“Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” is not your typical musical film. It is a hilarious and entertaining tragicomedy musical that gives the heroes vs villains scene a musical twist.
The movie was written and directed by Joss Whedon, along with his brothers Zack Whedon and Jed Whedon, and writer/actress Maurissa Tancharoen in 2008. The producers decided that the film would be released in three acts and produced exclusively for Internet distribution. But it was so successful that it’s now on Blu-Ray DVD and Itunes.
“Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” is presented as Dr. Horrible’s vlog who tells about his dream to finally be a member of the Bad Horse’s evil league, the progress of his “freeze ray” that stops time, his love interest, Penny (played by Felicia Day), and his nemesis, Captain Hammer (played by Nathan Fillion), who always stands in his way and ends up getting what Dr. Horrible (played by Neil Patrick Harris) wants. In the end, will Dr. Horrible get the girl? Will he be able to produce a successful freeze ray? Only those who watch it will know.
Compared to other musicals, this is probably the most unique way of presenting a musical. A musical is the balance between spoken dialogue and song lyric. When songs are performed, it is highlighting a dramatic event or a momentous event. “Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” definitely incorporates those traits and more. What makes “Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” unique is the way the musical was presented, as a vlog. It also incorporates various comedy styles which is a must-see, because it will keep you entertained throughout the entire 42 minutes.
“Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” won the People’s Choice Award for “Favorite Online Sensation”, an Emmy award for “Outstanding Special Class – Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Programs”, and a Hugo Award for “Best Dramatic Presentation-Short Form” in 2009.
Flawed is a beautifully crafted coming-of-age film about a woman who is uncomfortable starting a relationship with a plastic surgeon. This 12-minute short film directed by Canadian artist and filmmaker Andrea Dorfman tackles the issues of identity and challenges the notions of the ideal beauty.
This film is the raison d’être of coming-of-age films. In 12 minutes Dorfman manages to capture what takes most directors 90 minutes. Flawed is a personal story that conjures one of the primary issues that many face during their adolescent years, self-acceptance. It is also sprinkled with elements of childhood insecurities, obstacles of a blossoming relationship and personal growth. The voice-over narrative is accompanied with watermarked drawings and light melodies that compliment the actions of the scene. This creates a storybook like tale of events.
I enjoyed watching Flawed I was continuously engaged. Dorfman deftly packaged adult like complexities with childlike illustrations. The film was well written. You were not bombarded with loads of information that it would ideally take to develop a character in a film. It didn’t give too much but also didn’t give too little, a perfect balance of material.
Moving Takahashi is a romance based short film, well written and directed by Josh Soskin. It is an 11 minutes short cinematography about a mover and a suicidal daughter of the house, who takes some overdose pills to suicide and she has only twenty minutes left to survive. After a conflicting debate of whether to involve in such situation or not, the mover saves the daughter’s life and inspires her to live for life. The short dramatically elevated at the end when the mover reveals that his actual intent was to rob furniture in the house.
The theme of the short Moving Takahashi portrays the importance of life and love, which is fairly matched with its genre, romance. The cinematography has also couple of important messages to deliver to the viewers. Firstly, suicide is not the ultimate solution of any problem. It can only destroy your life. Secondly, everyone needs love in life and that can be happen any moment and anywhere. Finally, there are so many good reasons for living your life, so do not waste it.
Glowing acting of the main two leads, Robert Boyd Holbrook and Kristin Malko, make the film more pulsating and motivating in 11 minutes. Compare to other shorts of the same genre, the film goes quite along with another short film, Adelaide, where a girl is lonely and desperately looking for love and attention, and finally finds the man of her life.
The last scene is the soul of the film Moving Takahashi which is stunningly scripted and inspired to live for free will and life. And a girl chooses to go away with an unknown, but the saver of her life.
This eight-minute gem of a short by Canadian producer/writer/director Jason Reitman, tells the story of how two young people carefully negotiate the terms of their first sexual encounter.
Consent brilliantly encapsulates the best comedic aspects and plays up the ‘worst’ exaggerations of the full length rom com, using the hilarious ‘sex contract’ bedroom scene as a microcosm of the compromise couples go through in all budding relationships.
By concentrating on a simple sex scene, Reitman is able to very quickly portray what is often stretched out and over indulged in a standard romantic feature.
At their most annoying, the courtship phase in an ordinary rom com can become tiresome and clichéd. In Consent it has essentially already happened. Hollywood rom coms are also not known for their subtle and intelligent humor. In this film, the marriage of a concise and witty script, and a group of skilled actors, means that the humor and the ending twist, really get a chance to take center stage. It’s funny, sweet, enjoyable, light, and has bite. All the things I enjoy most about the best in the genre.
In just eight minutes there is nowhere to hide corny, and Consent is a masterful illustration of a romantic comedy at its most succinct.
American Juggalo by director Sean Dunne gives a shocking and entertaining look at the life of a “Juggalo.”
But what is a “Juggalo?” According to Wikipedia, the FBI classified Juggalos as a “loosely organized gang,” with a small segment that commits violent or drug related crimes. The name Juggalo originated with the band “Insane Clown Posse” as a name to describe their fans. Female Juggalos are called “Juggalettes.”
The short-film takes place at the annual “Gathering of the Juggalos.” Inspired by “Insane Clown Posse” the music festival features acts from the Posse’s record label and various other forms of “entertainment”.
Members of the Juggalo “family” describe themselves and their lifestyle in their own profanity laced vocabulary.
