Guru's Movie Review Carnival

We all love a good, intelligent movie review. They help us to appreciate certain aspects of a movie that we might have otherwise missed. I prefer reading reviews post movie watching.

One of my favorite review sites is The Guru's Movie Reviews. Check out the movie review carnivals they are hosting. The carnivals highlight movie reviews from various blogs. Here's the first two..

Movie Review Carnival #1

Movie Review Carnival #2

They're coming about about twice a month so stay tuned in and connected.

TGIF Waterfall

Grand Canyon, Pennsylvania

Steps to Better Digital Pictures - Part 2

This is Part 2 in our series on taking better digital pictures. Part 1 dealt with achieving proper focus. This installment will deal with exposure issues.

Exposure determines the amount of incoming light that reaches the image sensor. Your camera controls exposure by varying the lens opening (aperture) and the amount of time given to take the picture (shutter speed). Understanding these two concepts - and how they work together - will give you interesting and unique digital pictures.

Aperture

The term aperture refers to the physical part of the camera that is the circular window that opens and closes when you press the shutter. It also describes the size of the window opening. This opening size is called the f-stop. The smaller the f number, the wider the aperture opening.

Wide apertures (low f numbers) result in limited depth of focus. Therefore the background will tend to blur. This may be the effect you want. If you want the background to be in focus along with the foreground subject, you will want a higher f number.

Shutter Speed

Cameras use a shutter to control the duration of exposure. This time is usually a fraction of a second. Shutter speeds do more that just control the amount of incoming light. A fast shutter speed tends to freeze motion. A slower shutter speed tends to exaggerate motion.

Aperture + Shutter = Creativity

In portrait photos, a combination of open aperture and fast shutter speed will blur the background (short depth of field) and throw more attention on the subject. Notice however the depth of field in this TGIF Kimberly picture. The shutter was set to use a rather narrow aperture which kept the background somewhat more in focus. Check out these pictures on Vazaar for some interesting play with aperature and shutter...

• Long Exposure
• Short Depth of Field
• Long Depth of Field

ISO Sensitivity

Just to mix things up a bit more, digital cameras also offer some manual ISO settings. In older film camera terms, this was a film rating about how fast a film was. In your digital camera, you can manually set ISO sensitivity to achieve increased brightness - at a cost of some added picture noise. Experiment with different settings for aperture, shutter speed and ISO all at once add real creativity to your pictures.

Remember - you can shoot hundreds of pictures with no film cost!!

Your camera's auto exposure setting will adjust all of these for you automatically - and that's convenient for some quick snapshots. Special scene modes will set adjustments according to common shooting scenarios. In the next part in the series, we will discuss various scene modes and how they work to optimize your pictures.

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Top 6 Tips

I've gone over the list of submitted blog entries for the Daily Blog Tips contest.

Here is my choice for the top 6...

27 Tips for Building a Kick-Ass Blog by Ahmed
Tips for Using Film Critics by Glenn
A Couple of Coffee Tips and Tricks by Audrey
6 Tips to Take Great Photographs by Rajaram
5 Tips for Crafting Effective Criticism by Annie
Forgotten Someone’s Name? Use These Tricks by Dee

OK - one's a shamless plug for my own site - but hey, its one of my favorites...

Downfall

Downfall - 2004

Downfall takes place almost entirely in Hitler's underground bunker, during the final days of World War II. Hitler is played brilliantly by Bruno Gantz. Hitler is ill, mad, compassionate, racist, paranoid.... human. The controversy that surrounded this film centered around this fact - Hitler did evil things, Hitler was directly responsible for millions of innocent deaths... and Hitler was human. Throughout American cinema we are used to seeing Hitler as monster, Hitler as Satan, Hitler as supernatural evil. Does this movie, in humanizing Hitler provoke sympathy? I'm thinking that by showing Hitler as a delusional paranoid, hanging on to what little he has left - the answer is no.

We see him ordering troops and units into position that do not exist, looking for deliverance from brigades that have long fallen away. As the Russian troops slowly move in on Berlin, Hitler alternately displays emotional outbursts of anger, tender compassion for his wife and for his secretary, Traudl Junge, and long moments of isolation and desertion. The movie is told largely through the eyes of Traudl. We hear comments from the real life Junge before and after the movie. Her book Until the Final Hour: Hitler's Last Secretaryis the basis for the movie's script.

