Moviewallas

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How Good is Moviewallas’ Crystal Ball?

Moviewallas

The Oscars have finally arrived and we have cogitated and postulated and shared our opinions about our favorite and not so favorite films in 2010 (and beyond it seems).  Here now see a list of our predictions along with who we would award the golden statue to if it were up to us…who knows, one day it may be 😉


Follow along tomorrow as we chat live on our Facebook Discussion page and join us with your opinions.  Happy Watching Movie fans


Category Joe’s Prediction Yazdi’s Prediction Rashmi’s Prediction Joe’s
Wish List		 Yazdi’s
Wish List		 Rashmi’s
Wish List
Film The King’s Speech The King’s Speech The Social Network The Social Network:


Even though Inception is a personal favorite, The Social Network is simply a better movie than King’s Speech and Inception (gasp!)

 127 Hours The Social Network:


How can a film about geeky nerdy guys pleasuring themselves with their computer be SO good?
Director Tom Hooper:
The King’s Speech		 David Fincher:
The Social Network		 David Fincher:
The Social Network		 Christopher Nolan:


What do you mean, he’s not on the list?  Damn you Academy snobs…

 Tom Hooper:


The King’s Speech

 David Fincher:


The Social Network
Actor Colin Firth Colin Firth Colin Firth Colin Firth:


By a nose ahead of Franco

 Colin Firth:


With a shout out to James Franco. Of course if it were up to me, Ryan Reynolds or Ryan Gosling would be taking home the prize, but don’t get me started

 Jesse Eisenberg :


I am a firm believer that “Social Network” would not have been as good without Jesse in the lead but I loved Colin Firth and James Franco – this is the hardest category by far
Actress Natalie Portman Natalie Portman Natalie Portman Michelle Williams:


It still upsets me that she had to go through this heartache.  Oh, that was acting?? Wow!,  Bening could win, but may have peaked too early.

 Annette Bening (with a shout out to Michelle Williams) Michelle Williams:


Totally deserving but as long as Nicole Kidman doesn’t get it, I’ll be happy!
Supporting actor Christian Bale Geoffrey Rush Christian Bale Jeremy Renner Mark Ruffalo Geoffrey Rush
Supporting actress Melissa Leo Haillee Steinfeld Melissa Leo Melissa Leo I don’t particularly have a dog in this race (from those nominated), but if I was forced to choose, I would go with Melissa Leo Haillee Steinfeld
Screenplay (Adapted) The Social Network The Social Network The Social Network The Social Network:


Come on, is anything even close?

 The Social Network:


Aaron Sorkin for his fast, smart and incisive script for The Social Network. This prize is Sorkin’s to lose.

 Social Network
Screenplay (Original) King’s Speech Inception The Kid’s are All Right Inception:


It won’t win.  Remember this category is original.  Conceptually and structurally intelligent writing.  Unlike anything that has come before it.

 The Kids Are All Right:


with a pat on the back to Another Year.

 The Fighter
Animation Toy Story 3 Toy Story 3 Toy Story 3 Toy Story 3:


Aargh!  HTTYD comes so close, SO close, but TS3 is the better picture

 How To Train Your Dragon:


(unless the Illusionist wows me even more)

 Toy Story 3:


This film is perfection for me
Documentary Gasland Inside Job Restrepo Exit Through the Gift Shop:


Assertions of mockumentary will keep this from the top spot.  I did think that this was brilliant stuff, however

 NA Waiting for Superman:


I am still LIVID this isn’t on the list but in the absence of that the “Exit Through the Gift Shop” as I would love Banksy to accept in person or at least pull a stunt

Watch Natalie Portman’s ballet training in BLACK SWAN

Celebrity News

Who hasn’t managed to catch “Black Swan” yet (or the moviewallas review of it)?  No judgments I promise, but, if you have been sitting on the fence about watching this film, maybe the attached video will convince you to either go watch it or preload it into your Netflix queue.

Even though this film didn’t make my 2010 Top Ten list (note it did make both fellow wallas lists),  I did really enjoy this movie. Much of the enjoyment becuase Natalie Portman was mesmerizing to watch as Nina Sayars – the swan herself. The attached video from Fox Searchlight Pictures shows the young ballerina in training and believe me, Portman is totally deserved of that title.

With Aronofsky’s brilliant direction and a great supporting cast and of course the incredible dancing by  both Portman and Mila Kunis, watching this film won’t be a waste of time.  That and i think Portman may be one of the strongest contenders (along with Annette Benning) for the “Best Actress” Oscar next week.

