Cinema 4D: Day 1

First steps into a larger, or at least more polygonal, world.

#2,242 - Room

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi - ★★★☆☆
I guess this is the best glory-of-war-in-January movie yet. Still, I walked out wondering what the point of it all was. On the other hand, I didn't really have any idea what happened with Benghazi, and now I can pretend like I do.

Victoria - ★★★☆☆  
I watched for the gimmick, because I like movies with weird constraints, or, as you say, gimmicks. I found this one simultaneously a) pretty interesting and b) a little flat. Each section is a little bit less than the one before. The long first section is necessary to convince you that the heist portion could happen, which is okay, but the 'on the run' portion is where it fell down for me.

Joy - ★½☆☆☆
This was lousy! Just a big messy melange, curiously devoid of movie magic. It reminded me of American Sniper in the way it constantly looked like actors on a set, and never like a *movie.*

Room  - ★★★★★ 
This was great! The perspective and how it parcels out the information, the plotting, the performances, all great. I just hope it gets seen enough to win all the prizes it deserves.

Relatively Prime Season Three!

I think I may have really endangered my health in the process of making this cartoon for Sam's new Kickstarter campaign, so the least you could do is go give him all of your money!

Also, Kickstarter staff picked it almost immediately as a 'project we love,' so that's pretty cool, right? Donate!  

It's the Hike Mic!

I made this little video over the weekend featuring photos from previous installments of The Hike Mic, LA's Premiere Outdoor Traveling Open Mic!  Look for it in to return to some favorite locations in 2016 and some all new sites, like Hike Mic: Berlin Wall edition, and just maybe, Hike Mic: Portland!

#2,238 - Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Band of Robbers - ★★★★☆
This was really fun. I think it's such a smart move to go for cringe comedy up top because it makes the later suspenseful parts feel much more dangerous.

Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter - ★★★☆☆
This is a lot like what Into The Wild would be if that movie weren't completely terrible.

The Hateful Eight - ★★★☆☆
This movie is built on an engine of slowly ratcheting suspense, so a climax made out of surprise makes me feel a little bit cheated. The Four Passengers doesn't matter at that point - that whole chapter feels like pre-emptive bickering with internet nerds who don't believe the story they're being told. All in all, a little too long for me - maybe I would've liked it better with the intermission.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens - ★★★★★
I was almost embarrassingly excited to be going in to this one - we've all been burned before.

I'm so happy it delivered. I'm on board with most of our new characters and I loved the interactions between the OT characters. I can't remember the last movie that provoked so many feelings from me. I liked the sense of danger, I thought it was great that Han is smuggling Shuggoths, and I loved that there's mystery again in the Star Wars universe. Sure, the new EU will rush in to explore the personal backstory of every cantina patron over time, but for a little while there's an unexplained and unexplored galaxy out there.