tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73479270094542871482024-02-07T00:57:19.378-08:00Hollywood HolmesChaz Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00821136996983009653noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7347927009454287148.post-62278258921647866232018-03-25T16:22:00.001-07:002018-03-25T18:08:54.345-07:00Alicia Vikander dusts off the Tomb Raider franchise and shows it does not belong in a museum<br />
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Best known for her roles in art house films including <i>The Danish Girl</i>, for which she won an Academy Award for best supporting actress, Alicia Vikander is starring in her first big-budget blockbuster. While she had a small role in the fantasy film <i>The Seventh Son</i> and a supporting role as a computer-savvy agent in <i>Jason Bourne</i>, Vikander takes the lead in <i>Tomb Raider</i>.<br />
Taking a role in a reboot of a popular franchise is daunting for anyone and as Lara Croft, Vikander has as many expectations to meet as her alter ego does maps and clues to follow. In the 22 years since the release of the first <i>Tomb Raider</i> video game, the character has been played by Angelina Jolie at the pinnacle of her bombshell days in two big-screen adaptations and spanned 11 video game editions. The 2013 game titled <i>Tomb Raider</i>, on which the new film is based, served as a reboot itself and presented Croft’s origin story. The game was well received and because of this a lot is at stake.<br />
Fortunately, the new <i>Tomb Raider</i> is a rollicking adventure and wholly satisfying popcorn entertainment. Screenwriters Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Alastair Siddons and director Roar Uthaug know how to plunge their audience into an origin story, introducing Lara Croft in a boxing ring at a London gym taking a pummeling and resisting defeat. When not training hard, Croft works as a bike courier and has probably never been late with a delivery. In an early sequence, she plays a game with fellow cyclists in which she must elude capture while a punctured can of paint attached to her bike drips a bright trail for her pursuers to follow. She zigs, zags and jumps with unmatched speed and precision, making this a thrilling set piece. When Croft embarks on her adventure and finds herself in dangerous life or death situations, these initial setups make it all the more believable that she finds her way out. <br />
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Lara finds herself in this danger when she is goes searching for her father, the wealthy Lord Croft (Dominic West). The senior Croft went missing seven years ago on an expedition to prevent an organization called Trinity from discovering the tomb of Himiko, an ancient Japanese queen. Himiko was said to be able to spread death and destruction and Trinity hopes to uncover her remains in order to weaponize this ability for nefarious gains. If this all sounds far fetched, that’s the point and also part of the fun. Regardless, the mythology surrounding Himiko is less of a main storyline and more of a catalyst to put the action in motion. There’s nothing distracting with this here, as any concern over the vagueness of the story is quickly eclipsed by the excitement of watching the adventure unfold. In one of the film’s most tense sequences, Lara Croft has escaped her captors and after floating down the rapids of a river, has managed to hang on for dear life to a downed airplane just before she was about to be cast over a waterfall. No sooner has she managed to find her footing on the wing when the plane begins to break apart. Even though this was in the trailer, seeing it onscreen in a theater is still incredibly exciting. Uthaug sets these stunts up expertly, showing both the danger Croft is in while simultaneously showing the means of her survival, allowing the audience to anticipate the stunt about to occur but still incredulous as to how it will unfold. This is the type of action structure that has made many of the James Bond films so entertaining. Vikander’s Croft is more like Daniel Craig’s Bond compared to Angelina Jolie’s Roger Moore portrayal. Jolie and Moore in the Croft and Bond roles, respectively, approached danger with a wink and an amused smile, only vaguely aware that any harm might come to them. Vikander, like Craig, portrays the character as strong but vulnerable. When Vikander’s Croft is being pulled closer to the waterfall by the current, she plays it with a genuine intensity, gasping for air and her facial expressions showing a genuine fear that is often absent from blockbuster heroes. It is for this reason and other character details that despite the fantastical stunts, for a movie with supernatural mythology as part of its story the new <i>Tomb Raider</i> is fairly grounded. Walton Goggins plays the villain Mathias Vogel, who while ruthlessly seeking his goal is simply a man doing a job instead of a megalomaniacal mastermind. <br />
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Goggins brings to the character both menace and humanity, and the scenes he and Vikander share are made more interesting by the fact they both are working for personal reasons. His sharing with her that his main reason for searching for Himiko’s tomb is so his employer will let him go home and leave the island he’s been on for years is an interesting bonding of sorts between the two and gives the villain and hero relationship an interesting dynamic. <br />
As a movie, <i>Tomb Raider</i> is inspired by much before it. There are the two earlier films in the franchise, the video games and before that <i>Raiders of the Lost Ark</i>. However, the new film manages to stand alone and establish itself as a promising first entry in a rebooted series. Alicia Vikander proves herself as skillful in an action movie as in an indie film. She’s proven herself a great dramatic actress and as Lara Croft she announces her arrival as a true movie star. <br />
<br />Chaz Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00821136996983009653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7347927009454287148.post-27622031084408795402018-02-25T01:36:00.000-08:002018-02-25T01:40:19.309-08:00Classic romance and idyllic bliss are celebrated throughout Lana Del Rey's transporting art<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lana Del Rey is the epitome of the classic, feminine woman. It is exactly this that has earned her almost all of the vitriol that has been thrown her way. In today’s climate in which the focus is on eschewing traditional gender roles, Lana Del Rey stands as someone who embraces and lauds the relationship between men and women. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Her music videos are often a celebration of men and women and the joys to be had in these interactions. As such, she has been criticized for not being a feminist and by extension making her a villain and the target of numerous negative pieces of “journalism”. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Many female celebrities wear makeup, but Del Rey has drawn ire for using this in the creation of her brand. I hate to quote Entertainment Weekly, but in a 2014 article, writer Ray Rahman described part of the initial backlash to her as stemming from the public’s disapproval of her “narcotized sex-doll” image. Del Rey has worn heavy yet stunning makeup in her music videos, but why does this earn her the negative perception of “sex doll” when others like Lady Gaga and Katy Perry manage to wear large amounts of makeup while going unscathed? The reason is context. While Perry and Lady Gaga in their videos and personas both on and off the stage incorporate messages of rebuking negative male-female relationships and a challenge of standard gender roles and ideals, respectively, Del Rey inhabits and espouses a world of retro Americana in which men are men and women are women. Because she celebrates tradition and clear differences people frequently misinterpret this as a denouncement of same-sex relationships or feminism. This is to make the mistake that a celebration of male-female dynamics and the support of modern, progressive causes are mutually exclusive. Del Rey has never made any comment or given any indication that she doesn’t support the LBGTQ community or women