Game of Thrones most illegally downloaded show of 2012

According to BBC Entertainment's article the amount of people downloading a single episode of the series was higher than it's US audience. The top ten list is as follows:


Most pirated TV shows of 2012
1. Game of Thrones
2. Dexter
3. The Big Bang Theory
4. How I Met Your Mother
5. Breaking Bad
6. The Walking Dead
7. Homeland
8. House
9. Fringe
10. Revolution

Source: Torrentfreak

Review: The Hobbit (Spoilers)

The Lord of the Rings trilogy were the defining films of my childhood. It was the first time that I was aware that movies were actually made rather than just being there. It also later introduced me (via the extensive DVD extras) to the nuances of film making and probably sent me down the path I'm on today.

So you can imagine my reaction to the news that they were going to film The Hobbit. On Sunday I finally got my chance to go and see it! Warning: There be spoilers ahead.

Poster from here

Box Set Binge: Community Series 1 and 2

Sometimes you come across something and you feel like it was just made for you. It's that eureka moment when the title sequence rolls and something clicks. This is how I feel about Community.

Picture from here

I recently finished the second series and the third is not yet available in the UK. Basically it follows an 'eclectic' study group in a community college. The show is super meta and self referential with a healthy disregard for the fourth wall. Usually this can come off smug but it works here. The plots are ludicrous and it manages to play tropes straight, off centre or both complete with rapid fire snarks and a dollop of the warm fuzzies from time to time.

There is also a tumblr that splices Community quotes with screen caps of Downton Abbey. Ace.

Movie Making Madames Part Five: Ida Lupino and Dorothy Arzner

The prevalence of women as content makers in the film industry, particularly in Hollywood, dropped dramatically after the advent of sound and the realisation that movies were big business. While women thrived in the avant-garde, at this point in Hollywood there were only two active female directors after the “talkies”, Dorothy Arzner and Ida Lupino. Arzer worked from the introduction of sound in the 1920s to the early 1940s while Lupino was only only female film director of the 1950s.

LA born Dorothy Arzner originally wanted to be a doctor but after visiting a movie studio shortly after the end of WWI she set her heart on becoming a director. She would go on to become one of the most formidable and respected women to work behind the camera.

Dorothy worked her way up from the bottom before being promoted to a role as a film editor, a highly specialised and intricate job in the days of celluloid. The movies she worked on were huge successes and Dorothy used her new found clout to land a directing job. But it couldn’t be any old flick, Dorothy (or Ms. Arzner as she would insist on being called on set) wouldn’t direct anything less than an A-picture. Back in those days films were often run in double bills with newsreels and shorts so you could spend a whole afternoon at a cinema. The two films were the A-picture, (higher budget and more prestigious) and the B-picture (a cheaper, quicker flick). The B-Movie just wasn’t an option for Arzner and her first film Fashions for Women in 1927, was a commercial success.

Alongside this Arzner was also an innovator. While directing Clara Bow’s first sound film, Arner told a sound operator to attach the microphone for the shoot to a fishing pole so she could follow the actress round the set who now had freedom of movement. This handy piece of equipment, the mike boom, is a staple of any filmmaker’s kit today.

Most of her films centred around strong women and Arzner flourished before the introduction of the Hay’s code, industry imposed measured to curb “risqué” content in Hollywood films. Arzner worked with some of the greatest actresses of her time and was well known for having affairs with many of them.  Her work led Arzner to be the first woman to be inducted into the Director’s Guild of America and it earned her a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She retired from directing in the mid forties but spent the rest of her life passing on her skills as a writer and director by teaching at the UCLA film school.

Ida Lupino was a British born actress from a show business family.  While she was respected as an actress she was referred to as “the poor man’s Bette Davis” for accepting many parts that Davis turned down. She was still well known for defying the studios and raising hell and during suspension for refusing a role, Lupino became interested in the process behind the camera.  Her enthusiasm grew and Lupino and her husband started their own production company where Lupino wrote and produced some of her films. In 1949 Lupino directed her first film to great acclaim though she didn’t take credit having only slipped into the role when her predecessor suffered a heart attack.

Lupino’s films as a director were similar to her films as an actress: highly moralistic, low budget and concerned with the truth however unpleasant. Often her films looked at “women’s issues” offering a unique perspective that no one else in Hollywood could give at the time but she also became the first woman to direct film noir with The Hitch-hiker in 1953:

Interestingly the film features and all male cast and though the studio was keen to play up the success of the lone female director, it was at Lupino’s insistence that they also stress her femininity so she wouldn’t seem threatening to the men she worked with.  In later life she made the transition to the new medium of television and directed 50 separate episodes of various programmes. For her efforts her adopted country awarded her two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for services to film and the other to services to television.

Next week sees the final part of the series with the modern female filmmakers rising to prominence.

Cross posted from Yellow Bunting. Sorry its a bit late. It actually went out before the Perks podcast.

YB: Perks of being a Wallflower Podcast

Listen to three charming ladies chat about the recently released adaptation of Perks of Being a Wallflower over at Yellow Bunting.

Why indie film is so damn good

I heard about The Underwater Realm on Twitter and FSR and was gobsmacked by the luscious trailer (found here with lots of behind the scenes goodies!). It looks like an ambitious Hollywood blockbuster (not unlike the upcoming Cloud Atlas) but in reality it was shot with a budget that wouldn't cover the tea and coffee on your average mainstream movie.

And you can't tell. Visually it is gorgeous and best of all it will be free to view on You Tube on Christmas Day! I can't wait.

What I watched while I was away

Due to inconsistant posting and lack of internet for a while this is the first Monthly Round Up in a long, long time so instead I'm going to summarise all the stuff you missed me ranting and raving about while offline :)

Tyrannosaur (Paddy Considine, 2011)

Image from here

A powerful film, fully deserving of every accolade it got but one I will never watch again if I can help it. Deeply disturbing, the shocking imagery and moving lead performances will stay with you long after you've finished watching.

The Killer Inside Me (Michael Winterbottom, 2010)

Image from here

Another film with shocking and gruesome imagery, Casey Affleck plays the main character and manages to be both enigmatic and utterly repulsive. Its a slow burner with an inevitable conclusion but what makes the film so gripping is the fab way that Winterbottom plays with tension.

Dune (David Lynch, 1984)

Image from here

I literally have no idea what is happening in this movie...

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (David Lynch, 1992)

Image from here

Ditto

Looper (Rian Johnson, 2012)

Image from here

Might just be one of the best cinema releases of this year. A new, stylish look at time travel in a gritty setting. Loved everything about it once Joseph Gordon-Levitt's make up stopped being a distraction...

What I'm waiting for...

THE HOBBIT. DUH! ISN'T EVERYONE?