October 24, 2012 by Nostra - 31 Comments

The Story Behind… The RKO Pictures logo

It’s been a while since I wrote one of these “The Story Behind…” posts, but felt like doing a new one. For those who don’t know the series, in “The Story Behind…” I take a look at movie related things and the stories behind them. I’ve written several of these about the history and various logos of the major studios. I’ve covered quite a few studios, but there are a couple I didn’t cover yet. One of them is RKO, which was part of the “Big Five” studios during the golden age of Hollywood. The studio has been responsible for some classic movies like King Kong, It’s a Wonderful Life and Citizen Kane. It matched up Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and Cary Grant was under contract with them for a long time. Although the RKO name still exists it’s not the big studio it once was as the original RKO Pictures was out of business in 1960. Continue reading →

October 23, 2012 by Nostra - 27 Comments

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

I have a confession to make: I’m not a big Wes Anderson fan. Out of all the movies I’ve seen of his there are only two which I enjoyed, which were Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Darjeeling Limited. In general I just can’t connect with all the weird characters which appear in his movies. So I really wasn’t rushing out to see Moonrise Kingdom, but as it has been getting rave reviews I had to find out if this was the third movie I’d like or if I’d better give up on watching his movies. Continue reading →

October 22, 2012 by Nostra - 32 Comments

The Monday Question: Rob!

It’s Monday again, which means it is that time of the week where I’ll ask you to answer a question. I would like you all to use your imagination this times. You have just received an important assignment, which is to get your hand on a big sum of money. In order to do so you will have to rob a bank. This week’s question:

If you were to rob a bank, which movie characters would you pick to be in your crew? Continue reading →

October 17, 2012 by Nostra - 21 Comments

Sound of My Voice (2011)

This is a movie which is just as mysterious as its title. Some would call it a movie about time travel or science fiction, but it really isn’t. In the same vein as Another Earth it takes a science fiction element as a background against which a very personal story is told. Continue reading →

October 16, 2012 by Nostra - 10 Comments

Side by Side (2012)

As you probably know I’m a big fan of documentaries and when I first heard about this one I couldn’t wait to check it out. The film looks at both shooting movies on film and on digital and tries to make it clear to the viewer what the pros and cons are of each format. Continue reading →

October 15, 2012 by Nostra - 37 Comments

The Monday Question: Misleading!

One of the most effective ways to get people interested in seeing a specific movie is the trailer. It’s the commercial in which you show the most exciting/funny or scary parts in the hopes people will pay money to see your movie. It’s a commercial and the marketing will show you whatever which will get you in the cinema seats. This results in something which will mislead or even spoil a movie. For me it’s a reason to not watch any trailers anymore, but once in a while I check them out after I’ve seen a movie out of curiosity. This week’s question:

Which trailers do you think were misleading? Continue reading →

October 10, 2012 by Nostra - 28 Comments

Metropolis (1927)

Metropolis had been on my “To watch” list for a very long time. Its history, part of the movie being discovered, the praise it has received and that iconic image of the robot were all reasons why I wanted to see this. I hadn’t seen it yet because of its length (I don’t mind silent movies), but finally managed to make the time to see this movie classic. Continue reading →

October 9, 2012 by Nostra - 19 Comments

Trouble with the Curve (2012)

A McDonalds hamburger. That’s the first thing I thought of after seeing Trouble with the Curve during the 7th PAC festival in which movies are previewed which will be released over here in the coming months. All of movies were announced ahead of time except this one. I was hoping I’d get a chance to already see Looper, The Master or Killing Them Softly. So a movie about baseball was not something I was expecting, but since the movie has some well-known actors like Clint Eastwood, John Goodman, Robert Patrick, Justin Timberlake and actress Amy Adams I was interested to see it. Continue reading →

October 5, 2012 by Nostra - 27 Comments

The Many Faces of… Ethan Hawke

Ethan Hawke was born on November 6, 1970 in Austin, Texas. He moved a lot together with his mother and ended up in New York. He attended several schools and aspired to be a writer when he was in high school. He also started acting and did his first play when he was 13. He decided to follow acting classes and eventually studied actign at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg.

He dropped out when he got a role in 1989 in Dead Poets Society. His first movie was Explorers in 1985 (which also starred River Phoenix). Dead Poets Society however meant his breakthrough. He had the leading role in White Fang and also acted in A Midnight Clear and Alive. He has since starred in many films including Reality Bites, Before Sunrise, Gattaca, Waking Life, Training Day, Before Sunset and Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. Continue reading →

October 4, 2012 by Nostra - 4 Comments

Save the Green Planet (2003)

Being in the right mood is very important when watching a specific type of movie. Get it wrong and you can sometimes don’t like movies which you would love. After watching Save the Green Planet I wondered if it was one of those cases where it was something I should have watched with a different mindset. Continue reading →