in general. There was an interview in which she was asked whether she was a feminist and failed to get in robotic line with everyone else, which is the source of much of her detractors. One of the most unfortunate trends in celebrity interviewing during the past four years (an era that has seen a number of unfortunate trends) is that of asking the usually female interview subject if she considers herself a feminist. Perhaps as with a courtroom question </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">directed at a witness by the attorney who knows the answer they will receive, the question of whether a woman is a feminist is lobbed at almost every female interview subject now with the expectation that she will say she is a feminist. This of course, gives the media outlet the ability to run a headline along the lines of, “Reese Witherspoon discusses blockbusters, fashion and feminism”. The feminism aspect is not so much something that was brought up by the actress in question, but rather discussed at the behest of the reporter. Should the actress decide to not fall in line and opts instead to speak her own mind, the outlet might have even more powerful clickbait with a headline deriding the actress or singer for not supporting women. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This was the case with Del Rey and also Shailene Woodley. Woodley was asked in a 2014 interview with Time magazine whether she identifies as a feminist and replied, “No because I love men, and I think the idea of ‘raise women to power, take the men away from the power’ is never going to work out because you need balance. With myself, I’m very in touch with my masculine side. And I’m 50% feminine and 50% masculine, same as I think a lot of us are. And I think that is important to note. And also I think that if men went down and women rose to power, that wouldn’t work either. We have to have a fine balance.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The negative response to Woodley’s opinion that balance is preferable to usurpation was swift and sure. Later on, after her fame and career took a hit (not just because of the lackluster Divergent series) Woodley backpedaled and began playing the game every celebrity needs to in order to have a career. It should be noted that in today’s online “journalism” culture, the need for clicks overrides sincerity and in any article, it is not certain whether the writer is genuine or searching for high traffic in order to keep their job. Nevertheless, Allure.com ran a piece criticizing Woodley for her shift from non-feminist to feminist, splitting such ridiculous hairs as Woodley’s use of the term “females”, which supposedly denotes a species’ gender-specific state of providing procreation, instead of the use of the term “women” to describe a specific human gender. Furthermore, the piece took aim at Woodley’s supposed exclusion of transgender women in using the term “female”. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Del Rey took a hit for expressing her opinion that feminism wasn’t an interesting concept. She said to Fader magazine, “For me, the issue of feminism is just not an interesting concept.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Whenever people bring up feminism, I'm like, god. I'm just not really that interested.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I'm more interested in, you know, SpaceX and Tesla, what's going to happen with our intergalactic possibilities.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Del Rey went on to say, “My idea of a true feminist is a woman who feels free enough to do whatever she wants.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s interesting that the concept of freedom is not honored by the feminist movement, as Del Rey is clearly exercising her freedom to think as she pleases. Thought that is only in line with a mandate is not thought at all, but rather obedience. If feminism includes equality as well as freedom, Del Rey is at least being denied the latter. </span><span style="color: #281e1e; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s not only Del Rey’s refusal to fall in line with the mainstream view of feminism that has caused the backlash, but also the lyrics in her songs and her overall persona. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In her breakout song “Video Games”, Del Rey sings of the comfort and bliss she experienced while spending time with a man. The song is about the simplicity of sharing an experience or activity with someone she has feelings for. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Open up a beer and you say get over here and play your video games,” she sings early in the song. Both drinking beer and playing video games are activities one might associate with whiling time away. They are passing, unproductive activities. They are activities associated often with what is remembered fondly as a period of life associated with unhurried contentedness in the early stages of adulthood. During this stage, usually in our early 20s, we are old enough to feel grown up yet young enough not to know what adulthood means. It is a time during which a man and a woman haven’t yet encountered the anxiety that comes with aging. The fear of unfulfilled potential and dwindling opportunities is far beyond the horizon and at this time the most serene comfort is found in simply enjoying time together; time of which there is plenty available. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Del Rey confirms this by singing, “Heaven is a place on earth with you.” She is romanticizing this joy and the song is a celebration of this type of infatuation that leads to being happy just watching the object of one’s affection play video games. It is her embrace of admiration of a male that earns her much of her criticism.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Romantic relationships between men and women are a theme in many of her songs and accompanying music videos. Often these relationships involve older men, contributing to the criticism Del Rey receives for being submissive. Her video for “Ride” opens and closes with her narration, which as the credits for this roughly 10-minute short film note, was written by her. She speaks, “I was in the winter of my life and the men I met along the road were my only summer.” The video features shots of Del Rey cavorting with a series of men at gas stations, dive bars ad roadside motels.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In between these scenes of aimless wanderings are sequences in a desert landscape emblematic of a classic American ideal. The open road and this Route 66 - style journey in conjunction with the celebration of the comfort in the arms of companions. “They have no idea what it’s like to seek safety in other people,” Del Rey says in the video, referring to people who question her lifestyle. Del Rey’s affinity for both classicism (her short film “Tropico” features images of Elvis Presley and John Wayne, icons of 1950s Americana) and head-over-heels romance yields her much dislike and suspicion in an era in which traditional relationships are often considered a threat to </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">progress. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This shouldn’t be the case, since Del Rey is very progressive in her interest of science as evidenced by her interview with The Fader. Because there’s now such a strong push for women to join scientific fields, this should be valued, but people have instead focused on Del Rey as a threat. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All that aside, Lana Del Rey is an important force in an era that is far too divisive. While factions split into even smaller groups based on how they feel about relationships and gender, trying to “out-progress” each other, Del Rey lives in and espouses a world in which relationships aren’t political statements, but rather organic and beautiful pairings based on genuine affection.</span></div>
