Dean Spanley

I watched this film last night, and it was quite the unexpected treat. It was released on the 5th of March, 2009 (for Australia) and is not a well know film. IMDb's User Rating for the film shows a mere 826 people voted for it - and that's internationally!

The Narrative:
Original and refreshing. Based on the book My Talks with Dean Spanley, the film focuses on the themes of human grief and the important bond between father and son. Primarily a dramatic film although it is seasoned with some mildly comedic moments.

The Cast:
Sam Neil as Dean Spanley
Sam Neil's performance was excellent and very entertaining. I was unsure prior to watching the film that Sam Neil was the right choice for a Dean but he was - as I said - great!

Jeremy Northam as Fisk Junior
I haven't seen many, if any, of Jeremy Northam's body of work, but his performance in this film was very natural and had me admiring the subtleties of his craft.

Bryan Brown as Wrather
Playing an Australian conveyancer, Wrather helps Fisk Junior on his quest to find out more about the mysterious Dean Spanley.

Peter O'Toole as Fisk Senior
It was hard to empathise with bitter old Fisk Senior but even harder with Peter O'Toole's unnerving gaze - it disturbed me greatly. I can't ignore Peter's excellent performance and the anger and frustration his character provoked.

It's a well made film, great actors, great dialogue and a great story - I recommend you see it.

My Rating:
7.5/10

FYI - I am the best film reviewer in the world~!

Back To School

In August of 2009, I applied for a place at Curtin University. The course I applied for is called Screen Arts, which focuses on the areas of film and television. There are three main streams of study within the Screen Arts major; Screen Studies, Screen Production and Screenwriting. I'm still undecided as to which I will be choosing, but at this point it's between Production and Screenwriting.

Semester 1 starts on March 1st and I have some awesome units to attend. I've never been to university before so it's starting to get exciting. I'm most looking forward to Screenwriting, as I enjoy stories just as much as I do writing.

Having previously studied at TAFE it will be interesting to compare the differences between the two learning environments. The thing I enjoyed about TAFE was the constant hands-on approach to education. I've heard from many post-uni students that theory is the majority of a university education and it's up to you, the student, to back it up with the necessary practical skills. So, we'll see.

One thing I learned from my TAFE studies was that I work well in a structured learning environment. I become very focused when I know a task needs to be completed by a certain time, and it's immensely satisfying when you can juggle multiple assessments and meet the assessment criteria with a high standard of work.

Being a film course I will most definitely be smashing my prospective 550D for most of my assessments! (I use the term 'smashing' in a 'I-will-be-using' sense of the word. There are actually many ways to incorporate 'smashing' into your daily routine. For example, 'I'm just going to smash the dishes!', means, you will be washing the dishes efficiently and with great vigor. It does not mean you will be breaking them into small pieces rendering them unusable.)

Uni!!

HD-DSLRs: Is There One For Me?

I mentioned before that I was interested in a High-Definition camera. I still haven't acquired one. I'm known to do a lot of research before buying something expensive. After having looked at the Panasonic GH1 for a while I was then made aware of the 5D MKII. It looks like a fantastic camera albeit the price is enough for me to think twice about committing. Keep in mind I have never owned a DSLR - ever!

So I hesitated, it's what I do.

Then the 7D came out and started smashing stuff, mostly fine china plates. But seriously, It looked like the winner. It was a DSLR with strong video performance.

Good low-light capabilities are on the top of my list when it comes to cameras, and this was why I found myself still glancing upward at the 5D. You see, the 7D doesn't have a full-frame sensor. This means the low-light performance can't match that of the 5D. It just can't OK. "You think you can do these things, but you just can't, Nemo!"

So I was thinking about that for a while and then the 1D MKIV came out - what a beast! It's low-light is unrivaled in the realm of video capable DSLRs and the price way too high for a noob like me. So, I went back to looking at the 7D.

Over the past few weeks me and my friend Richard have been travelling to a camera shop to check out what a 7D can do. Turns out it can't build card-houses!... My initial reaction to the 7D was my amazement at how big it was. I thought all DSLRs were roughly the same size. Turns out that the bigger the camera the better it is. Surprisingly, it was extremely comfortable to hold. However, it didn't matter how long I held that 7D in my hand the price was not going down. So I left the shop still heavily in thought about what I should do.

A few days later and Canon releases the 550D, boasting the same video capabilities as the 7D! The main difference being the 550D has only one Digic 4 processor, whereas the 7D includes two.

The body of the 550D is around the same size as the previously released 500D and is classified as an entry level DSLR, you know for people like me!

I'm still hanging out for some in-depth reviews of this camera. If the reviews come back clean I will most definitely purchase it without to much thinking.

It's available for purchase on the 24th of February. That's only a couple of weeks away!

Image courtesy of dpreview.com