Sunday, November 10, 2013

Breaking Emotions Blogathon: Fear and Awkward


Finally, the first post the Breaking Emotions blogathon has arrived! Well, the emotions arrived on Monday, but you know, time zones and stuff. So let's dive right into this - if you want to read more about the fabulous blogathon, click here

* My choices are in no particular order.


28 Days Later • Empty London

I'm generally not scared of anything that has to do with makeup or other practical effects, although I find it very interesting to see how they do things like that. What scares me in movies is always an emotion or an idea, something that happens in my head when I see what happens on the screen. At the beginning of 28 Days Later, Cilian Murphy's character wakes up in a hospital in London to find that there's not a soul there. He walks outside and even there, the city is empty. I've often walked around town on Sundays, when there wasn't a soul outside and imagined being the only person left on earth, which is a thoroughly scary thought. I mean, just being there and seeing the remains of people and signs of what has happened must be horrible.

The Conjuring • Trying to Sleep

This is the only "genuine" horror film per se in this little list, and one of the best I've ever seen. Haters, go away, The Conjuring is scary in a super effective, subtle, old-school way. Now the scene I think I found scariest is when one of the sisters wakes up by her blanket being drawn away, which at the beginning, she ignores - assuming that it's her sister doing this. First of all, the little girl reminded me a lot of my own sister when she was younger, and second of all, the scene reminded me a lot of the horror scenarios that would sometimes mix my head up when I was a child. Again; just that idea of someone playing with your fears, only showing itself to you and no one else, scares me a lot. Plus, the little girl was so convincingly horrified that her terror emerged through the screen.

2001: A Space Odyssey • The Pod Doors

2001 is a very scary film, and without it, I don't think we'd ever have seen an Alien or a Gravity, which were very evidently inspired by this sci-fi classic. HAL, the artificially intelligent computer on the spacecraft, is one of my favorite villains of all time - few real-life performances manage to send a shiver down my spine like Douglas Rain's voice does. Although we suspect HAL of becoming the source of future problems, it is in the famous pod door scene that we realize how big of a threat he actually is. His cold, emotionless way of speaking to the main character Dave, is enough to scare the sh** out of me. Add to that the thought that someone way smarter and way more capable than you, nearly immortal as well, is in control of your life and you've got one of the most frightening scenes in cinematic history.


Spider Man 3 • Peter Parker Goes Emo

It's not like I was ever a big fan of the Spider Man series and would like to pretend that Spider Man 3 doesn't exist. Part one and two both had their problems, and they just got a little bigger and more evident in the third part of the installment. However, the makers managed to put things in there that were completely unnecessary, had nothing to do with the style of the first two movies, and were so bad that the franchise was killed off. One of these things, one might say the thing, is Peter Parker going emo. As in full-on emo. As in embarrassing and awkward in every thinkable way. 

Borat • The Dinner Scene

Nope, I didn't go the easy route and just selected the whole (glorious) movie, I actually did dig for a particular scene that I think made me feel the most awkward (apart from the obvious naked wrestling one). Borat learns about the etiquettes of dinner parties and goes on to use his new knowledge in real life. Mayhem ensues and that's all I have to say.

About a Boy • Killing Me Softly

This is probably my favorite choice in this list, as it proves the point of an 'awkward scene' (or my definition of the same) very well. It's a cute scene in a way; Marcus, the little boy, sings Killing Me Softly in front of the whole school, however, he's not much of a musical talent. He is then 'saved' by Will, who joins in and acts like a cool rockstar, which convinces the audience. So Marcus sort of learns the lesson that in life, attitude is one of the most important things, and Will learns that sometimes, you need to stand by someone, no matter how 'weird' they are. But despite the cuteness and our determination to not laugh or find Marcus awkward - we still do. He is awkward. And so is Will's joining in, until he manages to somehow turn things around through his cool attitude. 

I hope you had as much fun with this blogathon as I've had so far. 
To be continued next week!

Across the Universe Podcast, Eps 13: Give Life Back to Music


In our latest episode, we welcome our first guest on the show, the awesome Ryan McNeil from thematinee.ca and the Matineecast. We'd like to establish a few traditions linked to the guest episodes, such as the guest choosing the opening song and us selecting a general discussion suited to the guest. Ryan was a true patriot and showed support for his home country Canada at various times in the show, as we made him list his three favorite music-related non-musicals. You also have the possibility to get to know Ryan a bit more in our questionnaire.

Please excuse all technical mishappenings.

Content:
0:26 - Chick (and guy) Chatter
2:53 - Trailer
3:52 - The Guest Questionnaire
15:15 - The chicks and Ryan list each of their Top 3 Music-related Movies
1:06:10 - Feedback on the Topic

1:10:11 - Plugs and Goodbyes

Songs:
Metric - Black Sheep
Daft Punk - Give Life Back To Music
Music from our #1 Music-related Movies
Jim Sturgess - Across The Universe


Please give us your feedback on our facebook page, write us an email at acrossthenuniversepodcast@gmail.com or follow us and write a review on iTunes or Podomatic.


Saturday, November 2, 2013

HAPPY NEW MONTH!

Wrapping up October 2013.


Everybody had a nice Halloween? Watched some scary movies, drank loads of Pumpkin Spice Latte? Reread Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone just for that Halloween chapter?

I personally have been in a very Halloween-y mood this year and in fact did watch a lot of new-to-me horror movies aside from a probably badly timed viewing of Groundhog Day - which I loved nevertheless. Other than that I've done each one of the things I mentioned. Well, I only drank PSL once. But since I had been dying to do so - and nobody question that totally mature goal - since the last time I was in a big city in autumn, it felt as good as drinking loads of it, I'm sure. 

Oh, I almost forgot: I changed my plans of studying film because I see absolutely no purpose in it and I think if at some point I'll feel like making movies, I should just make them. It's what most directors did at any rate. And I'm not even sure that's what I want to do, at least it's not what I want to do right now in my life. So I made some new plans to study computer science after my gap year. But since there's still about 1,5 years until I have to decide, let's talk about something more light..

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

My Heroes: Ellen "Get-away-from-her-you-bitch" Ripley


A Bechdel test rating for movies has just been approved by the Swedish government, I finally have the chance the catch a screening of the hyped sci-fi epos Gravity tonight and Halloween is just around the corner - what better to write about these days than one of the coolest female characters that has ever kicked cinematic asses, first appearing in 1979s groundbreaking sci-fi/ horror flick Alien?

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Across the Universe Podcast, Eps 12: Awkward Movie Viewing Moments


It's getting darker outside, but before you fall in to an early winter depression (which - admittedly - is an easy thing to do, especially now that news about Sherlock releasing in January is out), you might want to listen to this latest episode of the Across the Universe Podcast. I'm sure our embarrassing and/or funny stories of movie viewings will put a smile on your face, and who knows - perhaps they'll even make you laugh and forget about the dropping temperatures and the fact that supermarkets are stuffed with chocolate Santas already.

Content:
00:20 - Chick-Chatter
02:53 - Trailers
03:43 - Interesting Movie of the Fortnight
32:37 - The Chicks discuss their top 3 Awkward Movie Viewing Moments
1:07:18 - Plugs and Goodbyes

Music:
Lord Kitchener - London Is the Place for Me
Josh Houde - The Awkward Song
Jim Sturgess - Across the Universe


CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

Please give us your feedback on our facebook page, write us an email at acrossthenuniversepodcast@gmail.com or follow us and write a review on iTunes or Podomatic.