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Chaz Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00821136996983009653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7347927009454287148.post-32924218624317679682017-09-15T21:12:00.000-07:002017-09-15T21:12:19.886-07:00Okja will make you hungry for change<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJNtYHMrwh4reSJgrrGQzZ8_tt806hkLXcZaLchttMIOGSiTcqQ8IqEZhuusXkuOO7HZvUrn-rg5BnpN-3g1ExY0weRidc1b-CzISYD3Cl3GCFK8URHLtIBxZVEA-LTC6JO_V5voO9MxVU/s1600/Okja-2B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="600" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJNtYHMrwh4reSJgrrGQzZ8_tt806hkLXcZaLchttMIOGSiTcqQ8IqEZhuusXkuOO7HZvUrn-rg5BnpN-3g1ExY0weRidc1b-CzISYD3Cl3GCFK8URHLtIBxZVEA-LTC6JO_V5voO9MxVU/s320/Okja-2B.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Okja is a film so affecting and moving that it will stir up emotions and thoughts you didn’t</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">know were within you.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When the movie opens, the CEO of the Mirando corporation (Tilda Swinton) is giving a presentation about her food company’s solution to growing need for food. The have created a genetically-engineered “super-pig”. Several of these piglets have been sent to live on farms in different parts of the world, where they will live for the next decade. The top specimen will be revealed before the world. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We then are taken to the mountains of S. Korea where we meet Okja, a super pig who’s been living here for 10 years with 14-year-old Mija and her grandfather. Mija is an orphan and Okja is her best friend in this isolated corner of the world. What follows is a magical sequence of the two frolicking in their beautiful countryside. They hike together, explore, cuddle and embrace as any dog and companion would and Okja Assists Mija in her fishing expedition, jumping off a cliff at one point into a pond below, causing the fish to burst onto land so Mija can collect them for that night’s fish stew. Upon returning home from their day’s activities Mija discovers visitors from the Mirando corporation including a zany TV personality veterinarian played by Jake Gyllenhaal who seems to have raided Hunter S. Thompson’s wardrobe.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This character is here to inspect Okja and he is impressed by what he sees. Mija soon discovers that Okja is to be taken to the United States and put on display as the prime example of a successful super-pig. She will eventually be slaughtered and sold as food.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The disruption of the peaceful life shared by Okja and Mija and their introduction into a larger, crueler world is the first of many heartbreaking elements of this also very endearing story. Mija is 14 and because she’s lived in a remote area with only her grandfather and her beloved super-pig, she has little knowledge of the complexities and harshness of the outside, industrialized world. Okja is of course an animal, although a highly intelligent one, and also isn’t familiar with the effects of capitalism. The two are about to learn about these realities at the same time and this loss of innocence is perhaps the emotional core of the film. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mija embarks on a journey from her farm to rescue her friend. This takes her to Seoul where she finds Okja just in time to see the truck she’s being loaded onto. She is joined by members of the Animal Liberation Front, a group also trying to rescue Okja. The sequence through the Mirando labs and in which they follow in a car behind Okja are thrilling, funny and high-stakes. At one moment, John Denver’s “Annie’s Song” plays and the action moves to slow motion, bringing a memorable lyricism to this rescue. The group eventually manages to stop the truck carrying Okja in a tunnel with dozens of other cars containing drivers able to view this creature for the first time. Okja emerges from the vehicle into the crowded tunnel and spots Mija. The two see each other again for the first time, both of them in an unfamiliar probably scary place. Okja lets out a bellow and runs toward Mija, lifts her up onto her back so she can ride and the two run off together. By incorporating this bond between the two, Bong-Joon ho has created a chase sequence as exciting as that in many Bond films, but with as much emotional resonance as in a Hollywood tearjerker. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Okja eventually ends up back in the hands of the Mirando corporation and Mija follows her to a slaughterhouse in New Jersey where the film shows the horrors of factory farming. We see a large, open range filled with hundreds of super pigs as they are being shocked with a cattle prod and forced up a ramp on their way to their deaths. Inside the building are hanging carcases, the sound and sight of industrial saws tearing through dead flesh, and machinery that enables an assembly-line production method. Okja narrowly escapes the fate of many of her species and seeing this beautiful animal who has brought so much joy and companionship to young Mija be corralled toward such a grisly end is one of the most heart wrenching experiences a film has ever provided. When Mija intervenes and rescues Okja it is done with such a simple touch of basic humanity that the movie follows up something horrible with something equally beautiful. Inside this sprawling, largely mechanized facility of mass production, where legislation attempts for better practices and the outcries of animal-rights activists have failed to cease these abuses, this young girl manages to disrupt the system and place a face, an identity and to borrow from A.O. Scott’s wonderful New York Times review, a soul on Okja. Over the course of this film we’ve come to love Okja, but we now see her as not just one animal, but all animals. This is done in the film without any words, but the moment has more power than a thousand articles about corporate agriculture. This is another miracle of Joon-ho’s masterpiece and why it is more effective at touching us than Fast Food Nation. That film, Richard Linklater’s adaptation of Eric Schlosser’s muckraking examination of the effects of demand for quick, cheap food, like the book itself, was more of a lecture than a moving experience. It managed to present troubling information but wasn’t able to break the disconnect between what we know and how we feel. Human beings have a remarkable ability to compartmentalize. This is a necessary survival tool and if we didn’t have this we’d be so overwhelmed with feeling over the atrocities and injustices of the world that we wouldn’t be able to function. For that reason it’s very tough to create a work of art that will erase the line between knowledge and feeling and it’s even harder for this to cause a lasting effect. This probably makes the movie seem a lot less enjoyable than it actually is. It’s definitely at times tough to take, but at times it is also heartwarming, funny and whimsical. Joon-ho has created a rousing adventure that is also an important cultural examination. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Watching Okja might have a profound effect on you, causing you to look at your food differently and rethink the way we conduct ourselves as a society. It might turn you into one of those people who cries at videos of unlikely animal friends, it may cause you to regress to a childlike state where you wish we could live in a kinder, gentler world, or it may make you hug your dog more often. As Scott pointed out in his review, this movie makes no overt ethical statement on the consumption of animals, as indicated by the early scene of Mija and Okja working together to make fish stew. In addition to the cinematic marvels of the film, perhaps the major achievement of Okja is that it leads us to question whether our dependency on quick-service, mass produced foods is worth the methods behind much of the production. This is definitely food for thought worthy of consumption.