The title says it all really since his appearance on letterman people have been wondering what’s going on with him.
(check out the interview below.)

Joaquin Phoenix back in 2000.

Retirement

It was October, 27th, 2008 that Joaquin announced his retirement from acting to pursue a career in rap music. Joaquin had previously recorded the soundtrack album for the film Walk the Line for which he won a Grammy Award at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards.

It had been revealed that Joaquin has been the subject of a documentary made by his brother-in-law Casey Affleck entitled ‘I’m Still Here’. Rumours circulated that it was an elaborate hoax, to which Phoenix stated “This is not a joke. Might I be ridiculous? Might my career in music be laughable? Yeah, that’s possible, but that’s certainly not my intention.” However, he has also been reported to have said, “It’s a put-on. I’m going to pretend to have a meltdown and change careers, and Casey is going to film it.”

Hoax?

If this is indeed a huge hoax it will have been one of the best and biggest hoaxes ever! It it may have a serious tone; how people treat other with mental illnesses. The Letterman interview is a perfect example, the audience and letterman seem to do nothing but take the piss out of him the entire interview, something like this wouldn’t happen if we knew they interviewee had a mental disability.

What’s your opinion on whether it’s a hoax or is it a sign of a serious mental breakdown. Check out the trailer for the film ‘I’m Still Here’. and the whole of the Letterman interview below.

Image: Attribution: Mimi C. at en.wikipedia

So it was announced last week that British/American actor Andrew Garfield would become the new Peter Parker in the Rebooted Spider-Man series.

Spider-Man 4 was due to be released May 6, 2011, with Sam Raimi set to direct as well as Maguire, Dunst and other cast members set to reprise their roles. Sony announced they were shelving the film after Raimi left due to trouble meeting the release date and keeping is creative integrity.

Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus premiere – September 18, 2009 – Roy Thompson Hall – Image by: Courtney

Andrew Garfield, who directed (500) Days of Summer, is set to be the new director and the story will tell the story of Peter Parker developing his abilities in high school. While there has been speculation that the reboot will be based on the Ultimate Spider-Man comic books, but nothing has been confirmed.

It’s hard to imagine a rebooted series so close to the previous films, taking into account the Batman films there was an 8 year gap between Batman & Robin (1997) & Batman Begins (2005) but with those it was a big change from the 20th century to the 21st from the Nineties to the Naughties. And with the scheduled release for the new Spider-Man being July 3, 2012 it will only be a 5 Year gap, Pretty short in the scheme of things.

And on a side note of why I haven’t posted a blog in almost a month, I’ve simply been really busy at work and there’s days when I’ve had 15hr days going to London for work and back. Hopefully I’ll be back on writing more regularly again anyway.

Image by: Courtney

Through Twitter I got asked to do an interview with on whohub.com. Whohub’s goal is to create a social network for creative professionals based on their capacity for self-expression and collaboration.

So I’ll post up a few questions from that here.

What is your specialty? Production, direction, something else?
My speciality is in Direction and editing, I produce video for online distribution.

I have also worked at the BBC and Maverick Television and also freelance.

How did you begin in this field? Who introduced you to it?
I began by creating short 10 second animations out of plasticine using an old 2mp camera but I always just saw this as mess around.

So at the age of 16 was the time I really got interested in becoming a filmmaker.

To read the rest of the interview go to http://www.whohub.com/daleokeeffe#

Read more about Whohub: http://www.whohub.com/en/article.php?file=aboutus#ixzz0qU3dz7Vy

Avatar sold 1.5 million copies in Blu-ray on it’s first day of going on sale. Along with an additional 2.5 million DVD copies being sold.

Blu-ray.

Does the Avatar’s popularity on Blu-ray show that 3D is a format that we’re only interested in seeing at the cinema? This story seems bad news for 3D TV manufacturers, as the 3D version will not be available until early next year.

3D TV technology is new and 3D television are expensive, it’s also not surprising that far more DVD were sold than Blu-ray, showing that audiences either aren’t too interested in HD to spend more money,or haven’t made the leap into buying a HD/Blu-ray player.

