It’s no secret that my favorite movie from 2011 was Alexander Payne’s The Descendants. Not only was it my favorite, but the film also took home awards for Best Picture and Best Actor (George Clooney) at the Golden Globes this past Sunday. If you haven’t made time for this film, take my recommendation, as well as the recommendation from judging body of the Golden Globes, and get out and see The Descendants. The purpose of this post is not simply to rant about the greatness of this film, but to spotlight the cinematography and the editing from the project. After the jump you can check out a behind the scenes look, which features interviews with members of the production crew.

Check it out.

This video exhibits the beautiful cinematography within The Descendants which takes advantage of the breathtaking lush landscapes of Hawaii. Many of the great shots are on full display in the video, reminding me that I should see this film again. Shooting with the purpose of capturing realism is one reason I loved the way Payne presented his film.

I also like how the Editor Kevin Tent talks about his decision to let the important emotional scenes run long, which helped the moment to strike a stronger chord. Tent had clear intentions with the way he pieced it all together, and this allowed the characters to carry the film with their emotions.

This short behind the scenes look just shows how carefully this great film was crafted. Don’t waste anymore time, and find a date for The Descendants.

What Did You Think Of The Video?

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It’s no secret, that here at the The Movie Mash, we are big fans of Christopher Nolan. Barrett and Mike each have The Dark Knight, The Prestige, and Inception among their top ten movies of all-time — I have Batman Begins amongst my ten favorites. Nolan is a cinematic genius, and has yet to fail as a blockbuster filmmaker. Many montages have been made showcasing the director’s work, but I think this latest rendition is definitely one of the best. Hit the jump to watch it.

Kees van Dijkhuizen is the man behind the video. He has worked this year on creating a video montage of his favorite directors which include: (my personal favorite) David Fincher, Tim Burton, Ridley Scott, Wes Anderson, Pixar, and more. After creating the previous entries, van Dijkhuizen said he got, “hundreds, literally hundreds of requests” to mash up the work of Nolan. Well, why wouldn’t there be hundreds of requests? Nolan is a visionary with strengths in structruing breathtaking beauty in all his shots — especially his landscapes. We all want to see a man with van Dijkhuizen’s editing talents praise our favorite snippets from Nolan’s films. Without further ado…

What Did You Think Of The Video?

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If you haven’t seen X-Men: First Class, you really are missing out — it is without a doubt the best X-Men film to date. If you are one of the few who still have not seen it, don’t go pass go, i.e. the jump, to see this behind the scenes featurette. The video isn’t really anything special, but I really loved this film, and the extra peek at this cameo is worth the view for any fan.

This Hugh Jackman cameo as Wolverine is one of the best I’ve seen in a movie, and that is another reason why I thought this short video was worthwhile — especially considering his awesome and very brief lines. Check it out.

What Did You Think Of The Cameo?

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The question posed above might not be serious, but the video after the jump has your answer. Star Wars might not have worked with a black guy voicing C-3PO, but it would have been a whole lot funnier — that is clearly shown after watching the ghetto droid talk back to Uncle Owen. Hit the jump to see.

Ready to do some laughing?

What Did You Think Of A Black C-3PO?

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Game of Thrones second season seems like it should be coming out now, because in reality, “winter is coming” right around October’s end. We all know that will come more quickly than we would like in Minnesota. However, HBO wants to tease us normal folk who only dream of fantasy land by reminding us, Game of Thrones will be back next season. Unfortunately, no actual footage from the second season is available yet, but hit the jump for a cheap quick thrill to chill the bones of the fantasy lovers longing for the return of Westeros.

Check out the teaser.

Are You Excited For Game Of Thrones Season 2?

To keep the readers entertained over the weekend, I thought I would pass along some cool videos I encountered while trolling Twitter. The first is a fun Star Wars short where stars like Emma Stone, Ken Jeong, Seth Rogen, and Aziz Ansari reenact our favorite scenes from a galaxy far, far away to raise cancer awareness. The second video should make any FPS — first person shooter — fan feel at home. Imagine watching a Jason Bourne-like figure destroying the suited opposition to escape an office with a high value confidential object. Seriously, hit the jump and watch these videos.

First we can start with the comedy in a Star Wars setting.