</span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-1daaf681-88dc-82ca-b5f5-7b4f27eb432e"><br /></span>Chaz Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00821136996983009653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7347927009454287148.post-17320184639458454392016-12-06T16:06:00.000-08:002016-12-06T16:06:02.478-08:00Masculinity is narrowly depicted in pop culture, with rare exceptions <div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A CIA agent intensely interrogates a detainee. She stands, pacing as she fires questions at the prisoner seated at the table. Sitting across from the detainee is a burly man with closely cropped hair. The man says nothing as the agent inquires and stays on her feet behind him, almost looming. Periodically, when the detainee attempts to avoid answering or evades the topic, the female agent firmly pats the burly man on the shoulder. This is his signal to lean forward and punch the detainee. The female agent speaks with purpose and authority and has a wealth of knowledge about the operation under way. The burly man says nothing, waiting for his cue to exercise brute force. The only decision-making he exercises is what level of force with which to hit the man across from him. This scene is from </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Zero Dark Thirty</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a fine film, but one that includes this excellent example of how men are oversimplified, reduced and limited to a small range of skills and characteristics in modern film.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To be clear, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Zero Dark Thirty </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is not to blame. Director Katherine Bigelow is under no obligation to fight against unflattering depictions of anything, including waterboarding. Yet it helps to point this out as in introduction to the way society and Hollywood view and portray men. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the most successful franchises of the past two decades is the</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i> Fast and Furious</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> series. The men in this series are unpolished gearheads who also happen to be criminals, hijacking trucks for a living when they’re not illegally racing in the streets. In the first entry in the series, Paul Walker is the undercover police officer who infiltrates the group led by Vin Diesel and of course attracts his sister (Jordana Brewster). The theme of criminality and a rugged job as a means of attracting a woman is one that surfaces time and again in film after film. In the 2012 film </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Contraband</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Mark Wahlburg portrays a former smuggler who has gone straight. He now works in security and because he was a criminal, he is rewarded with a life of domestic bliss with Kate Beckinsale (!). </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In season 5 of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Girls</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the character of Charlie is revisited when his ex-girlfriend Marnie runs into him while walking on the sidewalk. Charlie was an overly kind man in the early seasons and Marnie was turned off by his “smothering love.” He now speaks with a street-influenced voice associated with small-time thugs and while he once owned a tech company after developing an app, he now works on a construction crew. By the end of the episode featuring his time spent with Marnie who, apparently attracted to his new street persona has slept with him, it’s clear he now uses heroin. In her comments about this episode, creator Lena Dunham said this character change was inspired by a man she knew in her personal life who put on a harder persona in order to make himself more appealing to women. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The transformation this fictional character went through and the real-life one it was inspired by are indicative of an unfortunate preponderance of this limited view of masculinity. The concept of life imitating art or art imitating life goes back ages. There is an unquestionable prevalence in reality however, of men being limited in how they present themselves and what careers and ambitions they may have while still being attractive to the opposite sex. When it comes to quantifying this, the careers men have and which number are employed here, are available through the Bureau of Labor Statistics. When it comes to finding a precise number of how many men are in these types of “masculine” fields and are also in relationships with women, this is available through a less scientific method called anecdotal evidence. Considering a vast majority of stories of gender stereotypes is the result of anecdotal evidence, it’s fair to proceed with an examination of male/female careers and male gender expectations with the same. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is not uncommon at all to see women with men who are in a field that society might consider “below” them in terms of intelligence and education. The halls of couples are filled with duos of women who have intellectually taxing careers requiring extensive education while the men they’re with are in fields requiring them to hold a gun or a tool. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are a few examples in pop culture of this stereotypical version of masculinity being flipped on its head. In season three of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">House of Cards</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Claire Underwood is speaking to an Israeli military official about a policy affecting the Jordan Valley President Frank Underwood is spearheading. The Israeli official criticizes the president’s lack of personal experience regarding the region. She says to Claire, “I served in the Jordan Valley.” </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Claire interrupts her before she can continue and says, “You held a gun and stood where someone told you to.” She then explains that the weight of the decisions her husband makes on a daily basis would overwhelm most people. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Most Violent Year </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">includes a scene in which both the strength of an ambitious style of masculinity and the strength of femininity work together to show how a couple can be stronger when matched well. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Oscar Isaac plays Abel Morales, a man who owns a heating oil business and during the course of the film is attempting to secure a loan in order to purchase a piece of waterfront property that will make his business even more profitable. Jessica Chastain plays his wife and business partner and throughout the film they work together, sometimes harmoniously, and sometimes with great conflict. To see a man and woman work together and feed off each other’s ambition and intelligence is electric, especially when presented by two such gifted actors. In this scene that is a rare display of a multifaceted masculinity, Abel has come from a day of fending off competitors who are literally stealing from him and is under the weight of the deadline by which he must receive the funds, which have fallen through and are not yet materializing. Seeing the stress on her husband, who is in a seated position, Anna (Chastain) kneels in front of him so she can meet his eyes. She firmly grasps him with both hands in a display and gesture of comfort and encouragement and tells him she told their children earlier that their father has been out there today working hard for them. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most Violent Year</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> depicts a woman being drawn to a man’s mental strength, as her husband is ambitious and succeeds due to his intelligence and sophistication instead of brute force. This scene is doubly effective because it shows the power of femininity as Chastain’s character knows when and how to provide strength to her man by offering this display of affection and encouragement. There’s another great scene in which Abel is explaining to the bank representatives why it’s important to purchase the property. As he articulately describes what the property will do for his business, Anna smiles with pleasure while she listens to her obviously business-savvy husband. