Filmfestival!

The internet doesn't work too reliable here in Auckland, I scribbled this earlier:

"
I give you the NZIFF.

Today I watched 'Die Wand'. Didn't know it was a german movie untill the subtitles appeared. How Hollywood-poisoned my mind was. It was hungry for the Why, which Hollywood always explains, but rarely good.

The brochure promised 'science-fiction-elements', but I didn't got them. What I got was really good fiction. Any fiction takes a setting, no matter how ridiculus or how well explained (if at all), and lets the plot unfold naturally. If the plot itself needs ridiculus plot points, it is bad fiction. If everyone and everything acts and reacts in reasonable ways, even when confronted with a weird setting, we get good fiction. A device that lets multiple people dream the same dream? Ridiculus. But take that one thing for granted and someone gets the idea to use it as a device to steal information. Great movie. Someone can instantly teleport himself from one location to another? Ridiculus, too. Then this guy does things with his gift we can't understand; we whould act differently, it is never seen why he does what he does. Add more characters behaving unreasonably, even when we take the teleporting for granted, and we get a horrible movie. 'Jumper' is worse than 'the room', because it had so much more potential to be a great one.

But I digress. 'Die Wand' takes a setting (an invisible wall), and lets us watch as the story unfolds. No bogus technobabble to explain the wall, no aliens or government experiments. The expectation of these made my brain turn the first third of the movie into a horror thriller because I was expecting jumpers (sudden cut to something that lets us jump in the seat). Once I accepted the fact that the movie was not about the WHY does it happen, but the WHAT DOES happen, I really enjoyed it.
Look guys, I'm a movie critic!
"

In other news, I quit my job:
http://www.viruscomix.com/page491.html

Instead of writing extra stuff, I now just incorporate my opinions about the movies I watch into my diary. Before that, here is my idea for the next Batman (I don't care that the comic books didn't do that. Then again, there are almost as many comic books as bible passages, so I propably could find something to support this):

John Blake, nosy hot-head detective who is not allowed to believe in coincidence, becomes the next, more brain-reliant Batman. The best villain against a brainy Batman whould be one that likes puzzles and mysteries. Hm. Maybe someone who is already introduced, mentally scared by citizens trying to kill him because otherwise a hospital whould be destroyed. Also, he might feel guilty for a hospital being destroyed. Someone who's name conveniently happens to be 'Mister Reese'.

Anyway, here's what happens at the festival:

\paragraph{23.07.12}
After work, I go to the biggest book store in Auckland, and don't you know it, they have 'atlas shrugged' right there. However, the festival comes first. I watch the movie 'the wall'. Only in the theater I realise that the original title is 'Die Wand', german with english subtitles. The white subtitles ruin some of the gloomier scenes, but that's not too bad. It is about a woman trapped in an unexplained, invisible, inert forcefield. We see how she lives in a wooden cabin with a dog, trying to survive without knowing what is going on. My brain, poisoned by Hollywood, was expecting some kind of threat or explanation, none of which appeared. Refreshing. The acting was a bit wooden and the cuts abrupt sometimes, but that is just like 'glass plates with little bubbles and imperfections, proof that they were made by the indiginous hard-working people of... whereever'. You can see the lack of a Hollywood budget able to buy the best equipment and the longest experience. The imperfections are not proof, but byproduct. The Skycity Complex where the cinema is located is impressive. An indoor balcony lets me watch over the casino. Out of curiosity I ask the guy at the entrance if my clothing meets the needed level of 'neat and tidy' required to enter. Which it is, minus the hat. 'For social or religious reasons', right. Not because of the cameras. We laugh. I leave through the vast yet labyrinth-esque entrance hall.

\paragraph{24.07.12}
After work I went to the Civic Cinema, to find out that I missed both screenings of 'cabin in the woods'. A pity. I watched 'Faust', a russian interpretation of Goethe's original. Again, to my surprise, the movie is german with english subtitles. It was interesting to watch, but a person who has read the original and knows about all the characters and sideplots can propably get even more from it. Is anyone even reading this? Anyway, the Civic Cinema is even more impressive than the Skycity Cinema. It is built the style of an indian temple without a roof, the ceiling and openings are covered by round, set back, concrete surfaces, illuminated in blue. There are various smaller rooms due to the massive >1000 seat hall in the center of the building.

\paragraph{25.07.12}
[Resigning from my job here]. Afterwards, the Auckland air tastes like adventure again. I am free to do whatever I want at any time once more. But first, I head to the Travelworks office and claim my letter by the tax department of the government. [boring tax stuff]. They also want me to record my voice for voice recognition, for the safety of my data. As I decline, I am told that it whould not matter because it will become mandatory in not too short notice. I walk another way back to the hostel and miss it. I take a detour of more than one hour, around suburbs and more suburbs. At the hostel, I view through the rest of the film festival program and go to watch 'moonrise kingdom'. Beautiful. A downscaled escape from the oppressing system, a (somewhat downscaled) love story, a beautiful film. And even on an island with a single cop, he has to be played by Bruce Willis. It is a supporting role that does not steal attention from our heroes, our outcasts. I don't even feel like watching 'crazy horse' after this. Turns out, I can't, because it's sold out. Back to the hostel, I talk about movies, politics and more movies with some german guys. They haven't seen 'the dark knight rises' yet, but they can't find the enthusiasm to go right there and then. We agree on tomorrow. Lazy bunch.

