Monthly Archives: February 2011

To be completely honest, I’m not one of the biggest movie goers around. It isn’t unusual for me to not see at most 1 film every five months. It’s not that that I hate movies and it’s definitely not that I’m too cheap, its because I’m afraid. I’m afraid of being disappointed with a crappy film and thirteen dollars being flushed down the toilet. So when my professor assigned us to watch five short films in some obscure indie movie theater, I thought to myself: “Let me buy the tickets ASAP before I change my mind”. So I went online and purchased the tickets, sealing my fate.

I arrived pretty early on the day of the showings, which is pretty amazing for me given my tendency to be tardy. I suppose it helps that the theater is like 3 stops away from where I live. As I stepped out into a neighborhood foreign to me, I immediately noticed a smoke shop to the left of the theater, filled with all kinds of colorful glass pipes, bongs and hookahs which are “STRICTLY FOR TOBACCO USE ONLY” according to a little sign in the shop. Though that itself is nothing but normal compared to the sex shops that practically line the rest of the block to the right of the theater. I wandered inside them, filled with a bit of curiosity and wondered to myself “What kind of theater, which is next to a stoner haven and a garden of mega sized dildos, bondage gear and porn, will I be going to?” Now, I’m not saying those things are bad, I’m pretty far from conservative but I still wondered…

Surprisingly, the theater was very family friendly and even had delicious organic popcorn to boot. The films themselves…well, lets leave them for another post.

Had you ever heard of the short live action films before? Well, if you had not, don’t feel too bad because I had never heard of them before either. Of course, you do hear of independent films and things of the sort, but I have never been the person to go to movies that have no, if any, marketing or publicity.

 On February 15^th, I had to go see these films at the IFC Center located in the Village as part of a class assignment. I have to be completely honest with you; I was not too excited about having to see these short films. After meditating on how to have an open mind about the new experience and how I could make it a fun one, I decided to drag along my best friend Carlos. We have always been addicted to movies. At the same time we love to watch the Oscars every year. However, it never occurred to us the idea of watching The Academy Award nominated Live Action Short Films.

Surprisingly enough, we loved the films. My friend Carlos also loved these films. On our way back home he could not stop talking about it, he even told me “I had never seen these kind of films but I loved them. We should definitely watch them on a regular basis.” The whole experience was great. It was something new but highly interesting. Just think about it, for $13 dollars, which is what the admission cost, you can watch five different films one after the other. You don’t see that in any other theater. I was always used to watching the same movies I love, comedies and romance. I know- I know, I should not be watching those romantic flicks that only feed women false interpretations of love or that gives us women false hopes of finding true love or the perfect man, but I cannot help myself.

The Academy Award nominated Live Action Short films had everything you can think of; Drama, suspense, tragedy, humor, love and so on. My personal favorite was The Confession, which was produced in 2010 in Britain and it was directed by Tanel Toom. Another great short film was Wish 143 produced in UK and directed by Ian Barnes.  

Now, all I am waiting for is for the Oscars to see which live action short film wins the award. If any of you out there are hesitant to watch these films, please don’t. The best piece of advice I can give you when it comes to entertainment is to get up from the couch, get ready and head over to the village and watch these films. I promise you won’t regret listening to me, and in case you do, at least you’ll have experienced something new. In my case, these live action short films are turning into a whole new hobby!

With the 83rd Annual Academy Awards a mere six days away, it’s time to examine the oft-overlooked relationship between the Oscars and professional wrestling.

In either industry, the “best” doesn’t always win. Often, the gold – whether it’s a gold Oscar statuette or a big, gold championship belt –  goes to a less deserving but more popular film or wrassler.

The best film of 1994 was, unquestionably, Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. It was a temporally-distorted, Kubrickian masterpiece of accidental murder, dancing, drug abuse and anal rape. However, at the time, Tarantino was an enfant terrible with only two directing credits to his name: Reservoir Dogs and the 1987 short My Best Friend’s Birthday. Therefore, instead of going out on a limb and giving an Oscar to the unmistakably talented but somewhat-unproven (at least by Hollywood’s standards) Tarantino, the Academy awarded the little gold man to the safer, more popular choice: Robert Zemeckis’ vanilla schmaltzfest, Forrest Gump.