Warner Bros. movie apps. Is this the future of movie distribution?

Moviewallas Opinion Reviews

Warner Bros today announced a couple of iPhone/iPad apps featuring two of my personal favorite movies in recent years.  The Dark Knight and Inception.  The apps purport to offer a more comprehensive movie experience than is possible on other platforms such as DVD or Blu-ray, including interactive games, exclusive soundtracks, trivia and other related content.

Each app relates to one movie and is available as a free download, although many of the features (including the full length movie) need to be unlocked through a $9.99 purchase.  I tested the Dark Knight app this evening and went through some of the freebies.  The experience was mixed with some interesting and reasonably immersive elements, including a fun trivia game with clips from the movie.  The app is not without a few glitches including reports of jittery streaming, although I did not experience this personally.

It’s frustrating to have purchased the Dark Knight on physical media and have to shell out another ten bucks to get the most out of the app.  A slightly lower price point might be more palatable, or at least a way of providing a discount to those who purchased the movie on DVD/Blu-ray.  I would also prefer not to have a single app per movie – my iPhone is already cluttered up with icons.

This isn’t going to work with every movie.  There’s a certain fanboy-ishness about this, as Warner seems to have tacitly acknowledged with the selection of the initial two movies, The Dark Knight and Inception. Furthermore, the appeal may not be universal given that this kind of thing lends itself more to the type of movie fan who just can’t get enough of a movie.  For example, I don’t see the King’s Speech having the same appeal as an app.

So, is this the way of the future?  Well, it’s hard to say.  While I applaud the effort of the studios in giving us yet another way to consume digital content, a lot of what is here could be done with a Blu-ray disc.  It would also be nice to be able to transfer a purchased movie to another device e.g. my computer or AppleTV to watch on the big screen.  In short, the argument needs to be much more compelling before I give up my current preference of DVD/Blu-ray/Digital Copy combo packs.

It’s an interesting experiment.  Expect to see more innovations as the studios look into different distribution models as well as opportunities to increase revenue potential from movie releases.

Sundance Online Shorts – Best of the Current Crop

Film Festivals Opinion Sundance YouTube

As posted a couple of days ago, selected Sundance 2011 shorts are available to view for free via The Screening Room Youtube Channel.  Part of me wishes that Sundance and YouTube would repeat last year’s experiment in which a small selection of full length movies were made available to rent online for a very reasonable $3.99.  Alas, as reported by the NYTimes, the experiment was a financial failure yielding only $10,709.16 in revenue for YouTube.  Not exactly earth shattering numbers by any measure.  Perhaps making the movies available on devices such as Apple TV or Roku players would have been more successful.  After all, who wants to watch a full length movie hunched over a computer desk on a cramped laptop screen whilst a 50-inch flatscreen lies dormant in the living room?  I digress… back to this year’s shorts.

“Skateistan:To Live and Skate Kabul” is my personal pick of those currently offered, and while it’s nine minute length does not permit a deeper exploration of some of the underlying issues concerning the lives of those featured, the material is nonetheless engaging.  It takes talent to produce a documentary short as effective as this. There is a compelling narrative here as well as some effective camera work and judicious editing. Director Orlando von Einsiedel receives my applause for his efforts.

What do YOU think think?



Welcome to the New Moviewallas.com!

News Podcast

We are very pleased to introduce the new Moviewallas.com.  The old site is still available here and, for now, is still the home of the original Podcast RSS feed, although we strongly recommend that you use the feedburner link or go through iTunes to ensure uninterrupted service.

So why the change?  Well, firstly the old site was produced using Apple’s iWeb which is a great way to start a Podcast, but it permits very little in the way of user interaction.  In today’s world of Web 2.0 and social media we were getting feedback that users wanted to get more interactive with us, so switching to the new format allows for comments and discussion as well as being able to ‘Like’ or ‘Tweet’ stuff on the site.  Secondly, we wanted to be able to expand our content offerings beyond the weekly Podcast to include movie news, gossip and even the occasional opinion piece.  Watch this space and let us know what you want to see on the site!

Other changes that you may note, include the new pop-up audio player so that you can listen to the show while surfing other sites and a sortable list of past review scores so that you can find out if a movie you love has been reviewed on Moviewallas as well as how your favorite Moviewalla scored it.

Keep posted for more updates!

Techwalla.