HELLO COLLEGE! I am now in college. I as in, le Jungster, le writer, the kid here, the well Asian Film Geek is now in COLLEGE!

This post is a compilation of my experiences of my first three days at my new collegeio.

College was uneventful for me.. in that.. my family doesn’t care! But not going into le emo stuff, because this is the Asian Film Geek blog.. I did meet some cinema majors. Apparently the cinema major that I know is like super cool and has like a HUGE iMac– I’m pretty sure it’s the biggest iMac possible because it’s even huger than the iMac I had when I was at CIRCLE as a graphic designer.

The other freshman film major person I met wasn’t that nice..

Other than that, I am having huge conflicts! Already.

A lot of family issues that resurfaced, I’m a really bad child.

I also haven’t seen a bloody movie since FOREVER!!! The last movie I saw was Catfish.

As for Catfish, I thought Catfish was bloody awesome. Is it for everybody? I’m not so sure. I will write a review for Catfish soon. (:
As soon as I can, I believe since it’s far from reaching theaters..

Well, I have suitemates.. but well the first thing you should know about me is that.. I’m very awkward. ):

I don’t know why.. I guess I’m pretty insecure about myself. I guess I want.. -sniff- No emo! This is a professional blog!

So basically, college is interesting. I will still be reviewing films because I AM ON THE SCHOOL NEWSPAPER!

Apparently, my first newspaper article, which was a film review, or an article about the best five movies of the summer, is one full page? I think that’s a good thing?

I also plan on joining the radio here, and perhaps even the college TV to start like, or join a movie segment.

Basically, I need to fix some things. It’s been crazy. It’s been a little sad. It’s been a little great. It’s pretty strange.

See you soon y’all.

I’ve also been getting starry eyed from.. well.. a bunch of adorable guys! Someone give me a few verbal slaps to wake me up!

It’s so bad, I’m pretty sure I need to get a poster and write “BE A NERD” on it in huge letters.

Catfish was one of those surprising amazing films that supposedly caused a crazy stir at some super amazing film festival. It came out of nowhere. Everyone wanted to talk about it but no one wanted to spoil it. Now, finally, I, you, can experience Catfish too at a NYC screening thanks to DailyCandy.com.

Basically, according to Gecko Movies, here is Catfish‘s synopsis. I suggest simply watching the trailer because it’s a pretty awesome trailer.

In late 2007, filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost sensed a story unfolding as they began to film the life of Ariel’s brother, Nev. They had no idea that their project would lead to the most exhilarating and unsettling months of their lives. A reality thriller that is a shocking product of our times, Catfish is a riveting story of love, deception and grace within a labyrinth of online intrigue.

Now, Catfish reminds me of The Social Network with a slender man (Marble Hornets) or Paranormal Activity/The Blair Witch Project twist. Therefore, being the hardcore wuss I am, Catfish gives me THE SUPER JEEBIES!

Where can you get these screening passes?

Simply RSVP here. (Click on here!)

What: Seemingly innocent Internet love story turns out to be anything but.
Why: Everyone wants to talk about it, but no one wants to ruin it. That’s pretty cool.
When: Aug. 30. Mon., 7:30 p.m.
Where: AMC Loews Lincoln Square, 1998 Broadway.

Good luck all! Perhaps you’ll see some chubby Asian looking girl there.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World stars a number of people– most predominately some kid named Michael Cera. Now, I’m definitely not some Michael Cera fan but when I saw the trailer for Scott Pilgrim, I went crazy wild. Not as crazy wild as when I saw the trailer for Kick Ass and then rewatched the trailer every time it ended and drove my sister nuts, but OMG THIS IS SO COOL COOL COOL COOL COOL COOL…. nuts.

Now, Scott Pilgrim will probably not be liked by everyone. For example, if my dad saw it, he would probably go, “What is this crap?” But, when I saw it, the avid film/comic book/video game geek I am– I went to film/comic book/video game geek heaven. Scott Pigrim is a geek’s wet dream. With references to those 8-bit video games, excuse my lack of video game knowledge, or tons of pixel video games, from Pacman to Space Invaders.. Scott Pilgrim also includes comic book visuals from the original comic book series. Also, there are more than 7 K.O’s for 7 evil ex-es.

