Studio Berezin Film

Britain’s King George VI (Colin Firth) struggles with an embarrassing stutter for years until he seeks help from unorthodox Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). Netflix , IMDB Director: Tom Hooper STC Genre : Rites of Passage “Life Problem” – an embarrassing stutter “Wrong Way” – denying the deep psychological roots and trying to solve it mechanically “Acceptance” – literally accepting Lionel as a member of his family The movie is truly remarkable in many ways. First, it is a great modern movie that holds up strong without any crutches like sex or violence. The story itself is simple yet so powerful it keeps you on the edge. Acting is awesome. Score is all classical and absolutely beautiful – who would have thought it can work so well in a 21st century movie? Camera work is bold and I’d say experimental at times. For instance, a great use of “fish eye” lens to show the emotional sta...

In this meditation on the need for passion and human connection — the final film in Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “three colors” trilogy — an accident brings together two very different people: Valentine (Irene Jacob), a model, and Joseph (Jean-Louis Trintignant), a retired judge. Netflix , IMDB Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski STC Genre : Out of the Bottle “Wish” – a wish for connection, true love, something that never happened in the old man’s life “Spell” – in a weird way, he’s reliving his life again in a different way through another man “Lesson” – learning what really matters A classic of sort, this is a slow “savoring the moment” meditative story of love and fate, right and wrong, life and death. It seems, the director tried to use the least amount of action to get the point across, and make you think on your own. Who’s right? What’s really happening? You decide. Take yo...

Ex-con Marv (Mickey Rourke) avenges a hooker’s (Jaime King) death, Detective Dwight (Clive Owen) gets involved with hazardous vixens and a rogue cop (Bruce Willis) becomes hell-bent on saving a stripper (Jessica Alba) from a rapist (Nick Stahl) in interlaced stories adapted from Frank Miller’s graphic novels. Netflix , IMDB Directors: Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez STC Genre : Superhero “Special Power” – virtually everyone is a superman (or a superwoman, for that matter), often in their own unique way “Nemesis” – again, everyone has their own, unique enemy “Curse” – plenty of that stuff. Just read the tittle again 🙂 Very cool modern film noir that is so faithful to the comic book style you have to see it to believe it. The fast-action story line, violence, sex, and other very primal attributes may be debatable for some, and certainly not for kids. However, what impressed me most is the way it is shot and styled. It is la...

A complex romantic story unfolds in two parallel worlds that split apart by a seemingly unimportant event of Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow) catching or missing a subway train. In one, she comes home early and finds her boyfriend cheating on her, but not in the other. The two stories dance together all the way to the end until something else happens… Netflix , IMDB Director: Peter Howitt STC Genre : Buddy Love (Rom-Com) – despite what Blake says “Incomplete Hero”  – Helen who is not very happy in her current relationship with Gerry “Counterpart” – James “Complication” – two different ones, in fact. In one version she doesn’t even learn about him, and in the other – well, that would be a spoiler, wouldn’t it? Yes, with this movie I feel confident enough to disagree with Blake Snyder, and reclassify it as Buddy Love (instead of Out Of The Bottle). Why? Because there is really no “wish”. Helen is reason...

After FedEx systems engineer Chuck Noland’s (Tom Hanks) plane crashes in the Pacific Ocean, he finds himself fighting to survive on a deserted island with nothing but a painted volleyball — a silent partner he names Wilson. Netflix , IMDB Director: Robert Zemeckis STC Genre : Golden Fleece (Solo) – according to Blake “Road” – Starting as a flight across Pacific, and ending as Chuck’s solo sailing into the sea four years later “Team” – the lonely hero and Wilson the Volleyball “Prize” – On the surface, return home. But upon return, he finds a lot more about himself and his close ones, and learning yet another life lesson. This is a very good movie. What else would you expect from Zemeckis, after all? 🙂 However, I found it to be a bit slow in the setup, with almost nothing exciting happening for the first 30 min of the movie. Of course, given that it’s 143 min long, the beat sheet calculator gives exactly...

Today I was faced with a problem of creating an interlaced NTSC video (“30i”) from progressive HD footage, in my case 60p – that is, 60 progressive frames per second. A quick web search brought up a tutorial from Creative Cow by Marco Solorio, where he converts a 30p footage into a 60i video. Unfortunately, his process doesn’t work when the footage is already at 60p. So, here are a couple of ways that worked for me. The Apple Motion Way The most reliable, in my opinion, is to pipe the footage through Apple Motion. This flow will also work for footage other than 60p. Here are the steps: Create an interlaced (30i) sequence in Final Cut Drop your 60p footage in it and do the necessary scaling and positioning adjustments (in my case, I had to scale the HD 16:9 footage to fill the SD 4:3 frame) Control-click (or Right-click) on the clip in the sequence and choose “Send to -> Motion Project…” Choose the file name for the Motion project, make sure ...

When a reclusive romance writer (Kathleen Turner) — whose humdrum life in no way resembles the exploits of her fiery fictional heroines — learns her sister’s been kidnapped, she’s soon embroiled in a wild adventure involving hidden treasure and a dashing mercenary (Michael Douglas). Netflix , IMDB Director: Robert Zemeckis STC Genre : Golden Fleece (Buddy) “Road” – literally a road to and around Columbia “Team” – Joan and Jack “Prize” – the original goal is freeing Joan’s sister, but at the end she gets quite a bit more than that A nicely done action / comedy / romance film. The two main lead characters are perhaps the most opposite of each other, and all the great conflicts and comedic tension that comes with it. Very well done, very enjoyable movie.