A film doesn’t have to run for an hour or so to be able to tell a complete story. Short films running anywhere from 4 minutes to 15 minutes can tell a story and pull you into that world even for just a moment, and then elicit emotions you didn’t think you were even capable of feeling. Here are four amazing short films that you should watch. The Story of a Sign / Historia de un Letrero (Mexican short film that won at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival)
Please (Starring Gerard Butler, won at the Palm Springs International Short Film Festival)
Did you know that before Jennifer Aniston became Rachel from Friends, she was attacked by a little green man in Leprecaun? Jack Black wasn’t always the lovable loser protagonist (as seen in School of Rock, Nacho Libre, and Kung Fu Panda): once upon a time, he was the leader of the Nasties in the NeverEnding Story III. Before growing up into a hunk, Ryan Gosling starred in an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark, while Daniel Craig gave knight training to A Kid in King Arthur’s Court before he was ever James Bond.
Curious about how famous stars looked like before they were ridiculously famous and absurdly rich? Well, click play on the video below to find out:
How many movies are made in a year? Well, the closest estimate I can make off the top of my head is A WHOLE DAMN LOT. This video shows just how many movies you missed this year:
Just in case you’re curious, that montage has 270 movies in it. And while we’re on the subject of fun facts, the video has all 10 of the highest grossing movies this year (Toy Story 3, Alice in Wonderland, Inception, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Shrek Forever After, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Iron Man 2, Despicable Me, Clash of the Titans, and How to Train Your Dragons). Let’s hope you were inspired to remedy your backlog, I certainly was.
What do you get when you take Rambo, Wong Fei-hung, the Terminator, He-Man, John McClane, the Crimson Dynamo, and the Transporter and place them in one movie? Yep, you get The Expendables. This weekend’s box office kings shouldered past the competition to take the number one spot.
Sly Stallone’s manly offering raked in an estimated US$ 35 million, breezing past chick-flick Eat Pray Love and action-comedy Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Despite less than favorable reviews from critics, an unsurprising number of men and a surprising number of women turned up to support the ensemble cast of 80s and fairly recent action superstars. The cast includes Sylvester Stallone (who also wrote and directed), Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Jason Statham, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Steve Austin, Eric Roberts, and Gary Daniels, with Bruce Willis and Arnold Scharzenegger dropping in for cameos.
With testosterone levels at an all time high and with names that can arguably launch blockbusters on their own, what’s to be surprised about?
The box office numbers have spoken: The Karate Kid wins over The A-Team in last weekend’s war of the 80’s remakes. The remake of the 1984 The Karate Kid stars Jaden Smith and raked around $56 million, against The A-Team’s $25 million. Considering that the movie was made with a relatively modest budget of $40 million, the Kid is certainly a hit.
According to Rory Bruer, Sony’s head of distribution, “It’s just an unmitigated grand slam hit. I loved the original ‘Karate Kid,’ but they took this beloved title, and they made it relevant, fresh and absolutely exciting.”
Well, we haven’t seen the last of this clash of the remake titans since we’ve yet to see how much each will take in the coming weeks.
Hayao Miyazaki’s animated feature films transcend cultural boundaries. A Japanese filmmaker and co-founder of Studio Ghibli which is a popular film animation studio, Miyazaki makes animated films that have recurring themes and styles which are easily identified with him. Most of his films contain themes like love, environmentalism, pacifism, politics, feminism, and children or childhood.
His feature films are also notable for not having traditional antagonists. The seemingly sinister characters in his animations are shown as capable of change and have redeeming features. Two other recurring elements in Miyazaki’s works are flight or flying and water or fluidity. In his films, flying is a form of liberation from gravity while water represents the contradiction of freedom and entrapment, and life and death.
Hayao Miyazaki has been part of several animated films as an artist, storyboard writer, scriptwriter or director since 1965, but it was only in 1997 that he became known outside of Japan with Miramax’s release of Princess Mononoke. His later animated feature film, Spirited Away, became the first ever anime film to win an Academy Award.
Because Hayao Miyazaki tries to take the lead in each film he and Studio Ghibli create, his films are surely exceptional. His most notable films are Castle in the Sky, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Porco Rosso and Grave of the Fireflies.