Now, Scott Pilgrim may not be a cinematic masterpiece. But opposed to crappy CGI, Scott Pilgrim has some awesome, mind-blowing graphics. Sure they probably aren’t as sophisticated as some of the CGI in Inception, but Scott Pilgrim will be loved by the crowd it addresses– the geek cool awesome crowd. I’d like to say the young crowd, but I may be offending some, and am totally wrong because Scott Pilgrim does not address the young crowd– Scott Pilgrim addresses anyone with the youth to appreciate a video game cinematic novella.

Basically, Scott Pilgrim may have started a whole new film genre. While I have seen animations in other real life movies before Scott Pilgrim, Pilgrim takes it to a whole new level. Scott Pilgrim is pretty much like watching a real-life video game and going through it without button-mashing. While it isn’t quite that cinematically brilliant it is extremely entertaining. It isn’t your pumping lead into guts, Left for Dead 2 style, entertaining, more of cute I just punched you so hard I got a K.O in Tekken, entertaining. Not only that, the costumes are cute and so is the screenplay. The acting was pretty convincing as well perhaps due to the flatness of most of ex-es and characters..

However, the people that will be entertained by Scott Pilgrim are probably limited. However, if you like video games and comic books or manga, you’ll like Scott Pilgrim. If not, perhaps you’ll like it and perhaps you won’t.

Eat, Pray, Love is about Liz Gilbert (Julia Roberts) who decides she doesn’t want to be married anymore. So she prays to God for an answer. Eat, Pray, Love wasn’t so bad to make me pray to God for the film to get better, but it was pretty vapid.

Eat, Pray, Love was directed by Ryan Murphy who is more of a TV person. After seeing Eat, Pray, Love, I’m pretty sure he should really just stick to TV.

Julia Roberts is always Julia Roberts, but in this film she ends up more annoying than ever. Julia Roberts always tends to tick me off, no offense to her, I guess it’s just the films I’ve seen her in, in which she plays some annoying whiny character.

Well, Julia Roberts is an incredibly whiny character in this film. Liz Gilbert as a person is pretty.. awful. Like, I really don’t care or connect with this character or the portrayal of this character at all. Sure I got close to connecting with her, but as soon as she went “ME ME ME ME ME ME”, she was dead to me. So if you don’t like whiny, egotistical protagonists, this definitely isn’t your piece of cake.

Ryan Murphy basically proves why he’s simply a TV talent. The cinematography is just banal and hackneyed. Sadly, the cinematographer of Eat, Pray, Love is Robert Richardson, the genius behind the scenes of Shutter Island, Inglourious Basterds, etc. But if I was Richardson, I’d scratch out Eat, Pray, Love from my resume and hope it never sees the light of day. While the cinematography is decent, it is composed of settings and scenes that have mostly been done before. Sure there is the view of Rome and the Vatican, the nice Indian wedding ceremony, the fields of Bali, but these have ALL been done before. However, Richardson should look into the Food channel or something– his depictions of the food made me tear up and crave some pasta.

Basically, this movie pretty much sucks. It doesn’t suck that bad in chick flick standards because it’s pretty original, but the despicable protagonist makes it a goner with The Killers or that other really horrible chick flick from this year. There are a few pros (Great food depictions that will make you hungry and a most cheesy romantic ending) but it’s mostly filled up to the brim by hackneyed TV formulas and witty lines that no one will remember.. except perhaps the bumper stickers line and that female tourists in Italy only seem to want spaghetti… and sausages!

As for the book, after seeing this movie, I have no intention in ever touching it.

I think my review was pretty lighthearted on it, since I didn’t even mention the two scenes impacted by some serious mental issues on behalf of the producers, directors, etc. It was one of those awful, bad acting and bad direction scenes. Basically a hallucination of a wedding dance and a most awful crying scene over a not dead son that was almost killed by the drunk father and broke his marriage sort of thing.

The judgment is, it’s definitely not worth your money at the theater and definitely not worth your money for a DVD rental unless you’re feeling extremely masochistic.

However, if you love Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men), you may love the stereotypical sexy vulnerable character he plays in this film. He makes it almost worth seeing.

