chaosworks.org

10 December 2008

The Interior Design Of A Spaceship

When I was watching Serenity the other night, I was wondering why spaceships in the movies and on TV always have such a cold and unfriendly interior design. I’m not much of a Sci-Fi geek, but I have been watching an awful lot of Sci-Fi lately. And I keep noticing the same thing: depressingly gray rooms made of metal and concrete, grills in the floors and zero comfort. How exactly does River Tam handle being barefoot in that thing all the time? And why do spaceships hardly ever have wooden floors, or carpets, or tapestries? Though the Serenity, a Firefly, […]

7 December 2008

The Wilhelm Whinny

If you’ve ever seen a movie with a horse in it, you’ve probably heard it: the Wilhelm Whinny. I have no idea if there’s a real name for it, but I’m just gonna call it that in allusion to the famous Wilhelm Scream. Similar to the Wilhelm Scream, the Wilhelm Whinny is a sound file that film producers love to use over and over again. That horse neighing in the movie you just watched – probably the Wilhelm Whinny. (Unfortunately all of my movie editing tools don’t work, so I can’t provide you with a clip.) But unlike the enjoyable […]

27 November 2008

International Cinema IV: Denmark to Serbia

Fear not! I have not forgotten about my plan to conquer the world through it’s movies. Actually, I have, but a funny coincidence reminded me that I still had this half started blog entry hidden in the depths of my notes. So finally, five months after the last international cinema, I can now proudly present a new hope. Denmark De grønne slagtere / The Green Butchers (2003) The Danish are flat-out, bug-shaggin’ crazy! When it comes to making movies, their humor is nowhere near as flat as their country. This movie is the best of proof of that. It’s an […]

24 July 2008

International Cinema III: Sweden

It’s been a month already since I released the second episode of my ambitious little project to see the world on the small screen, “International Cinema“. To read the introduction and what’s this all about, check out the first episode. This third edition is gonna be a special one just for Sweden. When I started writing all these reviews I realized that I have way too many for Sweden, more than anyone would care to read when published along with 5 other countries. Back when I taught myself Swedish, I started watching a lot of Swedish movies to train my […]

26 June 2008

International Cinema II: Finland to Spain

About a month ago I posted the introduction and the first episode of “International Cinema“, my little project to travel around the world in the movies. Today I’m delighted to introduce you to Episode II, this time with slightly less obscure countries, but possibly slightly more obscure movies. Enjoy! Finland Mies vailla menneisyyttä / The Man Without A Past (2002) The best word to describe this movie would be “Finnish”. It’s totally different from what I expected from the title and from some photos I’ve seen. It’s a very very quiet, but good movie about a man who comes to […]

20 June 2008

She saved the world a lot: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

The first time I heard about Buffy Summers must have been some time in 98 or 99, through a TV commercial. In the following 4-5 years, I occasionally watched her and her friends on TV, twice even had my aunt tape me a couple of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel episodes from US TV. But I never really had the chance or the enthusiasm to watch the whole thing from the beginning, as I should have. Plus it was airing so late and full of scary demons, so that I was either too tired or too scared to watch […]

29 May 2008

International Cinema I: Argentina to South Africa

I watch a lot of movies. The movies I’ve been watching since about a year are mostly Hollywood classics and foreign films. Next to working my way through the remaining 65 movies I haven’t seen from this list, I currently also try to work my way through the world, so to speak. That is, I want to watch at least one movie per country, more wherever possible. That is of course a very time-consuming hobby, but time is not the only barrier in the completion of this task. It’s very hard to find decent foreign movies. Browsing amazon.de can result […]

4 April 2008

Got myself a gun: The Sopranos

The Sopranos first caught my attention in December 1999. I had just turned 15, young and innocent as I was I visited my family in New Jersey and New York to celebrate the 99/00 thing. As sort of a souvenir, because it seemed so weird and different from what we have in Germany, I took home an out-of-date issue of the TV Guide. It had The Sopranos on the cover, advertising the upcoming Season 2. I’m not sure whether I ever read the accompanying article, but I probably never fully grasped (or just didn’t care) that the show was about […]

29 January 2008

Most Memorable Movie Characters

Inspired by Nellie who was inspired by Britney, this is a small list of all the movie characters I think are most memorable. I have seen far more movies than healthy in the last few years, a habit which is probably not gonna change anytime soon. I recently started renting movies from amazon and my renting list already has over 60 mostly weird foreign movies on it, so I might have to post an update to this list someday…. Hans Beckert (M – Eine Stadt sucht ihren Mörder, Germany 1931) Why would a creepy child murder be memorable? Peter Lorre’s […]