Follow filmmaker Adam Scorgie as he demystifies the underground market and brings to light how an industry can function while remaining illegal. Through growers, police officers, criminologists, economists, doctors, politicians and pop culture icons, Scorgie examines the cause and effect nature of the business behind getting high.

Nobody’s innocent in this exploration of an industry that may be profiting more by being illegal

Download Music From The Union

In the tech world, we usually see Apple as the most secretive company around. But it turns out Netflix might be just as paranoid, and just as fascinating. This expose will make you see DVD-rental-by-mail in a totally new light.

I love Netflix, and I understand why they need to keep their secrets locked up tight: They’re one of the few true innovators in the tech world and they’ve had to contend with some nasty copycatting. But they go a little over-the-top with their secrecy: Every warehouse is totally anonymous, hidden, and unbranded; the Tribune reporter who filed this story isn’t allowed to divulge even the slightest hint as to where the warehouse he visited is.

Some more interesting tidbits: It doesn’t matter when you mail out your DVDs, since they’re filed all at once, in the wee hours of the morning (think 3.00am to 7.00am). Netflix employees (officially called “associates”) have forced calisthenics every 65 minutes. And coolest of all, they have a machine that scans 30,000 DVD envelope barcodes per hour, sending out an email to Netflix subscribers immediately saying Netflix has received their DVD back. It’s a really fascinating read, go check it out.[Chicago Tribune]

People toss around the word “original” alot, but I am not screwing around when I say that this film is the very first of its kind. It is very playful, and uses every inch of the film medium to bring you inside the mind of Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and experience his thoughts emotions and feelings in a very visceral way that you can touch and feel. The film follows the relationship of Tom Hansen with his infatuation named Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel) and not in any way that would be expected. It is far from a conventional romantic comedy, and tracks the romance through random days. We jump from “Day 444″ in the relationship to “Day 1″ and then to “Day 243″. This medium of storytelling was fascinating and kept me completely involved in the movie, and although some may call it a “ploy” or a “gimmick” it was incredibly innovative and original. An especially brilliant scene is a two way screen split that showcases “Expectations VS Reality”. I know you don’t know what that means, but once you watch the film you will understand and appreciate its subtle brilliance.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt offers a fantastic performance as a man who is attempting to find love in a fledgling and eventually failing relationship. He is very relate able, and I grew to love him. He never strains to offer emotion, which is a huge trap in the romantic comedy industry, and offers an uncommonly honest portrayal of a normal guy who got screwed over.

If I have any complaint about the movie, it is the portrayal of Summer by Zooey Deschanel. It was clear to me at the very beginning that I would not like her, and although the film makes it clear that Summer is a “free spirit”, she never became likable to me, and I never wanted Tom to stay with her. It is a minor flaw of the movie, and perhaps not even a flaw, because the movie is more about Tom’s journey rather than Summer’s philosophy on love and marriage.

The movie never overstayed its welcome, and sprinted by at a breakneck pace all the way through its incredibly brisk 95 minute runningtime. There is never a single boring moment, and it is perhaps this that kept it so close to my heart. It was masterfully crafted to keep everyone interested the entire time, and that really is a refreshing idea in this age of extended static shots and uninteresting unrelated plot twists. This movie sticks to the point, and although there are several fun and fluffy moments, (including a hilariously non sequitur dance sequence with animated birds in the middle of the movie) it skips over the bland “middle part” of the movie that most romantic comedies fall victim to. Perhaps its advantage was again its unconventional mode of storytelling.

It was a fast, fun, entertaining and thought provoking bit of work with wonderful bits of philosophy plugged throughout. Like the tagline will tell you, it isn’t just a love story. It is a story about love.

A+

If you liked Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Love Actually and Away We Go you will like this movie.

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Seth Rogan and Jonah Hill

Judd Apatow and Adam Sandler

Aziz Ansari, Aubrey Plaza, and Jason Schwartzman

Aziz Ansari, Aubrey Plaza, and Jason Schwartzman II(My Favorite)

Leslie Mann and Eric Bana

Alice in Wonderland (2010) Movie Trailer – SDCC 09: Debut Trailer. Trailer After the Break

Clip 1 Leo tells Ira he shouldn’t have lost weight

Clip 2 George and Ira with the girls at the pool

Clip 3 George asks Ira to kill him

Clip 4 Leo tells Mark his grandfather is going to hell

Clip 5 Ira asks Daisy to the Wilco show

Clip 6 The doctor’s office

Clip 7 George apologizes to Laura for his past

Clip 8 Clarke speaks Mandarin with his kids

Clip 9 Laura and Clarke argue in the driveway

Randy Documentary Part 2!

Hope you guys enjoy it.

- Aziz Ansari

Video After the Break.

Does it do it’s job? Absolutely. Certain segments are absolutely hilarious, and will leave you laughing long enough to miss other jokes.

And that’s about it.

While Borat offered plenty of innocence, heart, and improvised candid comedy, Brüno sets out to just try and make you laugh. Occaisionally it becomes evident that they try too hard to make the audience laugh, and in those places it loses its comedy. The planned script absolutely murders the laugh factor of this movie, and it only gets back on track during its moments of candid comedy, and improvised trickery at the expense of others. Some people that Brüno encounters are paid actors, and when we realize that it loses its fun.

Sacha Baron Cohen does a fantastic job with this character, and the moments when the movie seemed to lose its track were not because of him. I have lately become very impressed with Sacha Baron Cohen’s habit of completely melting into his characters and leaving little to nothing left to see. He never slipped into Borat or Pirelli, and I can understand that with such outrageous characters it could have been very easy to fall into both.

Now for the material. Don’t kid yourself if you walked out in distaste. You knew what was coming. Borats use of racism, homosexuality, toilet humor, sexual humor, nudity, sexism and outrageous disrespect for people of all religionsand beliefs paved the way for what I can only describe as some of the most visual shit I have seen on a three story screen. And it was hilarious. The final scene (the one with the cage match) left me wondering when the last time I laughed that hard in a movie theatre was. (It was the Penis Drawing scene from Superbad. It’s been that long)

I am currently downloading the soundtrack to Brüno as we speak, because although it has little to no artistic value, I loved the rythm and beat that persisted throughout the movie. The last track in particular (Starring Bono, Elton John, Snoop Dogg and guitar accompiniment by Slash) had me in belly laugh by the end.

The only problem with the ending was when it ended. I understand there is only so much that you can do with this kind of comedy, but after 84 minutes and ten dollars, I was expecting more when the credits began to roll.

At the end of the night, my date and I left remarking how hilarious Brüno was, and I silently decided that I would probably not buy the DVD.

B-

If you liked Borat:Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, Jackass, and Step Brothers you will like this movie.

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(Aziz Ansari, Azizisbored)