Adventureland

Amidst all the hype about Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, I take a different direction today. I recently saw a movie called Adventureland, you see, and I'm doubting that HP6 will be able to top it. You should see it. Fo serious.

Adventureland, in a way, reminds me of Juno: It's a classic coming-of-age comedy (or so the critics tell me.) The main character, played by Jesse Eisenberg (who has an amazing ability to look exactly like Michael Cera, and act like him but be way cooler) is a recently graduated, somewhat nerdy literature major who for the first time must deal with real life by working at a sub-par carnival called Adventureland. It's about him growing up and facing the real world, as it is, without fanfare or cuddling.

The film blends the sharp sting of reality, juxtaposed against the assumed clear sail to the finish line by the smart and supposedly successful members of society with the awkward stylings of young love, who appears in the form of fellow lead Kristen Stewart.

It's just a good film. It's funny, it's awkward, it's touching, it's sometimes strikingly moving, and may hit close to home. You should watch Adventureland. You won't regret it.

This is a trailer. It doesn't do it half justice.

Terminus

Yet another short film for y'all today, although this time, it's only 8 minutes. This one, directed by Trevor Cawood, is called Terminus. It chronicles the story of a man who is constantly stalked by a large concrete, well, block-thing. It's a bit odd, very surreal, and surprisingly dark. The net effect is a piece that is, on the whole, pretty creepy. Like Tempbot before it, it has some really nice special effects, and is definitely worth the watch.

Author's description:

After inadvertently offending a strange entity that accosts him on his way to work, a 1970s businessman quickly finds himself in the midst if a bizarre predicament. What follows is a rapid descent into madness, a journey both eerie and darkly humorous. The exact nature of the businessman’s tormentor is purposefully ambiguous, lending itself to a variety of interpretations.

TERMINUS

Tempbot

I've stumbled across a short (15 minute) film called Tempbot, which I found myself very moved by. The plot is a bit odd - it's about a robot that works as a temporary worker in some company, and it describes his life and his forays into the emotions that robots simply can't seem to understand. To use the description from director Neill Blommkamp,

Tempbot is an experimental robot, designed to perform ordinary office jobs (but with an efficiency inaccessible for men) and to act as well as a normal human beings, including the way he relates with the opposite sex. Obviously, things will go very bad...

The CG effects for the robot itself are pretty stunning, and I found it to be very moving. The end left me very sad. Really worth the watch, I think.

TEMPBOT