Dolby, Guacamole and Captain Phillips

(This is a blog for news about the North County Film Club, about film in general, local film events and anything else that seems interesting to film lovers. Views expressed in this blog are not those of the North County Film Club, but of the blog host.)

Rest in Peace, Ray Dolby. But I must say you didn't really give us senior citizens much peace when your company developed Surround Sound. Maybe we're just a bunch of whiners at the movies. "It's so loud, turn the sound down", we yell. But the sound just gets louder and louder with each viewing.

So I say, thanks, Mr. Dolby, you've done a fantastic job. They say that you invented noise reduction systems, but if this is noise reduction, I'll eat my ear plugs!

But I'm sure he was a genius and he did remove the hiss from audiotapes.  So that's a good thing. And he's probably responsible for bringing more young people to the movies. They love that Surround Sound, don't they?

We had a great time on Sunday watching the Oscar nominated animated shorts. What a bunch of great little films. It was very difficult voting for the best one because they were all excellent. I voted for Adam and Dog, mainly because I am a dog lover and also because it had the most gorgeous animation. My favorite, though, was The Longest Daycare starring Maggie Simpson. But I didn't vote for it because it came from a big studio, just like Paperman which was great but came from Disney. So c'mon let's vote for the little guys. Paperman and Adam and Dog garnered the most votes from the club members after the movies Sunday. Did you have a favorite? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

And speaking of little guys, the shortest but sweetest film was Guacamole and I felt bad not voting for it because, after all, we live in Avocado land. It was a brilliant film and had a totally classic ending.

If you missed last Sunday and want to see some of these shorts, click here Animated short films.

One of the perks of becoming a member of the North County Film Club is that every so often we are invited to free showings of upcoming films. This past week we were invited to a showing of Captain Phillips. Unfortunately, we are usually not informed about the showings until the last minute and most are shown closer to San Diego. But the movies are usually really good ones. So far we've been invited to see Ruby Sparks, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The East and many others. Often the director, screenwriter or star will be in attendance to talk about the film and answer questions which is always really interesting.  
The showing of Captain Phillips was a real treat. This is a fantastic film. It has everything you want in a movie - great cinematography, wonderful acting (Tom Hanks will surely be nominated for an Oscar) and sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat action. Wow, what a film. Don't miss it. It opens Oct. 11.

And don't forget to vote for the drama films that have been nominated. The deadline for the votes is Sunday, Sept. 29th.

Our next film is Any Day Now, Sunday, October 13th.











  

Since you all are film buffs, thought you'd like some information on the upcoming San Diego Film Festival.

This is a really user-friendly website. Just click on the name of the film and all the info pops up. I've tried other film festival websites and they're usually very difficult to navigate. This one's easy.

It looks like an interesting group of films and if honoree Judd Apatow shows up in person that would be a real plus.

The festival is Oct. 2 - 6. Mark your calendars.

Have you seen any good films lately?  Let us know in the comments section.

I watched Cloud Atlas last night. I didn't like it at all and I did read the book. But I didn't like the book either. So there you have it. My main problem with the movie was there was too much "shoot em up" type action - much like all the current block busters. It was totally unnecessary. I might be going deaf, but I couldn't understand much of the dialog - especially the Hawaiian Island parts with Tom Hanks and Halle Berry. Instead of using the island dialect, Halle's accent was more down south with a little rap mixed in.

Anyway, I don't recommend it. But when I read all the reviews on IMDB that were so glowing - "It's a masterpiece" etc., I could be wrong. You'll have to be the judge.

If you manage to read this blog (it hasn't shown up on Google listings yet), please subscribe by adding your email address at the top left of the blog.

Don't forget Sunday, Sept. 22 for the Oscar nominated animated shorts, Digiplex Theater, Mission and College, Oceanside, 3:00 pm. Hope to see you there.

Debut Post for the North County Film Club Blog

Hi, I'm Nancy Javier, one of the board members of the North County Film Club. I've volunteered to create and keep a blog for the club. This is the first post.

What I'd like to do is keep you posted on the club's schedule, any club events, comments about films we've just seen, information about films in general and anything that seems important to you members.

Didn't we just love the film we saw on August 25th - A Bottle in the Gaza Sea?  If you missed it, you must trying renting it from Netflix (or your favorite rental place), it's a really great film.

After I saw it, I was a little frustrated about the ending. What happened next?
So I decided to write an alternate ending:

Naim is in Paris working on his French studies, living in a little romantic garret in Montmartre. He and Tal have continued their email relationship. But Tal is realistic. She continues her relationship with the guitar playing, pierce giving, blond Israeli.  But somehow she manages to get away from her parents and her beautiful blond folk singer. She slips away in the dead of night and flies to Paris.

Naim and Tal have agreed to meet at his place. After one night of love, Tal admits to Naim that they can never be together. She confesses that she has agreed to marry the Israeli. As Naim cries and they hug one last time, Tal says to Naim, “But we’ll always have Paris.

Last shot is of Tal boarding the plane for Jerusalem in tears, while Naim stands on the tarmac also in tears.

The end

Do you have another idea for an ending? I'd love to hear it. Just add it to the comments section of the blog. 

On September 8, we saw another wonderful film, The Imposter. What a stunner of a story. So many twists and turns. Whew!!

The discussion after the film, led very capably by John Anderson (isn't it wonderful having such a knowledgeable leader for the discussions?).  We miss Jennifer (who has moved to Israel, if you don't already know) but John is a great replacement and we're lucky to have him on our team.

This was my favorite comment after the film. In response to the question about how could they possibly have let the Imposter out of the country without checking his identity, was "You know, they're still using carbon paper in Spain!"

If you want to read more about this interesting case, here's a link to an article from the New Yorker. It's 17 pages long and covers a lot of the same territory as the film, but there are a few interesting facts that weren't in the film.

And I found it pretty darned interesting that Frederic has a Twitter account. You can keep up with all his current activities (if you can believe him!):

https://twitter.com/Francparler

Here are two films that are related to The Imposter that you might want to check out:

The Changeling
and
Catch Me If You Can

News from our intrepid leader, Jim:

a record 187 seats were sold for The Imposter
We now have 230 paid members

Nominations for the upcoming season are now in. You will be receiving information on them soon so you'll be able to vote for your favorites.

On September 22 we will be viewing the Oscar nominated animated short films. These are always fun and interesting. Hope to see you there.