Apollo 13: Survival, a Netflix documentary

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Apollo 13: Survival, a Netflix documentary

18 September 2024

Apollo 13: Survival, a Netflix produced documentary, trailer, recounts the story of what was meant to be the third Apollo crewed landing on the Moon, in 1970. An exploding oxygen tank in the body of the command module craft, on-route to the Moon, however spelt the end of the landing attempt.

Instead the flight became a desperate race against time to return the Apollo astronauts to Earth before they ran out of oxygen and fuel.

The Apollo 13 flight transcript is well worth listening to. Note how calmly Jack Swigert, followed a few seconds later by Jim Lovell speak, when informing mission controllers on Earth of the situation. “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” Sounds more like someone saying they’ve missed the bus and will be ten minutes late for work.

American filmmaker Ron Howard’s 1995 docudrama, Apollo 13, starring Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, and Kevin Bacon, is also an excellent recounting of the story.

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documentary, film, history

Milk & Serial, a found footage horror film by Curry Barker

10 September 2024

I’m no fan of horror movies, though I’ve sat through a few. The Birds, Psycho, The Changeling, Ghost Story, Triangle, Autopsy, to name ~~a few~~ most of them.

I might make another exception though for Milk & Serial, a one hour long “found footage” horror film, directed by Curry Barker — who also wrote the screenplay, and has a lead role — that critics have been raving about. If you’re tired of Hollywood doing the same thing over and over again, then Milk & Serial, which you can watch on YouTube here, might just be what you’re looking for.

It seems it is perfectly possible to make original* films, that tell great stories, in this case horror titles, without the need to remake the same old films again and again.

* I know there’s a few “found footage” titles out there, but I think Milk & Serial tells its own story.

A short film shot on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, with no lens, filter, or AI

3 September 2024

Well, I’m sure pretty no AI is involved.

What’s really incredible about this three minute video, made by Faruk Korkmaz, is that it was filmed entirely by a device, a smartphone, many of us carry in our pockets.

The narration is fitting also. It comes from a speech given by Canadian-American actor and comedian Jim Carrey, for the 2014 graduating class at Maharishi International University. This excerpt seems somehow as relevant today as it was ten years ago:

So many of us choose our path out of fear disguised as practicality. What we really want seems impossibly out of reach and ridiculous to expect. So we never dare to ask the universe for it. I’m saying I’m the proof that you can ask the universe for it.

Talking of short films shot on iPhones, take another look at Float, made by Aundre Larrow, about three years ago.

The Zone of Interest, a film by Jonathan Glazer, with Christian Friedel, Sandra Huller

19 August 2024

The Zone of Interest, trailer, the 2023 film by British director Jonathan Glazer (Sexy Beast, Under the Skin), explores a slightly different aspect of the World War II Holocaust, which resulted in the deaths of six million European Jews at the hands of the Nazis.

Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), the commandant of Auschwitz, a Nazi concentration camp where over one million Jews were murdered, lives with his family in a house situated right beside one of the camp’s walls. With his wife Hedwig, (Sandra Hüller), the couple attempt to create what they consider to be a “normal” life for their young children.

Hedwig audaciously describes the house, and landscaped gardens, which she designed, as “paradise”, despite its proximity to the concentration camp. The family home is anything but paradise, however. The atrocities unfolding at Auschwitz may go unseen, but they do not go unheard.

There is seldom any let up in the cries of terror, the gun fire, nor the grinding of heavy metallic doors and gates constantly opening and closing. The sounds of furnaces burning, and trains ominously coming and going, are never ending. The family house may be comfortable, but discord and unease hangs heavily in the air. The Höss’ new born baby is frequently unsettled and crying, while their pet dog is almost always restless and agitated.

Paradise is the name Höss and his wife give to their denial of the horrors taking place on the other side of the wall. The Zone of Interest is a confronting and disturbing study of their dismissal. But there are cracks in the façade. Höss desperately seeks a transfer away from Auschwitz, while Hedwig pines to return to Italy, where the family once holidayed. Because try as both might, there is no turning away from the evil both know is taking place.

I Was a Simple Man, a film by Christopher Makoto Yogi, with Steve Iwamoto

8 August 2024

Made in 2021, I Was a Simple Man, trailer, is the third feature of American writer and filmmaker Christopher Makoto Yogi, who also wrote the screenplay. Masao Matsuyoshi (Steve Iwamoto), an elderly man who has spent most of his life in Hawaii, is terminally ill, and has months to live. As he nears death, he looks back on his life, often with regret.

Recollections of his late wife Grace (Constance Wu), his estranged daughter Kati (Chanel Akiko Hirai), whom he left in the care of other family members, and grandson Gavin (Kanoa Goo), who both live elsewhere, dominate his troubled thoughts. As David Ehrlich, writing for Indie Wire, notes: just because people don’t stay behind doesn’t mean they ever leave.

