THIS SHIRT

I want this shirt.

Yeah... there was no real sense in posting something like this, but I finally have time now and I feel like I should be posting more often... regardless of its content.

Edit: Also, I just realized that this dude is deathly pale.

Ok, I'm back

And I bring you news of PENTAX!

I own a Pentax K200, and I love it, dearly so. Recently, news of a Pentax medium format camera is going to be released this year, first in Japan and then later to other countries. It'll be called the 645D.

It's going to come with a 40 megapixel chip sensor produced by none other than mutha-fuckin Kodak. It'll be weatherized and ruggedized and will be the Hummer of medium format cameras. Though, it still retains a lot of stuff that you normally find in a consumer DSLR.

The lens is even going to be custom made for it, as this is a whole new market for Pentax.

All for around 9,000$ Now, this may sound like a lot for some of you new to this whole new fangle'd camera stuffs, but that's hella-cheap. Considering a Hassleblad costs around 23,000$ for around the same amount of megapixels.

The only problem is that this camera doesn't have a removable back like the Hassleblads or Mamiyas, to load in different digital sensors (future-proofing them... also, an average price for a digital back is 8-13,000$). Oh well, it doesn't matter because like I said– 9,000$.

I'm really impressed that Pentax has the balls to go into a new, expensive, and niche market. This could really elevate the brand and has the incredible potential to do wonders for the company. Let's hope the beginning magazine and fashion photographers warm up to them first because there is no market for the older generation guys. I mean, this could really make or break Pentax. But here's to cautious optimism!

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Shutter Island Review (with 3% more spoiler alert!)

Don't worry, it'll make sense... or not.

The last film that I saw from Martin Scorsese was Taxi Driver and it was quite some time ago. I remember it being a very nuanced film that took its time and felt like it didn't have to explain anything to the viewer because it respected the audience. It was also an unpredictable movie with a very charismatic cast. It had an interesting perspective of city life and class system that wasn't really touched too often and pushed a few boundaries. Its imagery and story are iconic to film industry as a whole.

As you can tell, I'm kind of walking into Shutter Island with very high hopes. The film starts out on a boat in the middle of the ocean and Leonardo DiCaprio showing how well he can act by puking in a rusty toilet. It's quite amazing. I guess you could say the performance was moving... in my bowels! Anyways, the movie sets up a very stylistic cinematography that felt kind of cookie cutter in a way. Don't get me wrong, it looked great, but it also looked like Inglorious Basterds and Public Enemies and a slew of other movies that try and model American period pieces of the 20th century. There was also a lot more CG than I would have liked in a movie that I felt didn't really need it. Just because you have the money to blow on stuff like that, doesn't mean that you should. The CG mostly took part in dream sequences (which I find to be quite cliché) that really tried to be surreal, but ended up looking like a Stanley Kubrick rip off. It could have been cut out of the movie and the story would've still been able to stand. Which brings me to my next point.

The screenplay seems like a first draft. There's a LOT of flash backs and dream sequences which is very amateur. There's also a predictable twist that you could pick up within half an hour. Hell, if you've seen the trailer, you could probably figure out the ending yourself. It's all very college level. I know, because I've written college level screenplays before and about 98% of the time, they're terrible.

If there's one thing that I can say was really good about the movie, it's that the actors performed extremely well. There were some moments that were a bit over the top, but I mostly blame that on the inadequate script. Martin Scorsese has a way of coaxing some very fine performances out of actors that I didn't think had anything to them. Robert DeNiro is an interesting example because I thought he was a great actor. And then it seems that he always jumps at the chance to be Ben Stiller's father in law. Robert DeNiro just plays himself in every movie that Scorsese doesn't have him in. Scorsese gives his actors charm and unique personalities that play with shades of gray instead of being one dimensional, black and white drones; ahem, James Cameron.

In other side notes, I found the music of Shutter Island to be overbearingly “dark” or “moody” to the point that it was laughable.

Also, if I may spoil something for you, it turns out that this whole thing is an elaborate prank and that Leo has a mental disease. A lot of what he was making up though, was more interesting. Like, I thought it would be cool if there really were old Nazi doctors, teaming up with American scientists, trying to find new discoveries by experimenting with mental patients. I would like this movie more if some Nazi general was constantly tip toeing around and putting his finger up to his lips and shushing the audience.

Nazis... always at the heart of a great script.

It tries really hard to be a classic film noir, but it stumbles repeatedly.

Grades:

Cinematography – C

“Kind of average looking, all things considered.”

Script – F

“I probably wrote this script in college.”

Music – D

“Hey, that guy's not doing anything, but music blatantly tells me that it's important.”

Performance – C+

“Hey, that guy's not doing anything, but man, is he doing it well.”

Overall – C+

For it's Genre – D

Also, if I may add something, I feel that movies should be written like poetry. Condensed and to the point, while leaving bits for interpretation. They shouldn't be written like novels where we have to know every exact detail; ahem, J.R. Tolkien.