Don’t miss this. I had a great time watching this short video. The action is well staged, the camerawork and editing are superb, and it features plenty of elements that make a good chase — like a legion of suited minions on the chase, high flying jumps, and an amazing payoff at the end. The short was produced by and the music is from an indie band called Biting Elbows. Check them out if you like the video.

What Did You Think Of The Videos?

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Webisodes are a great opportunity for amatuers and professionals to get short production work online. Perhaps, people are less interested in webisodes because they think that quality is compromised in things like acting, the narrative, and overall production. What it really comes down to is that sometimes a webisode series sucks, and sometimes the series is amazing–just like regular television. The best part about it, you only waste about 20-30 minutes coming to the realization that a series is garbage rather than putting hours of viewing into a television series that you decide you hate at episode 7 of 10.

Save your time, check out some webisodes online. As a suggestion from a professor, I began exploring the website http://funlittlemovies.com/. If you have not taken the time to indulge in webisodes, the site is a great place to start with some webisode comedy. There are three main categories in entertainment on the site called Funnies for Fellas, Funnies for Females, and Funnies for Kids.

Here are two series that I have enjoyed so far:

Mr. Gadget



Unreal Housewives

Are You Guys Watching Any Web Series?

This is pretty damn awesome. I think one of the coolest parts of the film-making process is when actors improvise because they feel something authentic and genuine might work better for a scene than what’s written in the script, or something unexpected happens that causes the scene to veer from what’s on the page; but then ends up being even better than what was originally intended because the actors were into their characters, into the story and movie magic was the result. That’s why I absolutely adore this video created by YouTube user mewlist, who has put together the 25 Greatest Unscripted Scenes in Films. Check it out after the break.

It’s just so cool to see some of the most famous scenes and lines in movie history were not a part of the original script or original vision. We see moments from some of the greatest films of all-time: Saving Private Ryan, A Clockwork Orange, The Dark Knight, etc. Not sure how mewlist determined which scenes were adlilbbed, but I’ll take his/her word for it. There are so many great scenes, but I think my favorite has to be Michael Madsen from Reservoir Dogs during the famous torture scene. It’s just such sublte improvisation that just totally embraces the psychotic mentality and complete absence of morality from Mr. Blonde; and not to mention it’s funny as hell. I LOVE it. Anyway, thanks to First Showing for digging this out of YouTube for our viewing pleasure. Check out the video below.

What Do You Think? Which scene do you think is the best or most influential?

Matt and I saw Transformers: Dark of the Moon a couple days ago. His full review will be up here tomorrow. For my quick thoughts on the film, it was definitely better than ROTF, but had some nagging elements that are present in all of Bay’s films, which can become tiresome. One being length; TF3 is over two and a half hours. Another being the non-stop action, explosions, car chases, etc., which has made Bay the filmmaker that he is, but doesn’t mean that it isn’t super exhausting to endure a 45-minute battle scene. In echoing this sentiment towards Bay’s staples as a filmmaker, I came across this very funny College Humor video on Twitter titled, Every Michael Bay Movie In Under A Minute – which is pretty much just how it sounds.

People sometimes give Bay too much of a hard time (myself included), because we should know what to expect from him by now when walking into the theater. But sometimes the absurd nature of these common elements present in all his films warrant an innocent-degree of mockery, or parody, or satire. Check this out.

What Do You Think? Discuss.

Back in March I posted a fantastic Christopher Nolan tribute video titled Nolanography, in which a YouTuber edited together his favorite scenes from Nolan’s films into an epic three-minutes of awesomeness. Well, people keep posting them on YouTube, so I’m gonna keep posting them here. I stumbled across this in the Nolan Fans forums today, and I have to say, it’s even better than Nolanography. The tribute video is titled The Movies of Christopher Nolan, by YouTuber ivanovstas. I know, I know. “We get it, Barrett. You’re obsessed with Christopher Nolan.” This is true. But more than that, it’s about appreciating the fantastic work of fans appreciating the fantastic work of the filmmakers they love and admire. Check it out after the break.

As with Nolanography, this video uses clips from all of Nolan’s films: Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Prestige, The Dark Knight and Inception; seemingly no one has a DVD quality digital copy of Following. Anyway, what makes this video better than the rest is the pacing and epic, haunting score which accompanies the montage of clips and images. It’s just damn… powerful. Check out The Movies of Christopher Nolan below.

What Do You Think? Discuss.