As Hitler becomes more and more out of touch with reality, we see those loyal to him confronted with the ultimate decision - stay with Hitler, face certain death; but remain loyal to the vision of National Socialism - or face reality and get out now. Some are so loyal they do the unspeakable. In fact the most unsettling and shocking scene I can remember in any film [seriously!] involves Joseph and Magda Goebbels. Magda cannot envision a world without National Socialism. And she does not want her six children to live without it either. In the sad and shocking scene, she gives her children a sleeping potion, then proceeds to give them one by one a cyanide capsule. We hear the soft crunch of the capsule as she presses their jaws closed.

I had to turn away.

Rodger Ebert said that he felt sympathy for the Hitler character as he would feel sympathy for a rabid dog that had to be put down.

The director, Oliver Hirschbiegel, shows us the horror of the war outside the bunker, which keeps us rooted in the reality of the situation. As the Hitler loyalists, one by one, succumb to suicide or murder; by the end of the film we are relieved and thank God that we were born post 1945.

Research the film on Amazon here.

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TGIF Kimberly

Kimberly at the Beach

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Steps to Better Digital Pictures - Part 1

Having recently purchased a Sony Cybershot camera, I've been looking for ways to improve the quality of my pictures. There are a ton of features, options and settings on digital cameras today. This is the first in a series intended to show you simple methods and tips to creating more memorable pictures.

In this post we will concentrate on focus.

Focus

Typical auto focus systems detect proper focus using contrast. When contrast is highest, the image is in focus. When contrast is low, the image is out of focus. This allows your camera to work quickly and automatically.

These are situations that can throw off the camera's auto focus:

1. The challenge of darkness

• Auto focusing can get into trouble in low light situations when the camera can't see contrast.
• If you are capturing that low light shot and using flash isn't appropriate, ensure that the AF Illuminator mode is turned on. This sends out a special IR light on the subject prior to the shot so the camera can see the contrast and focus properly.
• Darker pictures require increased exposure times - meaning the shutter must stay open longer. Use a tripod (or lean against something) to avoid camera movement while the shot is exposing.

2. The challenge of composition

• Many auto focus systems look towards the center of the frame as the focal point. If your subject is away from center, the camera may focus on the wrong thing.
• Employ the camera's multi-point auto focus system if available. This allows focal points outside of center.
• First put your main subject in the center, press the exposure button half way down to lock the AF point. Then move the image off center to the original composition (while keeping the exposure button half pressed). The camera will remember the focus and use it even if the main subject is off center.

3. The challenge of Subject motion

• If you're shooting kids, pets, sports, etc, your subject can move toward you or away from the camera and the AF will be challenged.
• Turn on the camera's Continuous AF feature - often shown as Sports Mode. It uses considerably more battery life (so turn it off when no longer needed) but the subject will be tracked right up to the moment of exposure.
• Use of burst mode - multiple continuous shots - tells your camera to do a continuous auto focus as well.

Make focus your initial hurdle to better pictures. As we tackle more advanced issues and features in later posts, we are going to ensure right here that a blurry picture will not show up in our set - unless we specifically want it.

In Part 2 we will take on Exposure issues. In the mean time, check out the web site Vazaar for a variety of fascinating photos from professionals and amateurs alike.

[update]

Steps to Better Digital Pictures - Part 2 about digital exposure discusses aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings.

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Bandwagon

Bandwagon - 1996

We've seen and enjoyed Kevin Corrigan in a number of supporting roles (Buffalo 66, Slums of Beverly Hills, Trees Lounge) through the years. In Bandwagon he plays Wynn, a cynical hippie guitar player. This witty, rambunctious band road trip movie becomes my favorite Corrigan performance.

The four band members are embarking on the transition from garage band to big business band. This movie formula was done respectably by Tom Hanks in 1996's That Thing You Do. That movie had more recognizable actors in it - but don't let that stop you from enjoying this superior film. When these four completely different personalities get together it is simply for the love of music. They all come off as real and honest. The themes are loneliness, friendship, commercialism.

The music in the movie is simply brilliant. If you listen to XM Cafe or XMU on your satellite radio you'll feel at home. The lead singer, Tony (played by Lee Holmes) is so shy and self conscious he can't face the audience when he sings. But what he writes is from the heart and very catchy. You just know that the girl he's writing about just can't share the same infatuation that he does.

Writer and director John Schultz has given us a fascinating look into the challenges of keeping a band together when so many different personalities are trying to rip it apart. The movie is funny, smart, bright and damn enjoyable to watch.

When you're watching this movie, imagine that most of the big name artists you like today started out very much like this band. The Circus Monkeys are a band that I would listen to - were they real.

This movie made my Top 100 Movie List.

Research the movie on Amazon here.