It certainly might be sometime before 3D films will be the biggest buys, as Blu-ray is still playing catch up. Personally I’m not interested in buy a 3D TV at the moment simply because 2D works and looks fine and it has done for years and years.

Question

Are you excited for 3D TVs or are you happy with the one you have at the moment?

Werner Herzog has been discussing how he is currently making a 3D documentary about painting in the Cave of Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc.

Werner Herzog.

I must admit what he says he’s doing sounds really interesting, to someone whose not familiar with Herzog he may sound like a mad man. But as he explains no-one has ever been in this cave and the painting were created 32,000 years ago.

I wont write out what he’s been saying but rather embed two videos by Roger Ebert

The Pacific is a new ten-part television World War II mini-series from the makers of Band of Brothers.

The Pacific.

The Pacific focuses on the United States Marine Corps’ actions in the Pacific Theatre of Operations.

The first two episodes were broadcast back to back on the 5th April 2010 at 9pm on Sky Movies (UK). The first two episodes are an immediate opener to what we can expect from the rest of the series. I really like the way each episode is opened but surviving war veterans speaking about their roles in the Pacific Theatre of Operations as well as Tom Hanks narration at the beginning. The visual are amazing and looks all the bit of it’s $150Million budget and is exactly what we can expect from a film produced by Steven Spielberg.

The Pacific could easily be seen as ‘another WW2 film” but it really isn’t, I think it’s a very clever move having this as a miniseries rather than a film as it gives you more time to connect with the characters, and unlike something like Lost which just seems to keep going and going, you know The Pacific has a definitive ending after the 12 episodes.

I can certainly say that The Pacific is a series not to be missed.

It’s on Monday at 9pm on Sky Movies so don’t miss it.

*Drum Rolls* The one you’ve all been waiting, for My Top Werner Herzog film!

1. Encounters at the End of the World (2007)

Encounters at the End of the World poster.

Werner Herzog travels to Antarctica to shoot a film as part of the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program. This is no ordinary travel documentary, if you haven’t noticed by now Herzog does not do ‘ordinary’, Herzog states at the beginning of the film that

‘The National Science Foundation invited me even though I made it clear I would not be making another movie about penguins.’

Herzogs fascination with the Antarctic was through Henry Kaiser, whose underwater footage we see in ‘The Wild Blue Yonder’, he meets physic professors, who at the Antarctic are fork lift drivers and bankers who become bus drivers. Undeniably the stars of this film are the Antarctic itself and it’s creature above and below the ice. One of the strangest moments of the film is when we see a penguin heading towards a mountain range, completely in the opposite direction of the feeding grounds or nesting areas, the penguin researcher explains that even if they were to capture the penguin and bring him back he would always walk that way towards the mountains, toward his inevitably death.

The reason this film gets the no.1 slot over any other is simply because the underwater footage is absolutely breathtaking, It’s a part of nature that we never get to see. We all to often focus on the animal swimming within the sea where as Herzog focuses on so much more. Herzogs unusual interview technique allows us to see the real character of the people he’s interviewing, he’s not bothered by what they have to say but the story behind the person.

I highly recommend this film, If you want to explore the world of Werner Herzog this is a great starting point. Watching it in HD is also a must.

Enjoy the trailer below.

If you haven’t read Part 1, Click Here

3. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)

Aguirre, the Wrath of God poster.

Aguirre, the Wrath of God is about a group of Spanish conquistadores who trek through Peru in search of the legendary city of gold, El Dorado. When the 1000 strong group become stuck the leader orders a group of forty to scout ahead, with Don Pedro de Ursúa as leader and Don Lope de Aguirre as second in command. After encountering difficultly, power hungry Aguirre proposes a coup against Ursúa when he suggests they turn back. The soldiers follow Aguirre, as they slowly float down the Amazon, Aguirre, becoming more and more insane the further they go.

Aguirre, the Wrath of God contains, in my opinion, some of the greatest scenes in film history. The opening and closing scenes are visually stunning. Aguirre, the only man alive, on a sinking raft with 400 tiny monkeys. And just as his own men were scared of his insanity the monkeys scatter when he comes near then.

