Optics!

Optics is was a graduate student film screening. All are welcome to attend. It seems to have died after I stopped running it.

Thursday 28 January, 2010 - Indie Films

For the difference between and "indie" film and an "independent" film, I refer you to the immortal Strong Bad.

Note that we are changing to 380Y because both 380X and 420-021 are taken during the 6pm-8pm block.

Burn After Reading (2008)

Choke (2008)

Synecdoche, New York (2008)

Primer (2004)

Juno (2007)

Thursday 14 January, 2010 - Violence

Can't go wrong with people getting beaten up!

A Clockwork Orange (1971) - ultraviolent delinquency. Not just a violent movie, but a movie about violence. It was even censored here in Jesusland when it first came out (apparently the violence was okay, but a 30-second sex scene had to be cut).

Blade Runner (1982) - android hunter. Not Ridley Scott's most violent film, but a previous nomination surely trumps that.

Terminator 2 (1991) - Arnie smash. There's something strangely satisfying about watching a cyborb beat the crap out of an army of humans.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) - heist film. It got two votes last time, so it gets a second chance.

Zombieland (2009) - deadpan comedy (no pun intended). Funniest movie of last year, in my opinion. Why watch it at the cinema when you can watch it in 380X?

Thursday 7 January, 2010 - Silliness

Most people seem to dislike 8pm, so we are moving to 6pm, and also Thursdays. We'll try for room 420-041 and 380X in that order. Let's start with something silly that everyone can enjoy.

Team America: World Police (2004) - American heroes saving the world! Forget South Park, this is where Trey Parker and Matt Stone really struck gold. Also comes with the best soundtrack I've ever heard.

Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle (2004) - Sex, drugs and Asians. Kal Penn obviously likes continuity in his roles: White Castle + House = White House, right? Watch him in this story of racism gone hilarious.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) - Science fiction comedy. Emphasis on the comedy, in case you're unfortunate enough to have never heard of it. Probably the funniest book I've ever read, and the film does a pretty good job of capturing it.

Zoolander (2001) - Male modelling. Apparently, Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson are the most beautiful men in the world. While this claim sounds a little suspicious, they're certainly very funny.

Zardoz (1974) - Idiotic Scifi. But if you guys are serious about wanting to watch this shit, I suppose I'm game.

Monday 30 November, 2009 - And Now For Something Completely Different

Time for some British films, to counter the overdose of America that is Turkeyweek.

Brazil (1985) - Bureaucracy. Nominated and abandoned last week. If you have any concern for its mental health, you won't do it again. Unless you enjoy that sort of thing.

Life of Brian (1979) - Man who keeps getting mistaken for Jesus. The best of the Python films, in my opinion.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) - Science fiction comedy. Emphasis on the comedy, in case you're unfortunate enough to have never heard of it. Probably the funniest book I've ever read, and the film does a pretty good job of capturing it.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) - Awesome heist film. Told in ministory style (like Pulp Fiction), with much better continuity and pacing than Tarantino could ever manage.

Trainspotting (1996) - Heroin. Scotland always complains about being left out, so here's a Scottish film. A very honest picture of drug addiction, neither glamorous nor horrific.

If there's a film you want to see on the list again in future, please vote for it in addition to the one you want to see this week.

Monday 16 November, 2009 - Biography

Next week, we will be watching a biography, partly because that is the genre of the next recommendation on the list which hasn't been offered yet, and partly to change things up a little so we get to see some different sorts of films. Despite the genre, we will not be watching a certain scruffy New Zealander pretend to be a mathematician.

Shine (1996) - David Helfgott. From what I've heard, Helfgott isn't actually that good a pianist (compared to other world-class pianists), and mainly fills up his concerts because this film made him so famous. I think that says something about the quality of the film - a very moving story about his struggle with circumstance.

Schindler's List (1993) - Oskar Schindler. A story of a man considered by many to be a hero, but what makes this film great is his portrayal as just an ordinary man, created a hero by the situation into which he unknowingly thrust himself. As honest a film about Nazi Germany as one will find.

La Vie En Rose (2007, French) - Edith Piaf. Needed at least one female to balance the list, which makes this an obvious choice. Strangely enough, Marion Cotillard was also in Jeux d'Enfants (2003), alongside her now-partner Guillaume Canet, with various versions of La Vie En Rose (the song) playing in almost every important scene. That was a good film, so this one should be too.

Citizen Kane (1941) - William Randolph Hearst. Okay, so it's technically about a fictional man called Charles Foster Kane, but Hearst was annoyed enough about it to ban his entire newspaper network from mentioning it. Sometimes considered the best film ever made - personally, I wouldn't go that far, but when you watch it, you can really see why people would think so.

Borat (2006) - Borat Sagdiyev. Cultural learnings of America for make benefit glorious nation of Kazakhstan. Unlike the previous films in the list, this one is completely accurate and factual.

Monday 9 November, 2009 - Films Beginning With B

Note that we have upgraded from the original fortnightly schedule to a weekly one. It seems that running Optics every week is probably feasible, so as long as people keep turning up, I'll keep running it.

Brazil (1985) - Mechanical bureaucracy. The Pythons haven't been very prolific since they split up, but the stuff they have made has generally been excellent.

Being John Malkovich (1999) - What is being? Is a person the sum of their experiences? Perhaps this question is best answered by example.

Blade Runner (1982) - Android hunter. Harrison Ford plays the same character he always plays, but it comes off very well in one of the few film adaptations to be much more succesful than the novel on which it was based.

Burn After Reading (2008) - Memoirs of a CIA agent. It's made by the Coen brothers, so I expect some dark comedy in there somewhere.

The Boss Of It All (2006, Danish) - Boss pretends he isn't the real boss for popularity, which works fine until he wants to sell the company.

Please vote for all the ones you would like to see (assigning weights if you must), as those that receive some votes but not enough to win will be offered again in a few weeks.

Monday 2 November, 2009 - Grand Premiere

Team America: World Police (2004) - American heroes saving the world! Forget South Park, this is where Trey Parker and Matt Stone really struck gold. Also comes with the best soundtrack I've ever heard.

Office Space (1999) - Life in a cubicle. Made back in the day when attention spans were measured in minutes rather than seconds. You may not fall out of your seat laughing, but you'll remember it with a smile every time an un dergrad asks to use your stapler.

Talladega Nights (2006) - The tale of a NASCAR driver's rise, fall, and rise again. Will Ferrell has made his fair share of terrible movies in recent years, but this one, despite its ridiculous premise, does well to go against the trend.

Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle (2004) - Sex, drugs and Asians. Kal Penn obviously likes continuity in his roles: White Castle + House = White House, right? Watch him in this story of racism gone hilarious.

Dr. Strangelove (1964) - Crazy general nukes the commies. A classic - if this you think this film needs an introduction, then you've been missing out.

Suggestions