed it you should at-least appreciate the others.
Kevin Smith, Podcasts and the power of Fandom
Kevin Smith is arguably best known for his film career as a writer/director; especially for his debut film Clerks but also Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Jersey Girl, Clerks II, Zac and Miri Make a Porno, Cop Out and Red State.
However, in recent years he has also became known in the podcast arena; appearing in several highly-rated weekly podcasts distributed by his own ‘Smodcast Internet Radio‘ Network. Smith was already well known for his public appearances and Q&A’s; some of which have been filmed and released. It therefore seemed like a logical step forward when he started his first show ‘Smodcast’ with friend and producer Scott Mosier in 2007. This led to other successful shows such as ‘Hollywood Babble-On’, ‘Jay & Silent Bob Get Old’ and ‘Fatman on Batman’.
Kevin Smith on Why Quentin Tarantino Said No to ‘Tusk’
Movie gem of the week: Kids (1995)
Despite my avid interest in 90’s Independent Cinema I have surprisingly not seen ‘Kids‘ until now. I should start by saying the film was(and arguably still is) Controversial given the subject matter, sexual scenes(both consenting and not), foul language and drug use involving minors(who make up the majority of the cast). Whilst it could be argued nothing particularly explicit is shown in the film; it was enough to earn it a NC-17 rating in the US. Therefore, viewer beware! (this is not a film for the easily shock-able).
Mac Tips: Using Spaces on OSX 10
One of the features I like and use most on OSX 10 is Spaces.
Spaces allows you to group different apps and windows into several ‘virtual desktops‘ which means you can have a less cluttered work-flow and focus on one or two tasks/apps at a time.
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