My two best friends here are in relationships but don't feel the need to tone it down around me. Like baby-talk, cuddling, having an 'I love you' war. It's getting really tiring.
My friend Jordan got a call from his girlfriend and when he answered his phone, his voice changed. This is what we call "the girlfriend voice". It's when a man's voice changes significantly when talking to his girlfriend on the phone. Tone gets higher, range gets more distance (as if to say, "Hey, I have a girlfriend and I want everyone to know!), and the baby voice comes out at the very end of the call. Guys, i know you're in love or whatever and that's great, but grow a pair and talk like a human being.
The last thing I look for in a guy is 'how well he can be act like a complete ass'. You look and sound like an idiot when you do that and your girlfriend is retarded for liking it.

I don't hate people that are in love....just the retarded things they do.

What qualities do I look for in a great film?

Well, I don't walk into a movie theater or throw in a DVD thinking, "Ok, I'm looking for this, this and this." If you go into anything like that, 99% of the time, you're going to be disappointed. If I were to watch 'The Usual Suspects' and say, "Ok, I'm looking for a steady plot in which the bad guy meets his deserved destiny." Not only am I going to be wrong, I'm going to have my mind blown! But, the reoccuring good aspects I find in good/great movies are what I aptly call 'The Usual's'. The Usual's are: Good dialogue, good angles (camera and writing angles), and good endings. I know 'good endings' is kind of vague. But, I have a movie in my collection that I keep merely on the fact that it is a GREAT example of how a bad ending can ruin the whole, once enjoyable, movie. "Mr.Brooks". (I won't give away the ending in case someone wants to see the movie, but you can ask me in class if you like) I've always said a phrase that I will never take back because it's a thousand percent true, a thousand percent of the time...

"Five words that will ruin a great script, '...And then he woke up'. "

The dream sequence has had its place in sitcoms & movies in the past. It's time to kill it, nail the coffin shut, throw it in the grave plot and cover it in cement so it never comes back.
Moving on, sometimes a movie with no resolution can be amazing. Which ones? Off the top of my head: Happiness, What Just Happened?, Doubt, W, ...My roommate liked The Knowing... That's all I can think of but they are great movies!

Great camera angles make me all warm and fuzzy inside. (Take that however you want...)
I've seen great camera angles in such shows as House & Dexter. When I say camera angles, I don't mean just where the camera is pointing. I mean when you see one scene and you know exactly what they are trying to emphasize and what message they're trying to send without a word of dialogue being said.

Good dialogue; Everyone has a favorite line from movies they like. Take for instance the movie that god Martin Scorsese his Oscar (finally...) "The Departed". I love Jack Nicholson's monologue in the beginning of the movie. My favorite line of his is: "You could become cops or criminals. What I'm sayin to ya is this: When you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference?" That line tells you almost everything you need to know about that character. Law, restrictions, life & death situations, pressure, none of it phases him. I could go through the whole script and find a quote that I love on each page. Not to mention the beautiful direction. (Thank you Mr.Scorsese!)

All I'm saying is, I've named my qualifications of what makes a good movie, but everyone's motives are different. It's hard to put definite qualifications on something that is based on indiviual opinion.

What Just Happened?

I was in Epic Burger today with my roommate and her boyfriend. While they were talking I zoned out and started watching one of the TVs that hang on the wall. I was watching an old black and white movie. I'm not quite sure what the title was. There was a blond in a lavish dance costume, tap dancing in the middle of 8 men in tuxedos. She wasn't anorexic looking, her dancing was perfect and on cue, she was wearing hardly any make-up. Then I thought, "What happened? What happened to cinema? What happened to the standard of entertainment along with the ridiculous standard for entertainers." I've been trying to figure it out but I honestly don't know how or why certain actors/actresses/filmmakers/directors etc...have lowered the bar. I could only imagine what the premiere to 'All About Eve' was like.
For those that don't know, "All About Eve" came out in 1950. It starred Anne Baxter, Gary Merrill, Hugh Marlowe, Celeste Holm, George Sanders and my favorite actress of all time, Bette Davis. It won 6 academy awards; Directing, Screenplay, Actor in a supporting role, Sound recording, Costume design for a black and white film, and best motion picture. If you just watch the movie you'll see what real cinema is. The actors are phenomenal, the costumes fit the characters, the delivery of the dialogue is unmatchable. I fell in love with the film industry after watching "All About Eve".
At the risk of sounding like an 80 year old, times have changed. Times have changed a great deal. Now, we have a never ending saga of horrible movies (Transporter, Crank, Superhero movies, etc...) and very few original screenplays. With the economy the way it is, no studio wants to take the risk (or give the chance) to an original screenplay unless you're a big name writer/director. It's sad really. I am a directing major and here I am sitting, drinking coffee, writing a blog for a class for a profession that may not thrive for long. I'm not saying as soon as the economy is back to normal that every movie made from then on will be great....but maybe, JUST MAYBE, they'll stop making SAW movies.