As for James Franco, his character is cute, but just seems to be on crack or something the whole time.

2/5

Oldboy is a 2003 South Korean thriller from director Chan-wook Park. I knew that Oldboy was a critically acclaimed film that had made international charts on best films. It had won recognition at the Cannes. I had read the praise of many on the greatness of this film. However, I wish I had known something more.

Oldboy is about Oh Dae-Su, a normal Korean man with a family that is suddenly kidnapped on his daughter’s birthday. After being imprisoned in a hotel room for 15 years, Oh Dae-Su is to find his kidnapper in five days or have his girlfriend killed.

The plot doesn’t sound that bad. In fact, if I had read this brief plot synopsis, I would have probably ran over to the nearest Blockbuster or Korean video rental store and watched it ASAP. Thinking this makes me imagine the monster, Chan-wook Park’s expression– it eerily resembles a monster that will give me nightmares. If Chan-wook Park ever reads this, I mean no offense other than the horror and despair your film instilled in me.

Thus, back on topic, I had the idea that Oldboy was a bloody awesome film. So when we were to watch Oldboy in my cinema studies class today, I was excited. My professor warned us, the class, that we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. I wish I hadn’t scoffed at that.

After 120 minutes, when the film had ended, I was in shock. The shock, the horror, had permeated every fiber of my being. My eyes had widened during the film until they could widen no longer. My head banged a few times against my notebook. This shock carried with me for the rest of the day. I stood up hazily from my seat, and I walked as a mental case for the next few hours.

SPOILERS !!! Do not read further if you have not seen this film. STOP.

The reason I am writing this post is because I realized something. Oh Dae-Su says he is a monster. Sure, after fucking his daughter, perhaps he is. My ideologies says that incest like that is not cool but horrifying. However, he wasn’t really that bad of a guy.. the only thing he had done was what any other teenage boy would have done, told his best friend of the sexual act he had seen.

Nevertheless, Oh Dae-Su is a monster but a brilliant monster. He is very smart as a character says that he must be a genius. This makes me wonder if Oh Dae-Su’s character may be based on or influenced from director Chan-wook Park. Mr. Park has demonstrated his skill and talent– he is brilliant, perhaps a genius. However, he may also be considered as a monster for introducing and sharing the horror of Oldboy with the world.

That autobiographical thing was the only thing that pretty much triggered this post.

I don’t know what other people see in Oldboy.

I saw the brilliance, the thriller, the cinematic techniques.

However, I don’t think I will ever be able to stomach that sort of physical and mental violence.

If a depressed person, or if I had been depressed and seen Oldboy, I probably would have put a bloody bullet in my skull.

So no thank you to the other two films of the revenge trilogy. And from now on, I am staying away from Chan-wook Park’s films.

Sure, he is very talented. But I do not want him to scratch his way into my chest cavity, grab my heart, rip it out, pin it to the table in front of me, beat the crap out of it, then give it back. No thank you. Once was enough.

If you are reading this, what are your thoughts on Oldboy or director Chan-wook Park?

Rob Marshall is a guilty pleasure of mine. Not him specifically, but his films Chicago and Nine.

If any of you have seen Chicago, you may understand why I dig these movies so much.

Beautiful girls in skin-tight costumes, dancing, great music, and everything else that is extremely entertaining.

Chicago I would recommend, Nine not so much.

While Rob Marshall’s films may not be a Citizen Kane, but Rob Marshall does produce these extremely elaborate and fantastic pieces. They are expensive and amazing.

They glitter, they razzle dazzle, and they entertain.

It might be a chick thing, but I love his musical movies. However, I’m going to guess from the scantily dressed ladies, that it’s not only a chick thing.

Sure, this Cinema Italiano scene is extremely ridiculous, especially in this film. I wasn’t much of a fan for Nine, but it is entertaining. Pure, mindless, entertainment.

Of course, this is the type of stuff that may be deterring cinema from being a truly respected art form.

However, it’s entertaining, so it’s a guilty pleasure of mine.

Also, your opinion of entertaining may be different from mine, but I find this entertaining. And if I can correctly assume the statistics behind America’s Next Top Dancer or that Dancing With The Stars show, America does too.

