Whoohoo 100 posts

I've padded out this damn blog enough now to justify 100 posts. Whoohoo champagne for all!

If I type in Daniel Krone's film blog in a Goggle image search it turns up every photo I've used in my blog . . . neato ^.^

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=Daniel+Krone's+film+blog&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=170l2503l0l3342l15l10l2l0l0l0l359l1685l1.6.2.1l12l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1225&bih=643&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=lWruTormBsGeiQKqg9mtBA . . . well for the first couple of pages at least

Almost there

Almost . . .

My Top 5 Films of 2011

1.) Drive - (And yes I f*cking love this song)

2.) Troll Hunter -

3.) Rango -

4.) Attack the Block - (It's also fun that my short documentary "A Cult Influence" was mentioned alongside this in it's Slashfilm.com http://www.slashfilm.com/votd-a-cult-influence-minidocumentary-cult-movies/ article. :) )

5.) Tinker Tailor Soilder Spy - (My first classy film on the list. Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, Toby Jones, Mark Strong . . . a brilliant cast. This film is a masterpiece with only one flaw...it's damned hard to follow. Other than that, a real, honest bloody spy thriller I loved. It takes a while to let the style sink in, but if you just go with what it's trying to do, it's a brilliant masterwork.)

*Runner Up* : - Source Code : It didn't expect much out of this one . . . and I was blown to pieces. Duncan Jones you are great.

Ballet Horror . . .

Two directors with the same initials both have directed iconic horror films about ballet:

Dario Argento

Darren Arronofsky

Deeper thoughts . . .

Points of view are what separates individuals the most . . . finding a person with a significantly similar point of view to your own is often inspiring. Which is one of the reasons I believe art fascinates us. It's a way to peek into a person's mind.

also

If a woman has sex with a man with multiple personalities is it like a gang bang? - Warning the content of this joke may be offensive to younger audiences - future note . . . put warnings in front of things so people can make a decision to read or not first

Steven King coincidences . . .

Annie Wilkes in the book 'Misery' uses an ax … but in the film uses a hammer.

Jack Torrence in the book 'The Shining' uses a hammer…and in the film uses an ax."

The Dark Knight Rises Prologue my thoughts

These 6 opening minutes were more enjoyable then most of the films I've seen all year.

It's no secret Christopher Nolan is possibly the hottest director alive today. And I think this coming July he may be remembered for all time, (If he isn't already) for completing his trilogy.

I do not want to nitpick this film, I do not want to cry that my favorite scenes were missing, or that he would do it differently in the comics. Nolan has spawned his world called "The Nolanverses" a universe by Christopher Nolan and fans of film.

Heath Ledger (R.I.P.) won a posthumous oscar . . . how can you top that ? The Joker is one of, if not the most iconic villain of all time . . . how can you top that ? And the answer is research. If you were trying to top an X-Men movie, you'd pick Apocalypse over Magneto if you were trying to top a Superman movie, you'd pick Brainiac over Lex Luthor . . . and so it goes in the lore of The Batman the only villain after Heath Ledger's bone chilling performance as Joker would be Bane. Played by the soon to be house hold name Tom Hardy.

There was one complaint among the fans who waited two hours to see 6 minutes of a film that's 6 months away and I'm not going to spoil it. One tiny detail that to me added to the realism of what's going on and a mystery about the character of Bane. I'll give you a clue though . . . Darth Vader has a similar problem . . . and it's slightly more noticeable in Bane. And since I'm comparing him to possibly the greatest villain in film history…that doesn't bother me in the least.

Bane is perfection. The Joker is chaos.

Bane is a chess player with muscles.

Nolan understands the language of film to a T. From sound to sight. Harry Lime (villain in 'The Third Man') is talked about for about an hour before he appears in that movie. Nolan even in 3 minutes can built up the legend of a character by mentioning his name in one scaredsh*tless throw away line. Same as he did with 'Why do they call this guy 'The Joker'?' 'I don't know, maybe he wears makeup…like warpaint.' And so they do with Bane.

This opening is bigger than the bank robbery. Not in the sense of explosions but in the raw tactile nature of doing a job. Nolan is structured in pacing and detail, not just in the hole of a story but in one 6 minute scene.

After the scene which left me speechless even after the unique way they did just the WB Title Card for the movie - which always leaves me chilled to the core. After the scene they show quick cuts from the movie only one pissed me off only one bothered me, and I hope it's handled better in the film. (Catwoman, who I'm not thrilled about.) But you get the sense of the scope of the film. It will be huge.

Nolan doesn't give a damn about characters…he's making stories about olympians, titans and gods…stories not just worthy to be written in paper but chiseled in stone and film to be seen forever…LEGENDS. Comic are the modern day greek myth…it's a fact...

Bane isn't a god. He's a Titan, even the gods fear him.

"Hugo". . . not that fantastic really . . .

Are we running out of ideas so quickly that simply homaging greatness is akin to greatness itself ?

http://www.slashfilm.com/national-board-review-calls-hugo-film-2011/

"Hugo" won best film by the National Board of Review . . . I wonder what film they saw.