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The show </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>House of Cards</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, for all its depravity, offers a positive view of masculinity. Claire Underwood is another woman drawn to her husband because of his ambition and intelligence. Frank Underwood is a criminal, but one who doesn’t use physical force as his primary weapon. (He is guilty of two murders, but his wife doesn’t know about these). Frank’s weapon is foresight, calculation and a keen understanding of what drives people. This understanding allows him to use his other skills so well and succeed as a result. There are scenes throughout the series in which an expression of pride washes over Claire’s face as she watches her husband take the upper hand over an opponent though his use of intellect and eloquence. Frank can assert himself over someone and talk circles around them while doing so, leaving them intellectually outmatched and defeated.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is a single moment in the series in which there is even a flash of a baser attraction in Claire and it occurs when she is at a very low point in her relationship with Frank. On the campaign trail, they are in their hotel room at night and Claire asks that Frank take her in a very forceful sexual fashion. Frank is turned off by this and angrily says to Claire, “If you wanted someone to prove his manhood that way you should have stayed in Texas and married the prom king!” </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is one of the best moments as it shows Frank being both disgusted and offended by the fact that not only is he being asked to present this demeanor, thereby lowering himself, but that he might actually be with a woman who is attracted to it. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yet these are unfortunately only two of what is an all-too-rare representation of masculinity being represented by intellectual or thoughtful achievement. Pop culture and society as a whole still have a long way to go when it comes to encouraging men to not be afraid to be intelligent and ambitious.</span></div>
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Chaz Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00821136996983009653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7347927009454287148.post-26063096233326764242016-01-23T17:11:00.001-08:002016-01-24T15:40:51.613-08:00Jennifer Lawrence's new film is an absolute "Joy"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7h6ILqn0SV-sJ50W__uKSQG3ypQOlcQmPVQLWD4YhZLU6HXMpm6OlPCvG7i-mvjkAL8egjp2kDEzDUATkru9SyvmKp01V7cfdBGDaaAlxbsSAkjnME51A_KK3WFBaIq1Mxoxs-jf5QCqs/s1600/landscape-1436967071-screen-shot-2015-07-15-at-92838-am.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7h6ILqn0SV-sJ50W__uKSQG3ypQOlcQmPVQLWD4YhZLU6HXMpm6OlPCvG7i-mvjkAL8egjp2kDEzDUATkru9SyvmKp01V7cfdBGDaaAlxbsSAkjnME51A_KK3WFBaIq1Mxoxs-jf5QCqs/s320/landscape-1436967071-screen-shot-2015-07-15-at-92838-am.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If Jennifer Lawrence weren’t already a movie star, “Joy” is the film that would make her one. Since Lawrence is already one of the most recognizable actresses in the world, has anchored a juggernaut franchise and been nominated for four Academy Awards with one Oscar already on the mantel, “Joy” reminds us she is more than just a movie star and critics’ darling. She is still in the early years of what will undoubtedly be a long career with many great performances along the way. She received her fourth Oscar nomination for this and it is arguably her best performance and most challenging role.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Writer-director David O. Russell takes the story of Joy Mangano’s invention of the Miracle Mop and her battle to successfully market it and tells it with the tension of a suspense film and the corporate ruthlessness and bootstrapping of “There Will be Blood”. From the early scenes, it’s clear Joy has always been an inventor, but hasn’t had the breaks in life to turn her ideas into a career. As she’s heading out to go to her job at the airline desk, she finds a prototype of one of her early inventions and reminds her mom she could have had this patented if her mother had been more helpful. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When Joy gets an idea for a mop which can be wrung out without the user having to touch the cloth, she gets to work on drawing up a design and lobbying for investment capital. The major investor also happens to be her father’s affluent girlfriend Trudy (a steely Isabella Rossellini) and the extent to which family plays a role in Joy’s failures and successes makes for some of the movie’s most effective scenes. The American Dream is a much-romanticized concept, but the realities are often only referenced, if thought of at all. This is true not only in the way society views the concept, but also in many movies’ treatment of it. Russell’s script avoids a cursory look at the development stages of the product and the ensuing struggles that come with building a business and instead brings the audience right to the negotiating table with the characters. When Joy finally gets her investment money, it’s after a series of meetings with Trudy and her family in which she’s has to go to painstaking lengths to convince them of the merit of this idea. The audience also sees the research and development going into the endeavor, including a worldwide patent search to ensure the rights to the product design aren’t already held, the manufacturing of pieces needed to assemble the mop, and the difficulty in finding a retailer or marketer willing to promote and sell the invention. Like few movies before it, “Joy” chronicles a business in a way so precise and detailed, it could be a documentary.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Success is easiest with the right support, yet neither Joy’s financial support nor her emotional support was optimal. Anyone watching who’s ever had a dream could either identify or empathize with Joy based on the scenes with her family in regards to her ambition. Viewers who had supportive family members may be more appreciative of this and anyone whose family was not supportive, or even disparaging, will feel for Joy as she works even harder against this current. Robert De Niro plays her father as someone who loves her, but doesn’t champion her. it takes some time to convince him to approach Trudy with the suggestion she invest and when the deck is stacked against Joy, he’s more likely to tell her to accept her supposed limitations than to persevere.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As the thrills and disappointments of this venture occur, Lawrence portrays Joy’s experience with sincerity and conviction. She’s doing the finest acting of her career and yet she doesn’t appear to be acting.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is the story of someone from an ordinary background doing something extraordinary. The scenes with her family emphasize this and make it a much more human drama than it might have been. She could be anyone and this makes her immediately relateable. When she hurts, the audience hurts. Yet when she succeeds, the audience feels like they’re right there with her and the rush is exhilarating.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is a tremendously uplifting and inspirational movie and one so well crafted it is simply a pleasure to watch.</span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-930cd6e6-712b-8f52-7262-33137943a250"><br /></span>Chaz Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00821136996983009653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7347927009454287148.post-44424794910812414902016-01-03T17:26:00.000-08:002016-01-03T17:26:24.960-08:00In defense of the Star Wars prequels: The critic strikes back
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKpmdScTLeUKjo7MJd1YjmFnKUdMEda6et-yqRF_MOM1o1OAk92jAvMnzPRk0v0X7fTLcVh7-qA8_bgf-mSXLcShYLfUbnExJX0h6NP07Qmhsja2jkm5X5jlGgqKMhYKeKlu-algFi_GjI/s1600/star-wars-the-phantom-menace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKpmdScTLeUKjo7MJd1YjmFnKUdMEda6et-yqRF_MOM1o1OAk92jAvMnzPRk0v0X7fTLcVh7-qA8_bgf-mSXLcShYLfUbnExJX0h6NP07Qmhsja2jkm5X5jlGgqKMhYKeKlu-algFi_GjI/s320/star-wars-the-phantom-menace.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Force Awakens has finally opened worldwide and has been
