Rendezvous

A friend of mine sent me an e-mail this morning with a link to a Google Video and I just HAD to share it. The video is a short film by Claude Lelouch entitled C’était un rendez-vous.

The film was shot in 1976 on the streets of Paris. Lelouch mounted a gyro-stabilized camera to the bumper of a Ferrari 275 GTB and had a professional Formula 1 driver race it from Porte Dauphine, past the Louvre to the Basilica of Sacre Coeur. The entire course was completed in about 9 minutes, with the driver reaching 140 miles per hour in some sections. If you watch the film closely, you’ll see him run red lights, nearly hit real pedestrians and going the wrong way up one-way streets. Remember, the streets were NOT closed, because Lelouch was unable to obtain a permit for the filming.

After the first public viewing of the film, Lelouch was promptly arrested. He never released the name of the driver, but according to IMDB the Formula 1 driver and personal friend of Lelouch is Jean-Pierre Beltoise.

Having ridden many of the streets shot in the film, during a month I spent in Paris, I found this film to be absolutly terrifying. Granted, I rode the streets by bicycle, where my top speed was probably 20mph, versus the 120mph in the film. It’s completely dangereous, reckless and stupid – but it’s a lot of fun to watch.

2118 days ago • movies • Tags: google video film ferrari paris

Perfect Clip For A Monday Morning

Found this clip this morning courtesy of my good friend Kerry Woo and I just had to share it. If you’ve ever seen the cult classic movie Office Space, this is a video using the “SuperFriends” with some of the choice audio from Office Spaceoverdubbed. It’s a wicked combination that makes for a nice Monday pickup.

One small warning, Office Space was rated R, so some of the language is PG-13 or higher. So if you’re at YOUR office, I thought you might want to be aware of that fact before a few choice curse words flew out of your speakers.

2186 days ago • movies

About A Boy

Director(s): Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz
Writer(s): Nick Hornby (novel), Peter Hedges, Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz (screenplay)
Category: Drama / Comedy
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for brief strong language and some thematic elements.
Runtime: 101 min
Country: UK
Language: English
Year: 2002
Plot: Based on Nick Hornby’s popular British novel, About A Boy is a comedy-drama starring Hugh Grant as Will, a rich, child-free and irresponsible Londoner in his thirties who, in search of available women, invents an imaginary son and starts attending single parent meetings. As a result of one of his liaisons, he meets Marcus, an odd 12-year-old boy with problems at school. Gradually, Will and Marcus become friends, and as Will teaches Marcus how to be a cool kid, Marcus helps Will to finally grow up.

Review:
I first saw this movie while on a business trip to Chattanooga. I needed to finish up some work on a presentation I was making the next day and there was nothing on TV, so I decided to splurge and rent an On-Demand movie. Most of the movies I had either seen, or had no interest in seeing and just as I was about to turn it off, I came across About A Boy. I hadn’t heard much buzz about the movie and I’m not a fan of Hugh Grant, but for reasons unknown to me, I rented it.

2798 days ago • movies

Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde

Director(s): Charles Herman-Wurmfeld
Writer(s): Eve Ahlert, Dennis Drake, Kate Kondell
Category: Comedy
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for some sex-related humor.
Runtime: 95 minutes
Country: USA
Language: English
Year: 2003

Plot: Sassy postgrad Elle Woods is all about animal rights. In fact, she puts her nuptial plans on hold to head to Washington D.C. to get an anti-animal testing bill passed. Her building’s doorman quickly shows her the ways and workings of our nation’s capital.

Review: There is a curse in the movie industry. It’s name – the sequel. For some reason, trying to follow up a hit movie with a sequel is very difficult for most studios because most sequels suck eggs. I forgot about this curse when I rented Legally Blonde 2 – Red, With & Blonde recently. It’s not that the first movie, Legally Blonde, was a masterpiece or anything, but it was good for what it was. It was a happy, shiny movie where you dismissed a little reality and just went with the story. Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) may be a silly character, but you go with it just to watch the character grow and mature. In addition, there were a nice assortment of memorable characters peppered throughout the story that really “kicked it up a notch”.

Since Legally Blonde was a big hit, you’d think that the producers wouldn’t mess with the formula that made it such a success. Haven’t we learned anything from New Coke? Unfortunately all the elements that made the first movie such a fun guilty pleasure are absent from the sequel and all you’re left with is a bitter taste in your mouth making you feel wrong for liking the first movie.

2903 days ago • movies

The Matrix Saga: Part Three – Enter The Matrix (Part One)

I love playing video games. I got hooked on the Atari 2600 and I’ve been playing them ever since, however when I heard that there was going to be a video game released based on The Matrix, I wasn’t too thrilled. Typically, whenever there is a video game based on a movie, it sucks. I really like the Matrix Saga and although I’ve liked everything that the Wachowski brother’s have touched, the suck factor was pretty high on a video game. Did I want to take the risk and buy the video game?

You might be surprised that I did resist and didn’t run out and buy it the day it was released. I was tempted mind you, but the fact that most of the reviews were bad, I held off. I simply didn’t want to spoil my Matrix experience. After I watched The Matrix Revolutions, I was shopping at Target and I saw that they had it on sale for half price at $19.99. There’s only so much a man can take, so I bought it.

2996 days ago • movies

The Matrix Saga: Part Two – The Animatrix

Director(s): Peter Chung, Andy Jones, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Takeshi Koike, Mahiro Maeda, Kouji Morimoto, Shinichirô Watanabe
Writer(s): Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski, Peter Chung, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Kouji Morimoto, Shinichirô Watanabe
Category: Action / Drama / Animation / Sci-Fi
MPAA: N/A, but intended for mature audiences
Runtime: 102 minutes
Country: USA
Language: English
Year: 2003

Plot: Anthology of nine short anime (Japanese animation) films tied in to the 1999 blockbuster “The Matrix” and its sequels. “Final Flight of the Osiris”: The crew of the hovercraft Osiris attempt to warn their city of an imminent attack. “The Second Renaissance, Parts 1 & 2″: The story behind the war between man and the machines, how mankind scorched the sky, and the creation of the Matrix. “Kid’s Story”: A teenager is contacted by Neo, and manages to escape the Matrix. “Program”: Two warriors battle in a samurai training simulation when one decides to betray his crewmates and re-enter the Matrix. “World Record”: A champion sprinter manages to break free of the Matrix by sheer physical effort during a record attempt. “Beyond”: A young girl searching for her cat discovers a haunted house caused by a glitch in the system. “A Detective Story”: Private investigator Ash tracks a hacker named Trinity through the looking glass. “Matriculated”: A group of humans capture a machine scout and insert it into a ‘human matrix’.

Review: The Matrix had a lot of firsts in it. The first movie to use bullet time, the first movie to bring comic book and anime storytelling to live action, etc. On it’s own The Matrix is a landmark film and had the Wachowski brothers left it at that, it would have been enough. Little did we know in 1999 (the year the Matrix was released) that the brothers had much more in store for us.

3000 days ago • movies

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