Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Movie Review: How to Meet Girls From a Distance


I was lucky enough to win two tickets to the flicks.co.nz preview screening of How to Meet Girls From a Distance at the Paramount last night so me and my flatmate Schmidty headed along.

The basic premise is that our protagonist Toby has rotten luck with women. So when he meets the girl of his dreams he decides to do a little background research before asking her out.

The problem...his background research is a little bit stalkerish.

While undoubtedly low budget it is a great movie. Toby (Richard Falkner) is a nice if slightly misguided guy and his love interest Phoebe (Scarlet Hemingway) is a complete babe and perfect girlfriend material although you will question her choice of boyfriend.

Set in and around Newtown and Mt Victoria it is lovely image of our beautiful city. A comedy with plenty of laughs the undoubted scene stealer is Toby's therapist Carl Stewart (Jonathan Brugh) who has the best lines of the entire film.

Well worth it not only to support the local film industry but to see a great film.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

The Internet is not the Enemy

A month ago David Farrar blogged on a recently released report that challenged the conventional wisdom on the effect of the internet and piracy on the entertainment industry.

I finally got around to reading the report myself and it makes for a fascinating read. The key points as seen by myself:
  • Between 1998 and 2010 the worldwide entertainment industry grew from $449 billion to $745 billion
  • We are living in an age of content abundance
  • For content creators there are amazing opportunities
  • The role of the traditional gatekeepers/middlemen is changing and in some cases they are no longer needed
  • The internet presents more opportunities to make money from entertainment than it does to threaten it

The report looks at four parts of the entertainment industry (Movies/TV, Music, Books and Video Games) and there are some incredible case studies of artists who are adapting to the digital content revolution.

The report is called the Sky is Rising and for those interested in entertainment and the internet, particularly those concerned about the attempts by major media companies to control the internet, it should be a must read.