received with universal acclaim. As a standalone film, it’s a success; it has
likeable characters, humor, special effects, creatures, lightsabers and the
classic battle between the light and dark sides of the Force. It has everything
audiences go to a Star Wars movie for. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Movies should be critiqued on their standalone merits. This
website recently published a column dismissing negative reviews of Spectre as
the result of viewers comparing it to Skyfall and then, because it is not as
good, deciding Spectre isn’t a good movie. What is troubling about reviews of
The Force Awakens, is the way this film is gaining praise on the backs of Star
Wars Episodes I-III, the much- (unjustly) derided prequel trilogy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Cristopher Orr of The Atlantic wrote, “With The Force
Awakens. Abrams has begun one of the most important reclamation projects of our
time: the complete erasure from cultural memory of The Phantom Menace and its
sequels.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The “complete erasure from cultural memory” of the prequels
would be a very sad cinematic event indeed. At this point in time, it’s
difficult to track the origin of the derision and to ascertain how many viewers
sincerely dislike the prequels and how many say so because they are trend
whores of the California bear T-Shirt, planking and Harlem-shake mentality. The
Phantom Menace, released on May 19, 1999, grossed $431,088,295 domestically (a
2012 3D rerelease grossed $43,456,382 domestically) according to Box Office
Mojo, an industry tracking site. Yes, box office doesn’t mean a film is good,
yet when looking at major reviews of The Phantom Menace, the loathing is even
more complexing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The New York Times’ Janet Maslin wrote, “But stripped of
hype and breathless expectations, Mr. Lucas's first installment offers a happy
surprise: it's up to snuff. It sustains the gee-whiz spirit of the series and
offers a swashbuckling extragalactic getaway, creating illusions that are even
more plausible than the kitchen-raiding raptors of ''Jurassic Park.'' While the
human stars here are reduced to playing action figures, they are upstaged by
amazing backdrops and hordes of crazily lifelike space beings as the Lewis
Carroll in Mr. Lucas is given free rein. The ''Star Wars'' franchise was
funnier and scrappier when it was new. But it simply wasn't capable of this.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The last sentence above is a crucial one. Maslin expertly
recognizes what many viewers didn’t about the prequels, which is they are intended
to have a different look than the originals. Lucas spoke many times about how
he had intended to do the first three episodes once technology caught up to his
vision. Maslin’s mention of “Jurassic Park” is apropos because Lucas stated the
success of the CGI in “Jurassic Park” convinced him it was finally time create
the Star Wars universe as he wanted it. Fans of the original trilogy complained
of Episodes I-III being overwhelmed by CGI and the characters and story fading
into the background. It is a fair criticism for someone to say they don’t like
a movie with so much CGI, but this is separate from the film being poorly made.
However, to criticize the film for lacing character development (which it
actually doesn’t) is to ignore what the Star Wars franchise is. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Roger Ebert, who will forever be the most insightful and
brilliant voice of film criticism, wrote, “At the risk of offending devotees of
the Force, I will say that the stories of the "Star Wars" movies have
always been space operas, and that the importance of the movies comes from
their energy, their sense of fun, their colorful inventions and their
state-of-the-art special effects. I do not attend with the hope of gaining
insights into human behavior.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s not as if the original Star Wars films were
Tolstoy-esque character studies with the occasional lightsaber battle and
creature effects. They were vehicles for fun and imagination and anyone who
criticizes the prequels for lack of rich characters either misses the point or
is trying to sound highbrow. Incidentally, there is much character development
in the later prequels and this will be addressed later.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Ebert enjoyed the movie and said on his TV show, “My thumb
is up, with a lot of admiration.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Ebert did say the plot details of the trade dispute brought
the Star Wars universe to a more scaled down level. This is a criticism which
can be accepted (although the elements of the trade dispute were admittedly <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Los Angeles Times’ Kenneth Turan, in a review mostly
comparing how he felt watching this to how he felt watching the original when
he was 22 years younger, wrote, “Part of the reason for this lack of wit is
that 'Phantom Menace' is intentionally skewed quite young. One of its key
protagonists, as anyone who cares knows by now, is 9-year-old Anakin Skywalker,
the future Darth Vader, and many of the film's characters and situations are
set up to please tender minds. "We're doing it for the wide-eyed
13-year-old," one of the film's key technicians told Premier magazine, not
necessarily a pleasant thought for the rest of us.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Again, it’s a fair criticism for someone to prefer a story
about adults to one focused on youth, but this is not something fairly used to
demonstrate the film’s supposed lack of quality. This would be like criticizing
the quality of Kramer Vs. Kramer because a child is a central figure in the
story. The difference is Kramer Vs. Kramer wasn’t part of a franchise which
earlier focused only on adults. Strangely, it would only be two years from The
Phantom Menace when a cartoon called Shrek would so enthrall supposed adults
that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences would create a new
category specifically to give Shrek an Oscar (and ensuring years of lackluster
nominations like “Surf’s Up”).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Episodes I-III were heavily criticized for wooden acting.
Natalie Portman, who portrayed Queen Amidala said in an interview she had
difficulty getting work following the films because people in the industry
assumed she couldn’t act well. It’s true actors that are good in other films
(Natalie Portman, Samuel L. Jackson, Hayden Christensen and Christopher Lee) sometimes
give poor line readings in the films. However, this like the focus on effects
over characters, is something that existed in the original trilogy. The most
famous example of this is Luke Skywalker’s exclamation that he was on his way
to pick up some power converters when he was asked to do a chore by his uncle
Owen in A New Hope. Fans that cite this as a reason for the prequels’ supposed
lack of quality are ignoring the fact it existed in the first three
movies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Episode II was the first to star Christensen and until The
Force Awakens, was the weakest entry in the series. Yes, Attack of the Clones
is superior to The Force Awakens. If Episode I was the foundation of Anakin
Skywalker’s rise and fall story, Episode II was the segment that first revealed
the early stages of a declining republic and a rising empire. In a featurette
on the Episode II DVD, Lucas describes Anakin as a “transitional character” in
this episode. In the film, Anakin is now a Jedi of 19 and fighting against the
work of Darth Sidious, while also showing flashes of anger vengeance and mort
than a flash of love, which will lead him to the dark side. When his mother is
killed by the sand people, Anakin wrathfully murders every member of their camp
including women and children. Anger is also present in Anakin’s resentment of
Obi-Wan, who he believes is “overly critical” and responsible for holding him
back.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Another strong element of the prequels (and one most fans do
recognize as a strength) is John Williams’ transporting scores for each film.
