Silicon Valley Days » Movies

The meta-punking of Dan Lee/Tablo

Silicon Valley Dazed — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:45:17 +0000

The Stalking of Korean Hip Hop Superstar Daniel Lee

I first read about Dan Lee/Tablo in Stanford Magazine, but the new additions to the Dan Lee story become even stranger since he’s married to Kang Hye-jung who is the main actress in the Korean film Oldboy. The themes of identity and revenge between the Dan Lee story and Oldboy share a stronger and even more uneasy connection with the introduction of Cho, Dan Lee’s cousin, in this recent Wired story. The blurring of the lines between reality and fiction starts feeling like a grand meta-punking.

Hutcherson needs Cruise lifts

Silicon Valley Dazed — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 11:51:27 +0000

Someone needs to get Josh Hutcherson some Tom Cruise lifts for the publicity shots with Jennifer Lawrence. The casting of Peeta has really bugged both Ally and me since Peeta’s supposed to be a big stocky guy who can lift 100 pound sacks of flour. I liked Hutcherson in the Bridge to Terabithia and The Kids are all Right, but he’s just not right for the part. I hope he got his agent a very nice Christmas present. Actually, even if Hutcherson had lifts, it wouldn’t matter that much since I think Lawrence already has 2 inches on him, and she’s probably wearing 4-inch heels.

Ripley’s jumpsuit from Alien

Silicon Valley Dazed — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 16:45:42 +0000

Rewatched Alien last night due to all the hype for Prometheus. Although one of the memorable parts of the film is how great Sigourney Weaver looked in her underwear, I noted for the first time that the jumpsuit she wore has some very interesting corset like lacing on the back. Was Moebius the designer for that detailing? Ripley’s jumpsuit from Aliens was auctioned by Christies a few years ago, but I wonder whatever happened to the Alien jumpsuit.

Wes Anderson’s Hyundai Ad

Silicon Valley Dazed — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 03:50:57 +0000

I’m 45 and I get the Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang, Herbie (I thought of the Spy Who Loved Me first), and Speed Racer references in this ad. I wonder how many 30- and 20-somethings will get it, let alone teenagers. If only 1/10th of my life was as quirky as a Wes Anderson movie

The Grifters

Silicon Valley Dazed — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 04:27:57 +0000

The Grifters (film) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

I love movies about cons and grifters, so I’m happy I finally watched this movie. Annette Bening was so young and Marilyn Monroe sexy in this film. You always wonder what the top grifters in the world would be able to do if they devoted their smarts and energies to something else, but perhaps the high of the con is too hard for them to leave.

The Chaser

Silicon Valley Dazed — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 04:17:32 +0000

The Chaser (film) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This movie brings you to the edge of hope, and then brutally destroys it. I found this film worth watching though, mainly because of Kim Yoon-seok’s anti-hero character.

The Ward is a horror movie for the Lifetime Channel

Silicon Valley Dazed — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:20:18 +0000

I watch John Carpenter movies because I loved Escape from New York, The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China, and They Live. I also admire how he scores his own movies, particularly the memorable theme from Halloween. I keep hoping a new John Carpenter movie will be as fresh as his hits from the 70s and 80s, but what a disappointment it was to watch The Ward, and its twist at the end which is just like another movie made a few years ago. Technically, the movie is well made, but it ultimately fails to bring anything new to the table, and I have to call it a horror movie that belongs on the Lifetime channel. At least Amber Heard looks good in tight jeans.

Could two famous movie stars keep an illegitimate daughter secret today?

Silicon Valley Dazed — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 06:57:35 +0000

Judy Lewis, Secret Daughter of Hollywood, Dies at 76

With the hordes of paparazzi, TMZ, People, and The National Enquirer, there’s no way someone like Judy Lewis could be kept a secret today. It’s crazy to me the subterfuge Loretta Young went through to hide a pregnancy and then to put her daughter in an orphanage for 19 months before “adopting” her. It’s funny how much Judy Lewis resembled her father more than her mother.

Bladerunner was not a success when it first opened at the movie theaters

Silicon Valley Dazed — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 06:42:29 +0000

In Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson, he mentions that Ridley Scott was coming off the success of Bladerunner when he was chosen to direct the 1984 ad for Apple. The error with this statement is that Bladerunner was a commercial and critical failure when it first came out in 1982. It wasn’t until later … Continue reading »

Sally Hawkins is a goofy Kate Beckinsale

Silicon Valley Dazed — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 21:28:33 +0000

I saw Happy-Go-Lucky earlier this week, and I felt it was a good indie movie that didn’t wear itself thin. Sally Hawkins has a goofy and gawky charm which makes her more endearing than Kate Beckinsale with her more refined manner and features, but they look so much alike that they could easily be sisters. I had seen the character actor Eddie Marsan in previous movies, but he was stupendous as the driving instructor in the movie. His final scene with Sally Hawkins feels so real in its pain. The true star of the movie though was the cinematography of Hawkins and Marsan while they’re driving in a car. While I was watching the film I felt like the car wasn’t some fake rig that they really weren’t driving, and it turns out from the movie extras that the actors really were driving the car, but with some serious hardware comprised of multiple cameras, recorders and batteries to capture everything going on in the car. I was most impressed with how their dialog flowed with the traffic. I wonder how many takes they did with some of the driving scenes.