Thesis Fridays: It’s Almost Here
I’ll be working on more of my thesis paper tomorrow. The goal is to get two more fully cited pages, which will add to my seven and one half pages. It will bring me closer to ten, and I need to add my handwritten notes as well as review a few other items I put aside for my thesis. That will give me the ten I need for this week, because I want to repeat the process for the next week.
I do need to complete what I feel is a fully cited contextualization of the comedy genre. I also need to have solid definitions of satire and romance since these sub-genres overlap in the films I’m discussing, as well as horror. Yes I’m running a gamut here, but if the thesis were easy I may not want to do it at all.
Even more so I need to crack open a few more books and get more sources on the pages. I’m in strict need of making this process a lot more productive than last week. If I can get four fully cited pages tomorrow I feel I’ve achieved more positive than simply passing by. Thesis is tricky. I’m looking at clarifying what I need to make this pop. At the moment my paper feels fragmented without shape, and definitely unpresentable. I suppose that is the nature of a rough draft though.
Revenge Done Quick and Dirty: Faster
Faster, directed by George Tillman Jr. with performances by Dwayne Johnson (The Rock), Billy Bob Thornton and Carla Gugino. This is a revenge film, and when I heard the old school music in the opening of the film, this opened the door in my mind that Faster should be seen as a grindhouse/exploitation type of movie.
The film doesn’t promise much other than you have a set of killers in the film. Many of them are in plain sight. They are all on the unbalanced side. It does point out very quickly that not everything is on the level, and revenge is not pretty in the least.
He drives and he shoots people. "Driver" is an apt name for the protagonist.
Johnson plays a character with no real name (Driver) in the story that is double crossed, and his partner in crime (his brother) is killed execution style. Driver lives, and goes to prison. Johnson’s character is very much a straightforward killer with a Terminator-esque efficiency when it comes to exacting revenge. Case in point when the protag discovers one of the targets is in the hospital in critical condition, he shows up in the hospital and murders him. Such cold-blooded dedication to revenge gives him a coldness the character needs to pull off these murders.
The secondary characters have some interesting aspects to them well. Billy Bob Thornton as a crooked cop is more than interesting. He does drugs, married his snitch, and has that touch of “I fuck up a lot, and I’m barely functional.” It’s not too hard to see where he gets tangled in this revenge plot. I dare say the film tried to humanize the character by showing his domestic woes, with a son, and a wife who has drug issues in spite of turning her life around. Whatever pity I held for Thornton’s character dies with him in this film. The man is pure sleaze, but we know that from the beginning of the film.
Thorton, "The Cop" is sleazy and Gugino (as Cicero) is stuck with him.
More can be said about the killer who hunts Driver. He’s clearly beaten a lot of personal issues to become a wealthy man. He however, needs a thrill out of life, and becomes an assassin. His success has turned to psychosis. If one looks at him, his character, no matter how refined and determined he is, he’s obsessed with killing. In a way he becomes the mirror image of Johnson’s character. He’s willing to hunt and kill, when all he really wants is recognition for his skill from his prey. Surprisingly, his arrogance does not get him killed.
Interesting that the main characters have no names. It may suggest they lost their humanity, and therefore should not be known by real names. By contrast, Gugino (as Cicero) is the only character who displays some humanity, and isn’t in on the crimes. She also has a name.
One of the best scenes in the movie is when our protag runs into a man on his hit list who has turned his life over to God. I did expect that the man would be killed, regardless. What I liked it the conversion over to God was sincere. The original double cross showed that he got in over his head, did wrong and repents. Slyly the character’s presence is heard throughout this film. It’s not until Johnson and this character meet do we see how and why.
There is no happy ending in this film, no character to “change” Johsnon’s character’s life with love and support. It is abrupt and ugly, as revenge can often be.
Avatar
Movie poster
A friend wanted to see it, and I decided, why not. It can’t be as bad as some flicks I’ve seen this year.
What I got was a mix of live action scenes and some really great animation. Everything looks beautiful on Pandora, and alien. I think the voice actors did a superb job. I recognized CCH Pounder’s voice immediately. Cameron knows how to put together his action scenes as well!
Visually the space ships (interior) and constructions on the planet felt very familiar, reminding me of Aliens and Terminator 2. I love the rigidness of the steel and cramped confinement. They contrast the jungles of Pandora perfectly.
That rigid metal symbolizes the inflexibility of the corporation. A corporation ready to plunder the planet for all its natural resources, and having inability to see the native Na’vi as anything but a roadblock to their wealth.
The corporation’s lack of compassion or humanity makes it the perfect antagonist. Even further the arrogance of humans not trying to save the planet or even help the Na’vi. It’s humanity as a cynical, dark, soulless persona.
As the story progresses, one can see the parallels between the Na’vi and the plights of Native Americans in US history. One can also look at the Amazon rainforest and compare the loss of the ecology to this film. It’s not a bad story to tell or even retell. Human greed and folly make for some compelling drama.
The Navi
The film becomes very predictable, as it becomes obvious that Jake was going to fall in love with Neytiri, but that he would join the Na’vi against the corporation. Honestly I felt Avatar sandwiched between Aliens and Terminator 2. A companion piece, if you will. The plot needed to be updated a little, and some of this movie cut down. I felt like I was waiting for situations to happen, and the dialog was a little on the boring side.
