Spotlight: “The Grim Future of Video Rental Stores”

18 Apr

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One of the few luxuries that many students take advantage of is renting movies. You can watch the movie at your own convenience with a group of friends, unlike a movie theater. Movie theater companies like Regal and Carmike Cinemas realize this and are trying to get us back in the seats by enticing potential ticket buyers with 3D movies at a premium price. While the movie theater companies may be hurting financially, video rental stores aren’t exactly diving in their pool of money either. All across the nation, movie rental stores like the Movie Gallery in Aberdeen, South Dakota are closing down. As I was walking through the barren store hoping to find a good deal, I couldn’t help but ponder the grim reality of the future of video rental stores. Continue reading →

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Movie Review: “Fantastic Mr. Fox”

13 Apr

Like it or not, we live in a world where most mainstream animation films are now done by computer-generated imagery. With Pixar Animation Studios and DreamWorks Animation releasing one or two films every year with great financial and critical success, it’s hard for other, smaller, production companies to take a risk in trying different animation methods. However, 2009 was a great year in original animation films. Walt Disney Animation Studios went back to its roots and created a hand-drawn feature called The Princess and the Frog. There was also the surprise success of Henry Selick’s Coraline, which used stop-motion animation. Stop-motion animation is a technique wherein physical objects are slightly altered and photographed one picture at a time to give an illusion of movement when displayed in sequence. Another animation film that used stop-motion in 2009 and was recently released on DVD a few weeks ago was Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. The film received two Academy Award Nominations for Best Animation Feature and Original Score. Continue reading →

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Movie Review: “The Wrestler”

9 Apr

One film that came into the 2008 Venice Film Festival under the radar and came out with the prestigious Il Leone d’Oro (Golden Lion) award was Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler. The film had a limited budget of six million dollars with a very strict film schedule (35-40 days). The film was able to make approximately forty-five million dollars at the box office, making it a financial success. With the success of The Wrestler­, it brought new opportunities for the career of Mickey Rourke, who was the lead for the film. Continue reading →

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Spotlight: “Capitol Cinema”

5 Apr

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For the March 24th, 2010 issue of The Exponent, I decided to try something different and outside of my comfort zone. About two months ago, I found out that there was a theater in town where I attend college that plays independent films. I was flabbergasted that it took me this long to find out there was a venue where I could watch films that I was interested in. Once I found out, I immediately wanted to write a piece on it for The Exponent so I could spread the awareness of the cinema’s existence. In order to actually conduct the article, I needed to educate myself on the cinema’s history. Continue reading →

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Community: “Marshall and the Movies” Contest

2 Apr

For the first entry of the Community feature on “…Where The Buffalo Roam”, I decided to get the word out on a contest that “Marshall and the Movies” are hosting for the month of April. “Marshall and the Movies” is one of the many great film blogs on the internet that is full of insightful film reviews and other blog entries like Random Factoids (a personal favorite of mine). Throughout the month of April, all you have to do in order to participate in the contest is simply leave a comment that is thoughtful and contributes to the discussion in the entry. The more you comment, the better chance you have to win the prize. The prize is one film of the winner’s choice that was nominated for Best Picture in 2009. It’s a very cool contest and I highly recommend everyone to check it out and participate. For more information, click here.

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Reflection: “Alice in Wonderland”

24 Mar

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In the March 24th, 2010 issue of The Exponent, I decided to write a review on Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. Overall I was pretty satisfied on how it turned out in the newspaper, but comparing the final piece to the draft I sent in, I still have some work to do to improve my grammar errors (mostly commas). This reflection piece will just be an expanded version of what I wrote for the newspaper.

If you haven’t noticed, over the past few weeks Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland has been highly successful at the box office. During its first weekend, it was the biggest March opening of all time, which was held for three years by Zack Snyder’s 300. Since Alice in Wonderland was making all this money, it must be a good film, right? I didn’t really hear any feedback about the film in terms of word of mouth, so I decided to check it out for myself and see why it was doing so well financially. Continue reading →

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Movie Review: “South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut”

19 Mar

On March 17th, Comedy Central presented the season premiere episode of South Park, which is currently on its fourteenth season. For the occasion, I decided to reach into my DVD collection and re-watch Trey Parker’s South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut. The film was written by the show’s creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The film had a twenty-one million dollar budget and was a box office hit when it was released in the summer of 1999. Continue reading →

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Movie Review: “Hot Fuzz”

12 Mar

Looking back the past few years, it’s hard not to recognize that 2007 was an amazing year for caliber films spanning from all genres. One film in particular that was released in 2007, which was highly successful critically and financially, was Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz. The film brings back the British comedic duo of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Hot Fuzz is considered the second film in the “Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy” with Shaun of the Dead being the first film and the upcoming The World’s End being the final film in the trilogy. Continue reading →

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Reflection: “Whip It”

7 Mar

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Along with my Shutter Island review, I also wrote another review on Drew Barrymore’s Whip It in the March 3rd, 2010 issue of The Exponent. I thought I got the point across in the review about what the film was trying to say. I was curious about seeing Whip It because it was the directorial debut for Drew Barrymore (which I mention in the review) and see if she was able to pull it off. For her first directorial job, I thought she did a pretty decent job.

Continue reading →

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Reflection: “Shutter Island”

4 Mar

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In the March 3rd, 2010 issue of The Exponent, I decided to write a review on Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island. Overall I was pretty happy on how it turned out in the newspaper and I feel that my writing ability is slowly getting better by each piece. This was also my first movie review that I actually went to the theater with the mindset of writing a review on it, instead of watching it on DVD like I have been doing in the past. If you want a spoiler-free review on the film, just click the image above. If you don’t mind spoilers I am going to give my thoughts and my interpretation on the ending after the break. Continue reading →

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