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Children of Men

Children of Men - 2006

I'm a Clive Owen fan and a Sci Fi fan so this film was right up my alley. It portrays a nightmarish future where the youngest person on the planet has just died. Since his birth, no woman has been able to conceive. Facing extinction, mankind begins to close in on itself and chaos ensues. Britain alone stands as a last bastion of civilization.

Things are looking pretty grim when we find that one woman who is pregnant. Her protector is Theodore Faron (Owen), an unlikely hero, being an ex-revolutionary turned bureaucrat. He reluctantly teams up with some old terrorist buddies and so we have our adventure. Faron must deliver her to a sanctuary ship for her protection and run a gauntlet of terrorists, thugs, government toadies and miscellaneous malcontents.

The picture that this movie paints of the future is shocking. Britain is ruled by a fascist government that rounds up illegal immigrants and puts them in concentration camps. Stormtroopers beat suspects up indiscriminately. The rebels that are fighting back aren't much better.

One particularly frightening scene puts us in a van running through a rebel dominated territory. The ensuing confrontation is realized by the viewer in the first person and the shocking scene is shot without cut-aways. This filming technique is used again later when we witness a battle scene in a concentration camp. It is very riveting and the style is very effective.

This movie made my Top 100 Movie List.

Research it on Amazon.

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TGIF African Market

Ribaue, Mozambique

Tips for Using Film Critics

How many time have you heard this... "I don't pay any attention to film critics. They always get them wrong." ?

Film critics can be very useful to you and your movie watching experiences. Learning how to use film critics can make your movie viewing more rewarding, less frustrating, and save you some money to boot.

Here are the top 5 tips to getting the most out of a movie critic...

• Find a movie critic whose opinions about movies you have already seen agree with your tastes. Once you find that person, let them spend the money seeing new movies. If they like a flick, chances are you'll like it. If they trash a film, don't waste your money on it.


• Visit critic aggregator sites such as Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes to see tons of reviews pulled together into one score. The good stuff will filter to the top.


• Don't pass up on the smaller produced inde films. There is a lot of dreck out there. Your favorite critic will point you in the right direction and point out exceptional films to check out that you won't find at your local theatre.


• Don't just pursue the 5 star films. Critics are quite stingy with the stars and may only reward 4 or 5 films a year a 5 star rating. Three and a half or better means the film is a good solid piece of work and deserves your attention.


• Create your own list of top movies at sites like IMDB or Yahoo. Then easily compare your favorites with critics favorites. Find a good match and you've got your man...

Reading an articulate critic's writings about film and film making can only help you to increase your enjoyment of movies. If you want to increase the value of the time you spend watching movies, find a good critic and step up to the next level.

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Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

Three Burials of Melquides Estrada - 2005

This is a movie about loyalty and honor. About honoring a single life and avenging a single death.

It stars Tommy Lee Jones as the grizzled owner of a small time cattle operation, Pete Perkins. He hires an illegal Mexican immigrant as a hand and a deeper friendship develops. Barry Pepper is the hot head border patrol agent that has no problem with socking a Mexican woman in the face if she crosses him (and the border).

Stir this mix up and you have an emotional western (?) in the mold of a John Huston. Melquides Estrada is the Mexican cattle hand and we get to know him primarily through flashback and story telling. We do get to know him well though, which is skillful on the director's part, primarily because he is, well... dead for most of the movie. [I don't think I'm giving away any plot spoilers here. Look at the title of the movie]. Perkins realizes the ineffective sheriff [played by Diwight Yokum] isn't going to get to the bottom of the murder and decides to take matters into his own hands.

What we get is a journey of redemption bought with gruesome physical labor. Both men learn respect that they didn't have at the beginning of the story. Pepper masterfully portrays the contrition that the part demands and is worth the price of admission right there.

The film is the directorial debut for Jones as well. I'm hungry for more.

This movie made my Top 100 Movie List. You can research the movie at Amazon here.

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10th & Wolf

  10th & Wolf - 2006

Straight up mob drama with no surprises. I TIVOed this movie on the strength of Giovanni Ribisi - I always enjoy the passion he puts into a movie. Giovanni doesn't disappoint here.

The movie purports to take place in Philadelphia, but I'm from Pittsburgh and I'm tell'in ya, this was filmed in Pittsburgh. The Steelers, Wholey's Fish Market, the bridges - these are from Pittsburgh. This is, by the way, the only surprise in the movie. Its the same mob story you've seen dozens of times. Tough kid leaves the neighborhood; tough kid returns to the neighborhood; tough kid's old buds are deep in over their heads in mob trouble; tough kid trys to clean up.... just about everybody but the tough kid gets killed by the end.