Vampires Suck

Director: Jason Friedberg, Aaron Seltzer

Synopsis: VAMPIRES SUCK is a comedy about contemporary teen angst and romance movies. Becca, an anxious, non-vampire teen, is torn between two boys. Before she can choose, Becca must get around her controlling father, who embarrasses Becca by treating her like a child. Meanwhile, Becca’s friends contend with their own issues. All these romantic entanglements collide at the prom.

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Release Date: Wednesday, August 18, 2010

MPAA Rating: THIS FILM IS RATED PG-13 FOR ADULT LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE, ADULT SITUATIONS.

Screening Info:
August 17, 2010 at 8:22PM
New York, NY

You can obtain passes at Gofobo.

Or to enter, simply comment with your full name for one entry.

Lucky winners will be emailed two first come, first served passes to the screening.

Good luck!

Winners will be contacted on August 15, 2010 and will have 24 hours to redeem their passes.

Fans of The Movie Trust Facebook fanpage will automatically gain an extra entry.

The Tillman Story is an ambitious documentary directed by Amir Bar-Lev and narrated by Josh Brolin. It follows the cover-up of Pat Tillman’s death by the military.

Pat Tillman, if you do know him, was a famous American Arizona NFL football player and an American hero. He was definitely a true hero to give up his million dollar NFL contract to serve the army. Therefore, The Tillman Story is a ridiculously ambitious documentary because not only does The Tillman Story follow an ambitious true American hero, but they also attempt to capture Pat Tillman’s essence. Of course, the agnostic or atheist Pat Tillman would probably not approve of this blog post or talk of his “essence” according to the documentary.

When it comes to reviewing The Tillman Story, I absolutely have no film criticism credentials. I can only tell you what I know.

I know that The Tillman Story was ambitious. Did I like it? No.

First of all, The Tillman Story is a war documentary. Anyone who knows something about film would know that any war associated movie is painted with a red “You will be a box office failure” target on their back because America simply does not want to see such depressing stuff. America would rather see some cool dream-like essence/escape like Inception or some comedy like last week’s box office hit, The Other Guys.

I wish The Tillman Story was not so sappy. What I mean by sappy is the one instant of abstract experimental film where the screen is filled with a super out-of-focus scene for a few moments. It was ridiculous and came out of nowhere.

I also did not like the sappy renditions of past events such as Manny Tillman, Pat Tillman’s mother, acting out speaking on the phone when everything happened and Patrick Kevin Tillman, Pat’s father, acting out flipping through some books in his office with a ridiculous panning camera.

What I wish the most was that I wish I knew Pat Tillman more. However, I understand that Pat Tillman wanted, with the rest of his family, to keep his private life private.

I don’t know what The Tillman Story wants to accomplish. Perhaps it is because I am such a cynical douche that I already know that the American government sucks especially with the American military. I just simply did not like the attitude of the film, it was not nice and seemed mocking of the American government and military. I simply don’t like seeing anything mocked in a ridiculous manner such as in a documentary. While documentaries should be truthful, it is a subjective work and it will give a subjective view. There’s no reason to mock anyone in a subjective film where you want to be serious. We can tell that they sucked, you can show it to us in a very informative clip or clips, but you don’t need to reinforce it by continuously telling us how awful they were.

Basically, in the end, it seems I am the only person that felt this way and I guess it is because I do not watch many documentaries and I hate sappy stuff.

But give it a try, it’s a pretty ambitious work.

Hopefully no one will read this and it won’t surface on Google.

To be honest, I really disliked the documentary. It just seemed so slow and dragging. Some of the film devices such as the past event renditions were ridiculous. I wish I simply knew Pat Tillman so he could give us the facts instead of this circular plot. It was not entertaining. It was educating but a very painful and slow and long education. That is why I did not like The Tillman Story.

If you’re a masochist and want to take a bullet for the American conspiracy theory, go for it. If these sort of things make your blood rile up and make you feel alive again, sure. But if the film is just going to inform and not even want anything from the audience, not even some action or a method of action, I just get the impression that you made this film for the money– and that I don’t like.