This is a story that will require the patience of some viewers, as it meanders back and forth through time, and ethereal, earthy locations, on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The finale, though muted, is poignant. We really die alone, perhaps as we (really) lived. But you die with yourself.

My Old Ass, a film by Megan Park, with Maisy Stella, Aubrey Plaza

26 July 2024

Canadian actor and director Megan Park’s latest feature, My Old Ass, trailer, would be a sure bet to win movie title of the year, should such an award exist.

Otherwise, My Old Ass is on my want-to-see movie list because of the time-travel-like, older-self goes back in time to see their younger-self, and dispense some surely sage advice, plot. But there are no time machines, or flying DeLoreans, to be found here. Movement through time is occasioned by entirely different means:

A mushroom trip brings free-spirited Elliott [Maisy Stella] face-to-face with her 39-year-old self [Aubrey Plaza]. But when Elliott’s “old ass” delivers warnings to her younger self, Elliott realizes she has to rethink everything about her family, life, and love.

My Old Ass looks to be at least Plaza’s second role in a time-travel-like story, after 2012’s Safety Not Guaranteed, directed by Colin Trevorrow. The soundtrack also aptly includes Perth based Australian act Tame Impala’s 2012 hit, Feels Like We Only Go Backwards.

My Old Ass opens in Australian cinemas on Thursday 26 September 2024. If you’re able to move through time though, you may be able to see it sooner…

Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, return for Devil Wears Prada sequel

12 July 2024

Well, this will be something. A sequel is in the works for The Devil Wears Prada. By the time it is released, assuming production starts sooner rather than later, the follow-up will pick-up almost twenty-years after events of the original film. That’s a long time in the fashion world.

So far, Meryl Streep — as Miranda Priestly — and Emily Blunt — as Emily Charlton — have indicated interest in reprising their roles, but Anne Hathaway remains unsure about returning as Andy Sachs. An early outline of the storyline suggests Priestly will face off against a now successful Charlton.

We can only wait to see how Sachs fits into that dynamic, should Hathaway decide to be involved.

Put your Palace Cinema wine glass in the cup-holder carefully

25 June 2024

Whether they are a part of an on-going series of light-hearted clips by Australian cinema group Palace Cinemas, remains to be seen, but the two I’ve caught to date, on their Instagram page, have been pretty witty.

The first is in response to the apparent problem of patrons nicking the cinema’s wine glasses. Why would anyone do that? An Australian chain of discount stores sells six wine glasses for less than five dollars. So why take the cinema’s? It should also be noted the cinema’s glasses have their logo emblazoned upon them. People visiting your house are going to know where they came from.

Fun fact: the wine glass clip cleverly riffs off the old Piracy is a Crime ads, that used to screen, some years ago now, prior to cinema screenings in Australia*.

The second clip is a glimpse of a cinema employee’s work day. Just be careful with the cup-holders…

* Interesting, I tried to click through to the Piracy is a Crime video through a DuckDuckGo search engine result. I was greeted by a “www.youtube.com is blocked” error message. YouTube is of course owned by Google/Alphabet. Are they blocking access to the video platform via competing search engines?

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cinema, film, humour

Before Sunrise turns thirty, my theory about what happens

20 June 2024

It’s a favourite around here. Because don’t we love meeting someone we connect with at first sight? But Sunday 16 June 2024, marked the thirtieth anniversary (Facebook link) of the premiere of Before Sunrise, directed by Richard Linklater, and starring Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke. Another two films followed, with about nine years separating each of the three stories.

Obviously the thirty-year anniversary has intensified speculation about a fourth movie. But that remains up in the air, apparently. In 2018, speaking at the SXSW Film Festival, Hawke, who played Jesse, said he thought the film series “felt complete”. By earlier this year though, he seemed to have changed tack, and said there were “ideas” for another instalment.

Delpy — who portrayed Celine — however, has declined to reprise her role. But I think the scene where Celine and Jesse meet on the train, in Before Sunrise, maps out their life together, and points to what eventually happens. In their carriage, we see a young couple, a middle-aged couple who argue incessantly (ah, Before Midnight), and an elderly couple, sitting contentedly, together.

I think, if ever an instalment of Celine and Jesse in old age were made (would Before Twilight be an apt name?), that’s where the story might ultimately end. And there we have it, the conclusion of the Before film series, without the need to make any more (yes: parting is such sweet sorrow) titles that risk compromising the integrity of the earlier instalments.

Can you use Vison Pro in a group or social setting?

14 June 2024

Or when snuggled up on the sofa, say watching a movie, with your better half?

I feel isolated when watching media, and it’s also much harder to snack and get cozy.

This is a point — raised by Hacker News/Y Combinator member archagon — and is not something I’d thought of, in regards to the whole process of using mixed-reality headsets. Since I don’t do this — use devices like Vision Pro — all that often, I wouldn’t know what this sort of experience might be like.

But maybe I’d put the headset aside, at such a time.

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entertainment, film, technology

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