18 Comments »

1. Jonathan Lapper says; February 21, 2009 @ 9:18 pm

   I finally saw Cloverfield last month and thought it was terrific. Definitely one of the better movies I saw for 2008. I’ve only seen about ten movies from last year so placing it in my top ten means nothing but I thought it was an excellent film and should have received a lot more notice than it got.

2. cinebeats says; February 22, 2009 @ 12:31 am

   Glad you enjoyed it Jonathan! I’m baffled by the negative critical response that Cloverfield got in the US. Then again… I often find myself at odds with professional film critics who get paid to share their opinions with the masses.

3. Maya says; February 22, 2009 @ 8:31 am

   …you mean “foist” their opinions, don’t you? Heh.

4. Flickhead says; February 22, 2009 @ 11:37 am

   What is Twitter? Is this the new Facebook? I still can’t figure out Facebook… it won’t let me in although I made up a password… that was a job and a half, because it said my initial password as “weak”… so I had to screw around for about fifteen minutes until I came up with something completely off the wall and incapable of being memorized… and then it still wouldn’t let me in, so I have no idea what Facebook is or why I need it… is Facebook the new MySpace? I still can’t figure out how to use MySpace… or why I’d want to… although there are juicy, incriminating photos of a relative on her MySpace page… seems the poor girl has a bit of a drinking problem… do people still have AOL profiles, or is that SO last decade?

5. cinebeats says; February 22, 2009 @ 12:23 pm

   Maya - Thanks for stopping by! Maybe “shove” would be more appropriate? ;)

   Flickhead - Twitter is a new net fad designed to strip away more of your free time and make money for advertisers. People use it to post brief random text blurbs that are easier to read than lengthy blog posts. You can use your cellphone to post “twits” (didn’t that word used to be an insult in the ’80s?) or post them directly online. I’ve managed to avoid Facebook myself so I can’t help you there. As for Myspace, I go there about once a month and I find the place a real pain to navigate. I know absolutely nothing about AOL profiles. My 1st computer was a gift from my old boss who owned the comic book shop that I worked at in the ’90s and he was also a computer science major who had some personal vendetta against AOL. He helped me get online without AOL so I never experienced the “You’ve Got Mail” phenomenon.

6. Flickhead says; February 22, 2009 @ 2:06 pm

   Yeah, Kimberly, I can’t keep up with most of that stuff.

   One interesting thing about AOL: a few months ago they deleted customer webpages without advance notice… no warning, no communication, nothing… just one day: poof — gone. This affected everyone who used the webspace provided with AOL accounts. No explanations, no apologies, and no chance of anyone retrieving those webpages. So, if someone didn’t save what they had online, it was gone forever.

   From 1997 through 2004, my main website was hosted by AOL. When I changed over to Comcast in ‘04, there were several webpages that I forgot about, or was too lazy to transfer. They’re all gone now. Most of it was dross, but I had started “The Barbet Schroeder Project” which had the same format as my Claude Chabrol Project. All of the Barbet Schroeder pages were zapped.

7. cinebeats says; February 22, 2009 @ 3:58 pm

   I am starting to enjoy the easy to use and quick to update Twitter so I recommend it. As a matter of fact, I’ve decided to “Live Twit” the Oscars tonight, which should be interesting. Off the cuff comments are always fun to read, even though I’ll undoubtedly put my foot in my mouth and end up offending someone after I’ve had a few glasses of wine. By the way, I just discovered that “twits” are actually called “tweets.” I guess using an unflattering ’80s slang term like “twits” wasn’t very practical.

   That AOL story is tragic! The same thing happened to myself and other Geocities web users when Yahoo bought them out. I had my Alain Delon Tribute website hosted with Geocities and when Yahoo took over they switched over everyone’s password, etc. and it made it nearly impossible for thousands of users to access their accounts and files so many long-standing websites just vanished.

   Have you tried finding your Schroeder pages using the Wayback Machine? They store online records of all the websites ever created and I’ve used them a lot in the past year to find my old files and revisit old websites I used to frequent. It’s a very cool tool!

8. Spencer says; February 22, 2009 @ 5:06 pm

   Did you not enjoy “Chicago” or did you just disagree with the award that year? I personally felt that it was the strongest contender for best picture that year. Even though “Lord of The Rings” was a nominee as well, I just feel that with all of the hype that picture received prior to the awards, it lost it’s charm. This year is the same with “The Dark Knight.” If Heath Ledger did not pass away before the movie was released, or even at all, this picture would not have had a chance.