While he created “Duel of the Fates” to accompany the climactic lightsaber
battle between Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon and Darth Maul in Episode I and “Battle of the
Heroes” for the Obi –Wan Vs. Anakin battle in Episode III, it is his stirring
love theme entitled “Across the Stars” in Episode II which is arguably his
greatest of many great contributions to the prequel trilogy. By definition, the
prequels are showing audiences how characters arrived at a destination already
known. Episode II tells a romance everyone knows is doomed from the outset.
Williams tapped into this by creating a theme in “Across the Stars” which is
beautiful, but also touched with notes of melancholy. This piece is woven into
the film in several moments, but is perhaps most effective just before the
climax. Anakin and Padme have been captured and are about to face an elaborate
execution attempt in an arena. Padme, who has always adamantly opposed a
romance between the two because of their respective positions, confirms her
love for him and the music swells as the two kiss as they are transported by
their captors into an arena to face an execution.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Revenge of the Sith, while a casualty of the prequel
backlash, is at least regarded as the strongest of the three. This is justly so,
as it succeeds at being both an exciting, sci-fi epic and a significant
character story. Ten years after its release, the most memorable pull-quote
which could be seen on newspaper advertisements for the film was an excerpt
from Ty Burr of The Boston Globe who wrote that “Sith was a “terrifically
compelling high-stakes human drama.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Burr
also called it “the most emotionally powerful <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of all six.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Revenge of the Sith dives right into the action with the
series’ most exciting opening sequence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In a single, long tracking shot (although aided by CGI) Anakin and Obi-Wan
pilot their ships along a massive destroyer in space as a familiar score by
Williams plays and builds to a crescendo as the two Jedi take sharp turns in
their fighters and the audience’s viewpoint follow them and the full expansiveness
of the battle is visible, with explosions going off and enemy spacecraft at
every turn. The camera then narrows its focus on the battle, closing in on
Anakin in the cockpit of his small starship. Anakin and Obi-Wan land in the
hangar aboard General Grievous’ ship in order to rescue the kidnapped
Chancellor Palpatine. It’s a thrilling start and when the heroes are back on
the ground, the story continues to build quickly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Padme is expecting a child with Anakin, although their
relationship is still a secret and Anakin finds his allegiance tested when he
is asked by Chancellor Palpatine to be his representative on the Jedi Council
and in turn is asked by the council to report on the chancellor’s dealings. Anakin
once again is driven to act because he fears for the safety of a loved one. He
dreams Padme dies in childbirth and Palpatine uses this as an opportunity to
bring Anakin to the dark side. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In one of
the trilogy’s best dialogue-driven scenes, Palpatine tells Anakin of the
tragedy of Darth Plagueis. He says Plagueis had such knowledge of the dark side
he could stop the ones he cared about from dying. Anakin listens intently and
asks if it’s possible to learn this power and is told, “Not from a Jedi.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There is treachery everywhere in Revenge of The Sith and it
all builds to a rousing and heartbreaking conclusion. This already emotionally powerful
and action-heavy adventure is made even more thrilling to watch by the fluidity
of its editing and the significance behind some of the scene transitions. The Star
Wars saga has always used wipes as an editing technique, which as always adds
to the sweeping quality of the viewing experience and Sith has a particularly
expert use for added emotional impact. In the film’s final minutes, Lucas shows
the procession at Padme’s funeral. Her body is being carried with her hair at
her sides and her hands clasped together on her chest. Entwined in her fingers
is the pendant Anakin made for her years earlier, which she still wears. The
camera focuses on the pendant as a circle forms on the screen, transitioning to
show a star destroyer as the scream of two TIE fighters becomes audible and the
familiar imperial ships fly through space. It is one of the series’ most
powerful moments of visual storytelling.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The hatred for the prequels is extremely misguided and
perhaps the result of fans’ inability to recognize and articulate that they don’t
feel the same I their present day as they did years earlier about a first-time
viewing experience. It’s completely fair to express an opinion that the look of
the original trilogy is better than the prequels. Yet the prequels are true to
the original trilogy in many ways. Therefore, to regard the prequels as an
awful exercise in moviemaking and the destruction of a legacy means there is a
great disturbance in the Force.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
Chaz Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00821136996983009653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7347927009454287148.post-58497140621338718952015-11-20T00:03:00.002-08:002015-11-20T00:04:09.162-08:00Room is an indescribably powerful story of love and an unbreakable bond<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrcP2kG-jEg-8dXS2hSD27PqBu6a-tECNB22X_NKitOcBQVRXopaThBPLjr7kjuUf49kgfPcrM_MFyJReiA1RMaikn5PyJ7HK6itfiXxZEzcRV0uW9O3MasCLwtxFm8jj4SBvQIkf9xkT3/s1600/Room%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrcP2kG-jEg-8dXS2hSD27PqBu6a-tECNB22X_NKitOcBQVRXopaThBPLjr7kjuUf49kgfPcrM_MFyJReiA1RMaikn5PyJ7HK6itfiXxZEzcRV0uW9O3MasCLwtxFm8jj4SBvQIkf9xkT3/s320/Room%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Ma (Brie
Larson) and her son Jack spend 24 hours of every day inside a small space. Most
people would call it a room, but they refer to it as Room. It has been Jack’s
entire world and the name Room with a capital letter R emphasizes this. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">As the movie
opens, we see them doing what is most likely a daily routine. They have breakfast
together at the table, brush their teeth and do exercises in the form of short
sprints and push-ups. This day is special, however, because as Jack excitedly
tells Ma, “I’m five.” To celebrate, Ma let’s Jack know they will make a birthday
cake today. After cracking eggs, adding butter and all the necessary ingredients,
they remove the cake from the oven and sit down to eat. Jack is immediately
disappointed when he learns there are no birthday candles inside Room. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">He angrily
tells Ma she should ask Nick for candles for their Sunday treat. She says in a
tone bot exasperated and with tempered frustration that she has to ask for
things they need. Parents often say their children are their whole world and
for Ma, whose real name we learn is Joy, this is entirely true. She was