The best World Wrestling Federation grappler (yes, there were some greats in WCW and the regional federations at the time, but I was always a bigger fan of the WWF, so we’ll stick with that) of 1987 was “The Million Dollar Man,” Ted DiBiase. His in-ring skills and talking ability – or his ability to “cut a promo,” in wrasslin’ jargon – were tops, and his gimmick of a conceited millionaire made him the hottest heel in the company. DiBiase was primed for a run with the title, but it wasn’t meant to be.

Instead, the WWF did the safe thing and put the belt on the company’s top face, “Macho Man” Randy Savage.

A transcendent talent, DiBiase never held the WWF’s heavyweight championship. Well, unless you count the time he bought it from Andre the Giant after Andre beat Hulk Hogan to win the title – a devious act which resulted in DiBiase being stripped of his ill-gotten gains which, in turn, lead to a heavyweight championship tournament at Wrestlemania IV, which Savage won.

The WWF doesn’t recognize this reign, however, so I don’t see why we should.

The point is, professional wrestling and the Oscars are just one big popularity contest and, therefore, the most-deserving don’t always get what they should. Just look at DiBiase or Stanley Kubrick, another transcendent talent who never got his hands on the gold.

Some of the wrestling terms I used can be found here: http://prowrestling.about.com/od/wrestlingterminology/a/glossaryterms.htm

The official website of the 83rd Annual Academy Awards: http://oscar.go.com/

Hell, if this video was 19 minutes longer, it’d deserve an Oscar nomination of its own (as a short, obviously): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DV0RHVteLs

It was my first time at the IFC Center and immediately I thought the theater had character. It was small, but quaint. They even served organic popcorn, which is hard to find at a movie theater. I was there on a Tuesday night to see the Oscar-Nominated Live Action Short Films.

The IFC Center located at 323 Sixth Avenue at West Third Street

Usually, going to the movies doesn’t phase me. Most movies I see are so commercialized that before I even get to see them, I already know what they’re about. There’s no element of surprise, but on this night I had an entirely different experience.

I hadn’t seen any previews for the films so I had no idea what to expect, but I was excited. It seemed the rest of the audience shared my anticipation. “I was surprised. The place was pretty packed for a Tuesday night,” said Alexandria Lofters, my sister, who I brought along with my mom to see the films.

There are very few movies the three of us can see together, given our different tastes, but at the end of the night, we all agreed that the short films were amazing. I hardly ever watch the Oscars, but I can’t wait to see which film will win and I’ve already decided to go back to IFC and watch the films again next year.

What do I think about when I hear the word “short film?” Well, let me tell you: It is a very short film, more like a clip. The story is usually either overly “artsy” or ends before it even gets started.

Sure, like probably most people, I know what a short film is. I mean, the words are quite self-explanatory. But when does one actually watch a short film? I have never in my life thought “Today I’ll watch a short film!” And where do you even find short films? Yeah I know – Just google it. But do I really want to watch a max. 30 minute long film on my computer screen? I’m afraid not. In my mind, short films are for the “film elite,” meaning people in the business or just serious film-geeks. For the rest of us less film-educated folks, “regular” movies and TV-series are enough. Or you tell me, am I just bore struck?

Dance scene from the short film "A Mind's Manifest"

My first and only memory of watching a short film is roughly a year ago. As a slave of the internet generation, I used Google to stalk a new-found man of particular interest. After many false leads I somehow ended up playing “A Mind’s Manifest” on repeat. I thought this short movie would give me some sort of deep insight in the life and mind of its creator. This was obviously not the case, and I found myself thinking “What’s the point of this film?”

Later, the creator of this particular short film became a serious part of my life. I admitted my desperate attempt to unveil the meaning of his film and my hesitation regarding short films in general. He replied, “Because short films are sometimes even one minute long, they should convey specific information that pertains to one (maybe two) ideas, with the climax appearing towards the beginning of the movie.” He had suggested that some of the best short films have the most simplistic narratives. I guess that makes sense.

Short films might be short, but they are definitely not the easiest films to understand. And when it comes to me, I guess I just like to have things made the long way.