9. cinebeats says; February 22, 2009 @ 5:43 pm

   I seriously disliked Chicago. I honestly couldn’t even sit through it all, but I tried. I really tried. The Gangs of New York was another Best Picture nominee that I could barely watch all the way through.

   If I had to choose one best picture from the nominees that year it would have been The Pianist, but it’s not one of my favorite Polanski films.

10. Film Walrus says; February 23, 2009 @ 12:48 pm

    I’m happy to hear nice things being said about Sunshine and Cloverfield. Sometimes I think I’m too much of an SF nerd to be objective, but the genre has seen some great sleeper hits in recent memory and mainstream critics remain unmoved.

11. cinebeats says; February 23, 2009 @ 1:27 pm

    I completely agree with you, Walrus! At least the French critics at Cashiers are noticing.

    Sunshine was easily one of the best films released in 2007 (at least in my opinion) and I was really surprised by the bashing it got from critics. Many others just ignored it and it got very little attention even from popular American genre publications that typically cover horror and science fiction films, which seems utterly strange to me.

    And thanks a lot for sharing your Dardos Ward with me! I truly appreciate it. :)

12. Neil says; February 23, 2009 @ 3:27 pm

    I like the Twitter thing, although I mostly have enjoyed using the Twittery function on Facebook, which as a personal “networking tool” I think kicks ass over MySpace, which seems to have never come up with a very useful purpose for people who aren’t bands.

    I seem to have a growing number of interesting people on Twitter, though, so I may have to start actually using my account.

13. Glyn says; February 23, 2009 @ 3:29 pm

    I totally agree, Sunshine was very underrated, stunning and intelligent sci-fi. I think Slumdog has just captured the mood of the moment and has been rewarded for it, but I think Danny Boyle would be worthy of an oscar for most of his films!

    As for Jerry Lewis, I’ve always prefered his films with Dean Martin like You’re Never Too Young. Have you ever seen The Day The Clown Cried? It’s Lewis’ tragi-comedy set in a concentration camp and very rarely screened. I’m intrigued.

    And unfortunately I couldn’t sit through Cloverfield - it brought on my motion sickness!

    Three years late, but loving your blog by the way :-)

14. Neil says; February 23, 2009 @ 3:31 pm

    For the record, when I first got my Dardo, I thought for 2 seconds that I might get away with awarding you, but then I remembered that stupid Lapper already had.

    Stupid Lapper!

    Then every day I’d start to build something like a list, two more would get one from someone else.

    Then I gave up.

    But then…

    Uh… Yeah.

    Did my story have a point?

    Oh, yeah. Stupid Lapper!

15. Lenny says; February 23, 2009 @ 8:07 pm

    SUNSHINE was two-thirds of a very good film. The last third, in which it turns into a mad slasher on a spaceship flick, is what cheapened it.

16. cinebeats says; February 23, 2009 @ 8:58 pm

    Neil - I’ve managed to avoid Facebook, but I’m enjoying Twitter and I think it can be a useful tool to communicate quick bits of information. When I blog, I tend to write lengthy wordy posts so it’s especially handy for me.

    And many thanks for considering me for the Dardos! :)

    Glyn - I’m glad you’re enjoying the blog and it’s nice to see some positive thoughts about Sunshine. It’s slowly gaining an audience, which is great, but I still don’t understand why it was basically universally dismissed in 2007. I haven’t had the opportunity to see The Day The Clown Cried, but you’ve got me curious about it!

    Larry - I had some of my own problems with the ending, but on a whole, I think it’s a rich film with a lot of layers that has much to offer potential viewers who are willing to give it a look. Compared to other recent sci-fi films that received critical praise such as Serenity, the Matrix movies, etc. I thought it was a real gem.

17. Neil says; February 24, 2009 @ 5:42 pm

    Yes, I love the Twitter concept for the same reason, but my own longwindedness sometimes makes it hard to squeeze stuff in.

18. Keith says; March 5, 2009 @ 7:50 am

    Hey Kimberly. I was generally satisfied with the Oscar winners. There would have been a few changes, such as I wanted Mickey Rourke for Best Actor. I was glad to see Jerry Lewis receive that award. It was great seeing him up there. Cheers!

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