‘I, the wrath of God, will marry my own daughter and with her I’ll found the purest dynasty the earth has ever seen.’

2. The Wild Blue Yonder (2005)

The Wild Blue Yonder is a sci-fi/documentary film about an alien who came to earth decades ago from a watery planet (The Wild Blue Yonder). The film consists of re-contextualised documentary footage of the STS-34 space flight and Henry Kaiser under water footage at the Antarctic. We see interviews from scientists who explain the science behind the story of the film but always with context of the film as if the incidents were real.

The draw of this film is definitely Herzog’s ability to use other footage to tell his story, but don’t be mistaken in thinking this is lazy film making. The music works seamlessly, the eerie, sensual music flows as the water flows under the Antarctic, it floats as the astronauts float in zero gravity. This is one of Herzog visual delights, I admire the story telling of this film, you could so easily take this film as fact, as with many of Herzog’s film, even his fictional feature films, they are often shot in an almost documentary style.

Let me start off by saying that choosing my favourite 5 Herzog films was hard enough but putting them into an order was doubly hard. Also note that although I will give a brief synopsis of each film, it certainly doesn’t justify the artistic merit of the films themselves.

5. Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997)

Little Dieter Needs to Fly is a documentary that tells the story of German/American Pilot, Dieter Dengler who, during the Vietnam war, was shot down over Loas by the Pathet Lao. He was taken to a prison camp in North Vietnam where he was starved and tortured until the day he escaped.

Dieter Dengler is the driving force of this film, we learn about his curious habit with doors and his permanent supply of emergency food under his house. Herzog decides to take Dengler back to the place of his capture to re-enact the scenes of his life. Dengler does not crave fame nor recognition for what happen in Vietnam, when asked a question about what he thinks of people who call him a hero he says ‘”Only the dead are Heroes, I’m not a Hero”

Herzog directed a feature based on the actual events, ‘Rescue Dawn’ starring Christian Bale. I would certain skip Rescue Dawn and just watch Little Dieter Needs to Fly, it will be a far more satisfying experience.

4. Fitzcarraldo (1982)

Scene from Fitzcalrraldo.

‘Fitzcarraldo’ is the semi-biographical tale of a would-be rubber baron named Fitzcarraldo. Fitzcarraldo wants to build an opera house in his city of Iquitos (Peru). This requires money, and having one major failure already under his belt, the bankrupt Trans-Andean Railway company. Fitzcarraldo decides to get into the rubber business as it’s the biggest business in Peru. The only land available to rent off the government is deemed ‘in-accessible’ by other rubber barons, as the river next to it contains treacherous rapids. Fitzcarraldo plans is to carry the 300 tonne steam boat a couple hundred metres across the rainforest from a adjacent river.

This film is in itself a documentary of itself as the filming is the tale of Herzog’s own journey to film this epic story. Herzog actually moved the 320 tonne ship, without special effects, through the rain forest, where as the real ‘Fitzcarraldo’ moved a 30 tonne ship by taking it across in peices and reassembling it at the desired location. Scenes that were shot on-board the ship while it crashed through rapids, resulted in injuring three of the six people involved in the filming.

Klaus Kinski acting is phenomenal he really brings the character of Fitzcarraldo to life. This is surely one of his greatest roles.

For Part 2 Click Here

So it has come to the end, Film Dash 2010, what a tiring but exciting weekend it has been.

Filming on the Saturday was good, we got everything done. The only bad thing was the weather, it was freezing cold, by the end I could barely move my fingers they were just stiff and frozen.

As you’ll see in my previous post our criteria for the film were;

General theme: Happiness

Line of dialogue: “It’s not a place you can get to by a boat or a train. It’s far, far away.”

Prop: Blue Balloon

We decided instead of just having the prop something that appears once in the film, we would make it one of the main features. Editing was fairly painless some things we couldn’t do but the film worked without that.

So have a look at it below if you haven’t seen it already.