Hopefully, from what I learned of Pat Tillman, Pat Tillman wouldn’t beat me up over this because it seems he was a very nice and brutally honest guy. And I love brutal honesty so it seems we may might have gotten along.

Thus in conclusion, thank you for letting me know about Pat Tillman. He was an amazing guy and I appreciate the knowledge you have shared with us.

So, I guess the conclusion of this whole so-called review would be that if you like Pat Tillman, or would like to know more about this amazing guy from his family then check the film out.

Perhaps this does not go for all film geeks, but it definitely is a nightmare of this fellow Asian film geek’s. The nightmare of this Asian film geek, moi, is quite simple. I am afraid I am becoming an obnoxious, nose in the air, film geek! Now, this may sound like I am whining, but it is a legitimate concern.

The reason why I do not believe I am a film critic is because when I think of film critics, I think of Roger Ebert, Hoberman, Hoffman, dude from the NYTimes, etc etc. I do not fit in that puzzle at the moment because simply, their writing is much better than mine, and second, they actually get paid to write. Last but not least, they hopefully have an encyclopedia knowledge of film.

I, on the other hand, is starting out. I’m seventeen, going to enter college, watch a lot of movies, and am a film geek. So, in respect to the professionals and respect to myself in knowing my own capabilities and limits, I call myself simply a movie reviewer.

However, the problem is that I believe I am becoming the thing I look down on. When I see a number of film critics, sometimes.. or maybe most of the time, no offense to any of you, seem so obnoxious. When I started The Movie Trust, I wanted to tell the world what kind of movies they would enjoy. I slowly realized most of America simply consumed huge Michael Bay productions with explosions and all and I also managed to see more movies that made me realize that the world should move on from not-so-smart Michael Bay productions.

As I saw more films and movies, I began to expect more from every film that I saw. I wanted to be blown away, truly see talent, mastery, a great or good film. A film that deserved its million dollar budget.

Thus, the more films I saw, the harsher my criticism got. As I saw the best, I wanted everything to be the best. I could see bad direction, cheesy maneuvers, not so great acting, horrible editing.

So last night I realized, my criticism was getting pretty obnoxious. That’s a nightmare of mine.

Obviously, most criticism is probably obnoxious unless it’s constructive criticism. Thus, I should probably give constructive criticism instead of simply criticism in my reviews.

Sadly, while I can tell what is amazing, I do not yet have the skills in my seventeen year old repertoire to know how some of these movie faults can be alleviated.

In the end, I guess I wonder, why the heck are some film critics simply so obnoxious?

So, yes, you’ve seen amazing works of art no one has even heard of. Sure, you may be a guardian to the great golden gates of your secret amazing cinema collection to the public domain or something. But, why so obnoxious?

Perhaps I am looking at it wrong. Is it obnoxious? What does obnoxious mean? Well, I just get this feeling that most film critics are a bit haughty when it comes to criticizing film.

Wait, isn’t that for all criticism? Yes. Now, we’re back to a wandering, meandering, subject.

Welcome to my stream of consciousness. Yes, I know you would like to escape, but I also know that reading the thoughts of a seventeen year old is SO intriguing. Not. Haha.

So, pretty much, I’m worried that I’m becoming, or am an obnoxious douche movie reviewer.

Humbug. This nightmare needs more thought. Too bad this post is already super long.

What do girls have in common? Romance. An unfinished short story I wrote after being inspired by a certain clip.

Have you ever felt an embrace before? Encased in the warm arms of someone you love, I believe that’s when you realize love. A hug from someone you know who cares.

If you’ve tasted that, then perhaps you’ve tasted loneliness. Loneliness is Helen’s favorite and only dish.

The bustle of New York City teemed all around her. The sky was a clear bluish green, framed on all sides by the archaic buildings that surrounded the square. Sitting on a fountain dedicated to Aphrodite, Helen watched everyone around her, the typical flaneur.

To her front was a lone businesswoman, dressed crisply and shouting angrily into her mint, newest of public technology Blackberry.

Behind Helen was a young teenager. The teen sat square in the middle of a green bench, hand gripped tightly on her Ipod, eyes shut to the world around her.