As you will see, Juggalos come in all shapes, sizes, ethnicities and stages of motherhood. Often riddled with piercings and tattoos, one of their proudest characteristics is that despite the violent lyrics, they love everyone. A Juggalette who calls herself “Maniac” most elegantly described Juggalos as a puzzle where everyone is a piece of the picture.
Although there are some “straight-edge” members, drug use, drinking, nudity and erratic behavior are completely acceptable and highly encouraged. After seeing this film the viewer must decide if Juggalos are misfits, criminals, or as one Juggalette calls it; just into “really weird-shit.”
Still Image taken from the short film “Rest” by Cole Schreiber
Who says zombies can’t have hearts? …Oh, yeah. Well, anyway this zombie from the short “Rest” by Cole Schreiber will make any 300 pound, muscle man squeal “awww” right in front of their laptop screens. It all begins with a zombie inexplicably rising from his grave and walking miles to unspecified location. We see the zombie walk through sand and dirt and mountains just to arrive at this location. He even rides a boat across the ocean. All that is heard throughout is a merry piano tune. The lack of language is good because it perplexes the audience and makes them wonder where he might be going. Is he going to seek revenge on the person that killed him? Or is he just mindless walking since he is a zombie and therefore brainless. Well for the sake of making it a short film, let’s assume that he is going somewhere specific for a reason.
As you see him walk and walk for minutes through these different fields and areas, even through New York City at one point, the we still don’t get a hint as to where he might be walking to which can bore the audience. For a short film that’s only about 12 minutes long, 5 minutes of just walking with no indication or clue can get a little redundant and boring and make viewers just close their screens. Midway, however, we see him take out a picture and look at it so now the viewers can assume he has a plan, at least. At the end, he gets a shovel and digs up a grave and jumps in it, only for us to see a woman there and they lay there together until the end. How cute. If you’re into zombies and the undead and at the same time love a good love story, this is a good short film to watch.
It was hard for me to choose a film in the genre I cherish the most because I only had six options. I didn’t feel a connection to either of the six films so I settled for Moving Takahashi. This film is eleven minutes long and is directed and written by Josh Soskin. The film centers around a young woman by the name of Juliana who doesn’t get along with her step mother. As the father and step mother are arranging to the move from one house to the next, Juliana takes a large dose of different medications in the attempt to kill herself. The mover, Craig, who is determined to finish the job he was hired to struggles to move all the belongings from Juliana’s room and she yells to him to allow her 20 minutes and she will soon be dead and he can continue with his job. Craig then contemplates whether leaving her to die or helping her live. He calls a medical friend of his and together they help the struggling young woman to survive this terrible ordeal.
As I am typing this short summary I come to realize that maybe it was kismet that the two young people met. Juliana now has something to live for and look forward to. Craig was at the right place at the right time. It’s like my husband always tells me, everything happens for a reason. At the end of the film they are like Bonnie and Clyde, he tells her that he is running away with the move and stealing everything and she joins him. Almost like riding into the sunset together to live happily ever after. The film has a lot of important points like suicide not being an option and living life with no boundaries. I appreciate this film and all eleven minutes of it.
Kseniya Simonova was a participant of the “Ukraine’s Got Talent” show. This piece can be called a historical drama, but her way of expressing the sorrow of World War 2 is not performed through camera and actors, but through drawing with sand. She tells us a story by merely throwing the sand on a surface and dragging her fingers on top of it thus illustrating first a peaceful time followed by the war and losses. This is very touching and a very unusual type of art, Ive never seen anything like that before. She is very talented, she seems to be a good artist, she can make a picture out of sand much faster and nicer than many painters can do with the help of a brush.
The performance made me think one more time about the the overwhelming war and its consequences. She interchanges happy days of everyday life with the horrors of war and weapons, love and death, youth and maturity. She is very emotional while performing, I felt that the war somehow touched her family as it did to almost every family in Soviet Union.
The movie is unique. First of all because it is a performance. It has its plot and the pictures are arisen one from another, this piece is done by one person without a big crew of filmmakers. My previous post was about historical drama/holocaust movies. This movie is about war, the war when the holocaust took place and it is definitely a historical drama, it reflects the pain the people went through, and the pain is written on the faces of those who were watching this performance. It is very short yet meaningful piece.
School Ghost Stories G or Gakkô no kaidan G is a Japanese anthology movie created by Takashi Shimizu. Shimizu is better known his role as the director of “The Grudge” both 1 and 2. “In the Corner” is Shimizu’s first film production.
“In the Corner” starts off with 2 girls cleaning out the class pet rabbit’s cage. One girl cuts her finger and her friend goes off to get her a bandage. Good samaritans never last long in horror films. She returns to find her friend missing and the cages all broken up. Unfortunately, the cause of all this has stayed for her return as well.
Its been a long time since I saw something that made it hard for me to go to sleep. I guess it didnt help I was searching through shortoftheweek at 3 in the morning. It should be said that I think the grudge girl is probably one, if not THE, most horrific creations ever.
Shimizu captured the best moments of any horror movie in a 3 minute clip. The setup is perfect. He starts off with just an average routine and it quickly picks up from there. No ambient music is played and the quality of the clip isn’t great but it doesnt stop the horror from shining through. The moment of terror where the girl realizes she is not alone is pure GOLD. This is what I believe makes “In a corner” such a good horror piece. Shimizu captures that true breath stopping moment in such a short period. No frills, no beating around the bush, just heart pounding terror!
I was so intrigued by this one clip I even youtube’d Shimizu’s other works which you can find here. Shimizu has certainly gained the right to be named with other top notch horror directors.