But even with that said I did have some affection for the flick. Another stand out (beside Ribisi) was "the wise guy we are supposed to hate"; Dash Mihok playing the creepy Junior. At one point he beats a guy to death with his fake leg. His chilling portrayal of Junior made me hit IMDB to research his other work. Find something else he is in and let me know your thoughts.

I certainly didn't leave this movie satisfied. Everything plays out exactly as you would expect - it is very conventional. The performances by Ribisi, Mihok & Piper Perabo (!) pull this movie on to its inevitable conclusion. But I would have expected something a bit more outside the box from Crash co-writer Bobby Moresco.

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TGIF Morning Walk

Morning walk, Pittsburgh, PA

WW II Memorial European Trip

My father and I are planning a trip to Europe next year through Image Tours. It is a 15 day World War II Memorial Tour. We have talked about doing this for years. Well there has to be a time when you stop talking about doing it - and do it.

Here is the daily planned itinerary. I'll post some later on the the history of these sites as I research them.

1. Fly to Amsterdam
2. Holland - Leusden
3. Holland - Leusden
4. Holland - Arnhem, Nijmegen, Groesbeek, Best, Heerlen
5. Germany - Remagen, Boppard, St. Goar, Rhine cruise, Franconian wine region
6. Germany - Nuremberg, Sauerlach, Munich
7. Germany - Sauerlach
8. Germany - Dachau, Ulm, Bad Herrenalb
9. France - Saverne, St. Avold, Fort Hackenberg, Thionville
10. Luxembourg - American Cemetery & Belgium - Bastogne & France - Thionville
11. France - Verdun, Reims, Compiegne
12. France - Caen
13. France - Normandy,
14. France - Paris
15. Fly to US

[see a more detailed itinerary here]

In addition, there are extra side trips to Hitler's Eagle's Nest and some Bavarian beer stuff.

Let me know if you have any experience with Image Tours and how this trip sounds. I think it might possibly be the trip of a lifetime...

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Book Burning in Kansas City

I have always felt a certain connection to the books I read. So much so that I have trouble parting with them even after I've read them. My book shelves are overflowing with these old friends and contrary to my wife's protests, there they are staying.

So you can imagine my confusion when I read that a bookstore in Kansas City decided to burn hundreds of books to "spark" controversy. I'm finding it a bit hard to believe that in a city the size of Kansas City, there are no takers for the books. Homeless shelters? Libraries? Community centers?

The goal of the stunt was to shock people into a serious discussion about the importance of books in the face of a marked shrinking in reading trends, and staggering waste streams of actual books.

OK - discussions about promoting reading is a good thing. But I'm betting that donating the books to useful organizations would have produced better results.

The Illusionist

  The Illusionist - 2006

* Spoilers included *

Let me start by saying that Edward Norton is one of my favorite actors. His character Derek Vinyard in American History X is unforgettably intense. He often plays characters that skillfully combine intelligence and cunning inside a quiet exterior.

Paul Giamotti is also an actor that I have grown to respect and enjoy lately.

The Illusionist didn't do it for me. I have to say that I expected the very ending from the point of the show where Eisenhim asks Sophie "Look at me. Do you really want to run away with me?" From that point forward we were meant to be tricked by the movie - lead to believe one thing while the reality was something different. Maybe ever since Sixth Sense and The Crying Game I'm a bit wary - but this just slapped me up side the head with "Watch OUT - they're trying to trick you...." The name of the movie is The Illusionist for crying out loud...

I can respect the individual performances here. Paul Giamotti is great as the nemesis as well as the grudging admirer. Jessica Biel hasn't impressed me tremendously as an actress but was surprisingly effective here in this role - believable in the period of the movie.

Norton made The Painted Veil right after this movie. I recommend that movie for the Ed Norton fan. Also a period piece but a much more engaging film.

I'm a fan of magic, all the actors in the movie, turn of the century periods, Vienna.... you would think this movie would have been made for me. Maybe I expected too much...

Research this movie on Amazon

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No Sleep...

Here it is - 5 AM on Saturday morning and I'm at the keyboard. I've been waking up real early all week and I had a feeling that I'd have trouble sleeping in on Saturday. Usually if I can make it in till 8 or so that's doing good.

I hope to find so time this weekend to work on an application that I'm doing for a Christian organization called Love Packages. These people do great work sending literature and books throughout the world. They need some database work keeping track of things so I'm hoping to help out a bit.

So as the family sleeps I'll be on the laptop. This will be a good time to comment on the book I'm currently reading: Maximum City by Suketu Mehta.