\paragraph{26.07.12}
Today I watched 'beasts of the southern wild', which was not too bad. Not entirely my genre, but an intense portrait of a girl living in the bajou swamp. I also watched 'platige image', a short film compilation by the polish animation studio of the same name. Amongst them a trailer for 'witcher 2', an impressive 3d camera pan through a historical painting (a war scene with horses, various weapons, etc), an animated history of Poland for a museum and the usual amusing and thought-provoking short films.

\paragraph{27.07.12}
Today I watched 'the shining'. Kubrick at his best. No cheap jump-in-your-seat horror, but genuine psyching of the mind. And it works best in a cinema filled with genuine viewers. In the evening, I picked up some of my books and realised that I might as well start 'Atlas Shrugged' despite the heavy movie input.

\paragraph{28.07.12}
The film festival continues. Today I went to the box office at the Civic too late and missed the last screenings of 'toons for tots' and 'the boy who was a king'. Instead, I booked 'in the fog' and 'the sound of my voice'. There were four hours to kill beforehand, so I went to Britomart. I discovered a Samsung Olympic Area, with screens repeating the opening show. I watched the larger part of it, though I took a walk during the walk of the athlets. The three 'international olympic athlets' i.e. the people without a nationality, without a flag to bow and honor and carry in front of them, seemed the most extatic. Propably because no government told them to behave and not to make their country look bad. I didn't see the large red sculpture, which I presume is the torch, ignited. I only saw the one assembled from the copper bowls in the middle of the arena. Nice try to embed a social media love story into the show. After the show, I went to the cinema and marveled at the bizarrchitecture of the complex. The movie 'in the fog' itself was a tranquilizer. The prospect of minute-long shots made me think 'the one in 'avengers' was impressive, it might work here, too'. But in the two-minute shots of this one happened less than in the average three-second shot of 'avengers'. I literally struggled to keep my eyes open. But my failed scheduling reawakened me because I had to get from the Queen Street cinema to the Rialto in Newmarket in 30 minutes. I hurried to Britomart and took the Inner Link bus line. I overshot one bus stop and hurried back. When I found it, I was about five minutes late, but I only missed most of the preceeding animated short film, 'abiogenesis'. Still, a pity, the ending of that looked impressive. The movie itself, 'the sound of my voice', was a great one. I may not have labelled it 'science-fiction' entirely, but I understand why they did. The Hollywood idea is that every movie develops towards a 'why', and if it's a good and plausible 'why', it's a good movie; if it's a ridiculous and constructed 'why', it's a bad movie. Here, you have to understand that there is no necessity for why. You simply enjoy the 'what' and make up your own mind.

"Batman?" "Yes my Lord." "RIIISSSEEE!"

Note: Spoilers are written backwards, you can turn your head away without accidentally reading them. Also, they are fake. Yes, /b/ got me again. Spoilers in an unrelated thread made me angry but reminded me not to surf the web for fun between a movie release and me watching it. As it just turned out, the boards are still the same: The info was complete bogus. find the bogus backwards at the end.

That movie is awesome! And I saw it both in the cinema on the big screen and in english! You guys have to take your pick between the two. Which is a pity, really. As with Avengers and Brave (even with Pixar giving their masters a Disney princess as main character). Even the death of a great actor does not make his movie the best of the trilogy. Which cannot end as a trilogy, not with that ending.


Hype, hype, statement how great the movie is, ..wait, you have to wait for another week?? How about you all come to live here, so I never have to go back!


Bogus spoilers from the boards:

1. emutsoc namtab sdnif ttivel
2. dedeen tub enog si namtab esuaceb ti sraew
3. sevil enyaw dna mih sllik enab

tdpe!

That is the explanation! And I was worried Bielefeld finally ur[..classified..]led, with the result tha[..classified..]o be made into a movie by Michael Bay.

Good news, by the way. This week I'll have regular Internet, so after work I can phone home. I'll be home by roundabout 8pm. That is 10 am for you (You have daylight savings in summer, we in winter). If you are too busy at that time, I can get up early on saturday.

Greetings from Hamilton,
Patrick

ps. Since I got the job in Auckland, I was travelling on a weekly basis: Auckland, Wellington, Hastings, Fieldings, Kerikeri, Hamilton.

quaking

what a rumble. especially when you are as close as fieldings. it was shaking for about a minute, never had one that heavvy. but all is ok with me and my coworkers.
free wifi and lunch break right now. cheers.
mobi