; - - - A picture from the book I've yet to read. (If I ever will)

"Hugo" is a well shot, decently acted small quaint children's film that cinephiles will get an extra kick out of. It isn't a cinema masterpiece. And the 3D isn't the greatest 3D ever recorded as some critics have said, and truth be told it's miles better than "Shutter Island" just a tad better than most directors films and below Scorsese's other films. But Martin has been homaging the history of film since "Taxi Driver". Which contains numerous homages to Godard films and John Ford films. Two of Scorsese's biggest influences. "Hugo" for my dollars is far less subtle. It's very noticeable "Hugo" by the end of the film isn't about the adventures of a young boy...it's about the preservation of old films.

;-Although I did get to see "Voyage to the Moon" from 1902 cleaned up and in 3D on the big screen. Which I must say was a magnificent treat for a film lover, but homaging a filmmaker that's over 100 years old as important as he was in the history of film does not a great film make. But still great to see :)

Okay lets get this review started. The sets are gorgeous (oscar worthy) though as advertised as an amazing adventure, there are only a handful of sets showcased in the film. A toyshop, library, house, train station, movie theatre, and the gears of the clocks inside the train station. That's it, they travel outside of the train station once and when they do it's usually a street corner near a bridge, river, and a movie theatre.

"Hugo" Cabret is an orphan cliche and stumbles across the wonderful trope of an adventurous young french girl whose idea of adventure consists of books. (She's basically the French equivalent of Lisa Simpsons) but played rather sweetly by Chloe Moretz. made famous as Hit Girl in the hit film "Kick Ass" (And if you try to think perverted fan-fiction thoughts she'll murder you.)

"Hugo" however isn't violent and barely passionate, it is a quaint cute little story that has the substance of a Hallmark story of the week, however directed by a master director.

"Hugo" is a young boy whose an apprentice clockmaker with his father who finds a mysterious wind up figurine and tries to repair it. Then dies and "Hugo" is whisked off to work with his uncle repairing clocks in the train station and he's the drunk cliche trope character who doesn't love "Hugo" and basically uses him for cheap child labor.

At the beggining of the film "Hugo" is caught stealing parts from a toymaker and the toymaker asks him to empty his pockets after he's caught stealing. The toymaker finds a little notebook with drawings of the wind up figure and begins to feel sad, he takes the boys book and threatens to burn it. His granddaughter is Chloe Moretz who befriends "Hugo" and assures him he won't burn the book and he can get it back later. She also informs him that her grandfather cried when he read through the book. (This is a piss poor plot device used to get to what the film is really about.)

Ehem, the Grandfather character gives "Hugo" some ash tells him he burnt the book and the boy cries and then later is revealed this is a trick...hurray now "Hugo" has to work off his robbery and being an orphan in order to win back this book. Well Chloe and him eventually break back into the grandfathers house, spilling a mysterious cabinet filled with crazy fantasy drawings (which will later be revealed) getting his book back and discovered that in all the coincidences the clockwork man "Hugo" has spent numerous hours repairing only will operate with a key Chloe Moretz says her grandfather gave her. Get it now...the key that Chloe has works on the machine that "Hugo" had and his father tried to repair that he found in an old museum. "Hugo" thinks that turning on the machine will solve some mystery about his father or the meaning of life or something...his father died in a fire, basically repairing the robot is his idea of finishing something his father started which is him embarking on a mystery his father was too dead to even know about all the dad character wanted to know was what it did when you turned the machine on, yet to my amazement the film tries to fool the audience into thinking this big mystery will give "Hugo" closure, when in reality his dad died before he even embarked on it. (Which really bothers me from a writing standpoint.)

Well the machine turns on and draws the famous "Voyage to the Moon" picture of a rocket in a moon with a face...and the kids turn over the picture to Chloe's grandmother and she cries and talks about hating the past. Well the go to the library (Chloe's character loves books remember) and research the film, and find an expert on George Melies (Whom we find out is Chloe's grandfather and the toymaker from the train station - both of which I believe were completely made up for the sake of the book and have no basis in fact about the real George Melies, but if I can believe Eli Roth shot Hitler in the face than I guess I'll believe this.)

Anyways they end up sneaking an old film of Melies back to Chloe's grandparents house and showing the grandmother who becomes very nostalgic as possible a lot of film fans are. And the grandfather George Melies (played pretty well by Ben Kingsley) stumbles in on the session and reveals the whole history of how he made the films, fell in love with making the films and eventually had to sell his old films, joined the war effort, burned down his studio and founded a toy shop in the train station. And that's the plot of "Hugo" there are a few side characters that have cute little moments, the most memorable being the station guard played by Sasha Barron Cohen and a few others that aren't really important to the plot but have cute moments.

The film ends in a theatre with a beautiful montage of Melies films and a hammy speech about preserving films with "Hugo" now feeling apart of a family and ending with Chloe's character in a cliched voice-over about 'that boy she met' at an after party after a screening of Melies films.

"Hugo" has a level of charm that is beautiful but not masterful, and no where near perfect. I was happy I saw it but not enriched in anyway as I'd expect a great film to always do.

<- "Hugo" is not like this.

(No sound)

<- This is what "Hugo" is about. It is not a film about a young boy who loves to tinker.

So many film lovers are praising 'Hugo' and I don't really see why. The history of film is interesting but something I already knew about and the part where the film meets the real world history I felt didn't match up that well.

(The real George Melies) (Ben Kingsly as him)

;--- There is even an homage to this famous old picture.