I love the scenes in the jungle. We do get into the philosophy of the Na’vi and the spiritual aspects of their world, which easily could mirror our own. Is Cameron critiquing our use of technology and life, while simultaneously using advanced technology to make his film and message? After all, in Avatar, the Na’vi has a strong tie to nature, and in fact, lives in harmony with nature. It could be easy to dismiss, but I think there’s a point to showing us that killing for food is important and excess leads to ruin.
Visually, we get a great feast for this film. Narrative wise we have something that could have used a lot more editing and polishing.
The First CINE of January…
Shall be CINE 715, American Cinema. It also happens to be my LAST lecture class for Cinema Studies. All that is left is my review, comprehensive exam, and finally, my Master of Arts thesis.
Am I nervous? Yes! I am positive if I put my material forward I will be fine.
Grey Gardens: An Acquired Taste
When viewing the biopic Grey Gardens (2009) I found myself both interested and repulsed. Directed by Michael Sucsy, starring Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lang as Little Edie and Big Edie respectively. Grey Gardens gives a fictionalized account of the making of documentary eccentric mother and daughter living as recluses and in filth. They also happen to be cousins of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
I felt a high amount of sadness when I watched this film. Sadness for two people whose lives passed them by as they kept to themselves in a decaying, disgusting manor with no utilities or human contact. At one point both women lived in their own filth, along with feral cats, and huge raccoon. Both Big and Little Edie have lives steeped in isolation, emotional pain, and delusions. Watching their story unfold felt obscene and repellent. At the same time I felt compelled to watch and learn more about them and their lives.
Because we see the manor in chaos initially, the flashbacks create an arresting image of a very different world. We see the Grey Gardens estate as a brilliant, well-kept residence complete with servants, a piano, and dignity. Both Big and Little Edie looked fantastic in the past. The clothing looks expensive and stylish. Everything had a particular order. The world looked fresh and exciting. The one constant in the film is the portrait painting of Edith (the mother), which lasts through the years, even as the home falls apart. We do receive a warning about the expenses and extravagance early in these flashbacks.
When the ladies lives take turns for the worse, we see the estate and the women at their lowest. To see both women deteriorate as the men in their lives abandon them of free will and death, the house around them embodies their own mental states. The estate now consists of broken windows, leaking roof, the destroyed piano, no utilities, or running water. We do have a home filled with feral cats, the deep smell of ammonia, and complaints that the home is not fit to live. If the estate truly reflects the mind, then these once vibrant women lost their wills. Broken and left destitute.
What a dark moment to witness the decay of Grey Gardens, as well as the mind of its occupants. So great is the fall that neither woman seems to be aware that their lives are really horrible. The live off of each other in a biting, bitter way that tells me that all they have are each other. No one seems to know or care about their well-being.
Performance wise, Barrymore and Lang give life and sadness to their roles. There’s a high amount of emotion and reaction that both women must give to their characters and each other. A commitment to us. I’m impressed with the range emotions and eccentricities both must master to take on these characters. It scares me how both characters can deliver happy to heartbreaking, then sad moments.
It took Little Edie a long time to find some outlet for her dreams in life. She had to leave the estate behind to do this.
After watching Grey Gardens I felt a roller-coaster of emotions. Visually the clutter, unsanitary and decayed transformation of the estate and psyches disturbed me, but at its core you the film gave us a look at something we normally don’t want to see, but exists in life.
Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen
After I saw Transformers 2 Revenge of the Fallen, I had a lot of blah feelings for this film. Quite frankly the quality of the content left me underwhelmed. The quality feels suppressed in favor of stylistic looks: Sexy actress (Megan Fox), fighting robots, and the start of a hero’s journey. Transformers 2 looks fantastic on the big screen, yet refuses to offer the reader a glimmer of a worthy plot, realistic characters or even fun. It does offer some racist imagery disguised as the comedy relief duo of the robot duo Skids and Mudflap.
I wanted to love this film. I came to the theater with a positive expectation. After all, writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman worked on the 2009 Star Trek film, and I loved that film. Star Trek had the right mix of cast and story. I left the theater loving the experience and wanting more.
I wanted to believe that the writers grew in leaps and bounds from the first Transformers film, and would infuse Transformers 2 with the power they gave Star Trek.
What I saw was a very incoherent story along with some rather annoying characters. I was willing to deal with Sam’s (Shia LaBeouf) spazzy personality, and he contrasts Mikaela’s (Megan Fox) calm personality, but it pushes from to uneven and unrealistic. It’s not even fun to watch.
My question to myself is how toes Sam keep this gorgeous woman? Would he not do what she asked? When Mikaela asks Sam why he can’t say “I love you,” and Sam refuses to say it, I knew that he took her for granted. That rung so untrue.
I question the use of certain returning characters, such as Major William Lennox (Josh Duhamel), Robert Epps (Tyrese Gibson), and Seymour Simmons (John Turturro). I felt they were added not for continuity, but simply because they could be. I saw no point in where their characters or the acting could be useful to the plot. I saw a contractual obligation, and not a hint of usefulness in their roles.
Skids and Mudflap did not come off as funny, but rather annoying, racist, and very useless to the plot. In comparison Jar Jar Bink’s pales to the ghetto stank of Skids and Mudflap. Somewhere they are supposed to funny, but the laughs are with them, they are at the duo.
I do love the effects. I think they look great. Seeing Optimus Prime in action looked more than impressive. He kicked robot butt, however, that one scene does not make the film work, nor does it make the film worth watching.
