Friday's Featured Film: TiMER

I guess you could call me a hopeless romantic because four of the five films that I have featured have something to do with romance. Today is no different. Love has, and always will play a role in my life whether I like it or not.

Today's featured film is TiMER. Why it's spelled in that manner, I don't know. But I do know that it's about a device that is placed on your wrist, which will count down to the night before meeting your soul mate. The following day is when you will meet your soulmate, and when you do, it will begin to beep as your eyes match theirs.

It's your typical chick flick, and I loved it. If you're interested in watching this film and you have a netflix account, simply search for it and add to your instant queue, or watch it right then and there. If not, you might be able to find it at your local video store. It came out in May of this year, so I'm not too sure about where you can find a 'hard copy' of it.

Friday's Featured Film x Family Movie Night

I've decided to include Family Movie Night posts into FFF posts on occasion as I usually don't have time to post anything on Sundays. There will also be times when I won't have time to post on Fridays, and so FFF will be moved to Sundays with Family Movie Nights if necessary. These types of posts are closely related and so I thought they would go well together.

Today's Featured Film is Paper Heart. A bit different from the usual featured film in that it's a full film documentary rather than a short film. Combining elements of documentaing and traditional storytelling, reality and fantasy, Paper Heart brings a fresh perspective to the modern romance and redefines the classic love story.

The documentary follows Charlyne Yi who doesn't believe in love. To help rid herself of this thought, she brings along her good friend, Nicholas, on a journey across America to search for answers and advice about the four letter word. Everyone she talks to, strangers or people she may know, all offer different views on romance. Shortly after, Charlyn meets Michael Cera whom she develops a relationship with and the documentary takes a turn for the better. But to continue with the film, Charlyne risks losing the person she finds closest to her heart. Watch the trailer for the film below. If you have a netflix account, the documentary is free to watch instantly.

Family Movie Night:

Shutter Island is one of those movies that like to mess with your mind. Same with most films Leonardo DiCaprio has starred in, especially Inception. You really have no idea what's really going on until the end. I came in watching this film thinking I would be terrified and scared, but I thought wrong. The film may be a thriller, but I wasn't exactly thrilled. I don't quite know the right word to explain what this movie is, rather than a thriller, but I really enjoyed the movie. Leo has made his way to my list of great actors. He seems to go for roles that involve having a troubled past, and it fits him well. I'm really bad at giving any type of rating to movies because I enjoy all movies, except for Lady in the Water which exceptionally sucked. So watch the movie for yourself and you decide whether you like it or not. Personally, I loved it.

When in Rome was just okay. I think they spoiled everything for you in the trailer, fooling you to think that the whole movie would be pretty funny. But the trailer pretty much sums up the movie for you. It was very cliche and ended the way you would think it would end, happily ever after. I guess what you see is what you get, right? The movie had all the fixings needed to create the typical chick flick, and if you're looking for one of those, this is the movie for you. One of the only reasons why I wanted to watch it is because of Josh Duhamel. He is the total package. Well I haven't met him, so I wouldn't know, but he sure as hell is one of the more handsome men out there. So although the movie wasn't what I was hoping, I still got to see what I wanted to see.

And so the featured films continue, and the netflix queue keeps spewing out new movies to watch. Sadly, school starts up soon, and I won't be able to catch all the movies my dad will probably be watching when I'm gone. Maybe I'll subscribe to netflix myself, and I'll have nothing to worry about. In the mean time, it's still one week away.

Friday's Featured Film: The Longest Way

Taking a few steps away from the love fest that is my previous featured film posts, and a few steps toward something I hope to do one day, at a smaller scale of course.

Here we have Christoph Rehage who had a goal of walking, yes walking, from China to Germany. He didn't complete his goal, but he did end up walking one-third of the way. It took him one year, from November 8th, 2007 to November 13th, 2008 and he grew a pretty epic beard and jewfro along the way. Watch it for yourself:

Friday's Featured Film: I'm Here

I first heard about I'm here earlier this year, and it's one of those films, I feel, where you can totally love it, or totally hate it. Of course, I loved it, or I wouldn't be featuring it.

I'm here is short film romance directed and written by Spike Jonze and is about two robots living in Los Angeles where robots and humans coexist. The story is based off of Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree and was funded by and is a promotion for Absolut Vodka. The tagline for this short film is: A Love Story In An Absolut World.

The main character, Sheldon (named after Shel), can easily be someone you know in real life. Always giving, never taking. He really sets a tone for the 30 minute film as a robot living a lonely, and secluded life. Shortly after the intro, we are introduced to Francesca, clearly the opposite of Sheldon, who introduces Sheldon to new things, and so marks the beginning of a romance.

The relationship runs very smoothly but really takes a sudden turn when Francesca becomes a lot more reckless. But through every accident, Sheldon sticks with her until the end, literally.

Below is a preview, but to enjoy the film in it's entirety, visit their website: http://imheremovie.com/. The site gives you a full cinematic experience to fully enjoy the film and comes along with information about the cast, bonus features, etc. You'll need to be 21 or over to watch the movie.

Fridays Featured Film: Just a Love Story

For today's featured film, I decided to ease the tension that you might have felt watching Apricot and go for a short film that I thought was quite ironic.

This film is produced by Ifu Chen from Toronto, Canada, and the story is of a man that "falls for a woman in an elevator, but lacks the courage to talk to her." There is a turn of events when "one rainy day, the two meet again in the elevator, and the man’s strain of lust is unleashed by the sight of her soaked body. He finally decides to take the initiative, which leads to a shocking truth."

I felt it was a very creative and original story with just the right amount of humor and entertainment. It was very well narrated and the casting was spot on. The ending was perfect. I loved how we're left without knowing what happens next...

To check out last week's featured film, click here.

Fridays Featured Film: Apricot

I've come across a new aspect that I'd love to add to this blog, and that aspect happens to be documentaries, youtube videos, short films, films, or just movies in general. And so, comes the the new weekly feature: Fridays Featured Film.

The first of this feature: Apricot

The tagline to the film is: A chance encounter between a mysterious man and a beautiful woman soon becomes deeply personal. The genius behind the film is no other than Ben Briandd who had written and directed the film, and stars Ewen Leslie, and Laura Gordon. All other information can be found here, as well as at his website.

The reason why I started off this new feature with Apricot is because I stumbled upon it just yesterday and it completely blew my mind. I love/loved everything about it. From beginning to end, I was captivated at a completely new level. I'm no cinematography junkie (though I wouldn't mind), but the bokeh to the unsteady hand at the end, and the script - amazing.

I've already watched it a few times, but I will be sure to watch it another two or three times once I'm done with this post.

Now, I've come across so many other short films and documentaries, so there is no doubt that there will be more of these posts. Having netflix is a great plus because when I have absolutely nothing else to do, I always turn to a night in and enjoy the free streaming. Until tomorrow.