Yet all around them, Manhattan still lived and ran. Busy New Yorkers ran across the street, ferrying their superior’s special four sugars, three milk hazelnut coffees, others walking to a very important and crucial to their career business meeting or interview.

Helen sighed. She was at a crucial juncture in her life as well. Behind her was the life she had just left, the guarded life of the high school teen. In front of her was the person she hoped to never be, encased in her work, still single, cold, and alone.

The birds chirped around her, the leaves on the trees swayed, and the wind brushed the few patches of grass near her. Gazing at her cell phone, Helen decided that it was time to go home. Brushing the crumbs off her jacket to the delight of the pigeons near her, she scraped around her left to find her tote.

Surprisingly, she found her bag but she also found him.

Helen abruptly snatched her bag as she stood up dumbfounded. Sitting right next to her was a hipster– a bloody hipster. His lips were pursed and his eyes tearing up in laughter as he thumbed through a familiar looking black leather notebook. He hadn’t even noticed Helen’s touch.

His blue eyes smiled as the wind brushed his brown hair across his face, his sharp angles couldn’t have been shaped better by Michelangelo himself. That was what Helen was thinking until she saw a curvy, fancy, white H on the cover of the notebook. The H she had drawn herself on her private journal.

Eyes surprised once more yet also furrowed in anger, she snatched the book out of his carnivorous hands.

“Just exactly what do you think you’re doing?”. Helen shoved her notebook into bag as she gave the stranger the iciest look she had. The few others that had met this gaze had been frozen deeper than Medusa’s victims.. her first best friend that wanted to be more than friends, the stupid barista that manned her favorite cafe, and the annoying guy at her weekly modern art study group.

“…reading?” he answered as he stood up, towering over Helen’s 5″10 height.

Yet that was no intimidation to Helen’s Medusa mode as she furrowed her eyes deeper.

“You were reading my bloody journal you jerk.”

“I’m so sorry princess, I thought it was more of a diary.”

“I don’t keep bloody diaries you insolent hipster fool.”

He scoffed, brushing his hair away from his eyes. “If there are any words that do not describe me, they would be insolent, hipster, and fool.”

Helen realized that this guy was a waste of her time. He was obviously a jerk, that had been conclusive with him reading her private journal. However, he was an egotistic jerk, and any feminist knew that these were the hardest to give an efficient verbal beating to.

Helen shot him one more icy look as she turned her back and walked smoothly out of the square. Today was not going to be a bad day. She had had a great day at school today. She could still remember Belmondo’s cool looks as he brushed his lips, mimicking his icon Humphrey Bogart. She had been so enamored by Belmondo that she hadn’t even paid any attention to the wonderfully talented and beautiful guy who sat in front of her.

The sky was beautiful, the weather wonderful, and the birds perfect. Except as soon as she reached the crowded sidewalk she heard an unmistakable voice again.

“So, going anywhere interesting?” the jerk inquired, his long strides matching her own as he easily maneuvered around the human traffic that congested New York’s streets.

Helen wondered what would be the best method to ignore him. It didn’t help that the crowd parted for him. Some girl even had the nerve to flip open her phone to snap a picture.

Helen abruptly stopped as she raised her hand, hailing a cab. “Away from you.”

A yellow cab slowed down in front of her as she refused to even look at this man.

“Mmhm. You smell absolutely delicious,” he muttered, “Your arrogance and bitchiness that is.”

Helen slammed the cab door in front of him despite the protests from the poor driver whose car had probably been damaged as she simply said, “Drive.”

“Bye bye, mademoiselle! It was wonderful reading your diary!”

Despite everything, Helen turned back. Despite all the anger she looked back to find him looking back at her. He was truly one suavely dressed hipster. An arrogant one as he shot her a smile and a wink.

Helen grumbled as she sank into her seat digging through her bag to check what sort of information she had written in her notebook.

To be continued.

The clip that influenced me?

Maxence Cyrin – Where is my mind (The Pixies piano cover) from Maxence Cyrin on Vimeo.

Thank you Maxence Cyrin! And thank you for reading!

If you have any constructive criticism or would like to hear more of this jerk protagonist, leaving a comment will definitely motivate me.

Au Revoir!