abducted seven years ago and has been inside Room ever since, and for the past
five years has raised Jack, her son with her abductor whom she calls Nick and
who brings her Sunday treats along with food and other items. When Ma gives
Jack that exasperated tone, it is just one of many moments her strength is
astonishing. She remembers what it’s like to have a life and she knows what the
outside world holds. Jack, being born in captivity, has the luxury of believing
Room is everything. He believes all the items they receive from Nick are procured
through magic and travel through the TV. When a mouse scurries through a tiny
hole in the wall and is shooed away through the same spot by Ma, Jack has no
concept of the fact it has merely gone back outside. Ma has created a world
entirely for them inside this small, drab space and the fact the is able to
provide a happy childhood for her son while withholding from him the
incalculable despondency she must feel at times is almost as heartwarming as it
is heartbreaking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Nick is
given little screen time and this serves the story well. We see he spends time
with Ma almost every night, but the screenplay, adapted by Emma Donoghue from
her own novel, is not interested in exploitation. This isn’t a story of horror
and mistreatment. This is a story of strength, resilience, a mother’s love of
her son and the unbreakable bond they form.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Through some
ingenuity and luck, they finally make their escape and Ma re-enters the world
and Jack enters for the first time. At first, Joy is elated and there are many
exciting moments for the two, such as when Jack asks if they can get something
for their Sunday treat and is told by his mom, “There will be so many treats
and not just on Sundays!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Assimilating
back into a regular life is difficult and puts a strain on both herself and her
parents, as Joy worries about how Jack is progressing. There are wrenching
moments as the effect of Joy’s absence becomes clearer and stress is released
through fits of anger. Yet there is a tremendous amount of joy and relief. Joy
smiles as she looks out the window and for the first time watches Jack play
ball with a boy his age who is his friend and the excitement and happiness on
Jack’s face when he gets to meet the family dog (he had an imaginary dog named
Lucky in Room) is so endearing one can only cry. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The
performances of Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay as Ma and Jack are both
masterful and more believable than anything else this year or in recent memory.
Room is an emotional gut-punch of a movie and one of the most remarkable works
of the past five years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Roger Ebert
said, “Art is the closest we can come to understanding how a stranger really
feels.” Room is a masterpiece.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Chaz Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00821136996983009653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7347927009454287148.post-2076006022515456472015-11-16T17:28:00.000-08:002015-11-19T17:23:07.253-08:00Bond battles both Blofeld and comparison critics in the thrilling Spectre<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWXXQbOO-Y8jJ9VflaQEGkwxUYz1sMOUQjN26tyiSE2N1zuza-KhHv4Jfv25Z73dmvXzJoft4XGCjIO8wJovJZC2iOIbLcqztWiK8h6e2H7d22UKRSn5FaZSPpKWSh3jE6wMLtSEnxeB1M/s1600/spectre_86197.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWXXQbOO-Y8jJ9VflaQEGkwxUYz1sMOUQjN26tyiSE2N1zuza-KhHv4Jfv25Z73dmvXzJoft4XGCjIO8wJovJZC2iOIbLcqztWiK8h6e2H7d22UKRSn5FaZSPpKWSh3jE6wMLtSEnxeB1M/s320/spectre_86197.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Spectre is
the 24<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> James Bond film and reviews are as mixed as a Vodka
martini. Almost none of the reviews find fault with the film on any technical
level, the actors are all praised (length of screen time for them
notwithstanding) and everyone agrees the action sequences are satisfying. Why
then is this film being treated as if it’s Octopussy?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">It doesn’t
take an MI6 security clearance to discover the truth, which is that Spectre is
suffering from a syndrome plaguing several franchises and many of the negative
reviews aren’t written by Bond fans. Many of these critics that aren’t Bond
fans also gave glowing reviews to Skyfall and Casino Royale, so it should stand
to reason that their inherent disinclination to enjoy any Bond film doesn’t
matter as long as it’s a solid piece of filmmaking. This is flawed reasoning
and this is when the franchise-plaguing inconsistencies in criticism enters the
(ahem) picture. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Daniel
Craig’s four Bond adventures have been treated with a swinging pendulum of good
and bad reviews. He was given his double-0 status in Casino Royale, a rare
movie that almost everyone at least enjoys. It doesn’t matter if someone’s seen
every Bond movie or if it’s their first; whether their first theatrical Bond
viewing was of a Sean Connery film or a Pierce Brosnan film or if Casino Royale
is the first time they’ve seen the sartorially gifted spy sip a martini. Casino
Royale is a movie everyone is dazzled by. It’s a great movie, not just a great
James Bond movie. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Following
what was undoubtedly the series’ highest peak since 1964’s Goldfinger,
anticipation was high for the next installment. “Fans”, critics and audiences
didn’t give an inch. 2008’s Quantum of Solace is one of the most derided films
in the series’ 53-year history. By all accounts, Quantum is a solid Bond entry.
Yet rather than review it as a standalone film, most people went straight to
calling it terrible because it wasn’t as good as Casino Royale. Not a single
review states that is the reason, but this is because it’s a sub-conscious
thought process. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">This is a
process seen when The Lost World: Jurassic Park received negative reviews
because it didn’t live up to Jurassic Park. How could anything? It also
occurred notably when 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises was considered a massive
disappointment. Had Rises followed Batman Begins, people would have lauded it
as a rousing entertainment and a social commentary, but because it was the
follow-up to The Dark Knight, one of the most critically acclaimed superhero
films of all time and the reason the Oscars now nominate between five and 10
films for Best Picture, it was loathed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Skyfall,
like Casino Royale, received rave reviews and is also considered one of the
best in the series. Skyfall is undoubtedly a great film on its own, but the
fact if followed Quantum greatly helped its reception. It is also worth noting
that Casino Royale came four years after Die Another Day, which many consider
to be the series’ nadir. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Spectre has
created derision and critics seem to have their own license to kill when it
comes to their reviews of it, but these criticisms are clearly from reviewers
not fond of or not familiar with the canon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">One of the
most common critiques of Spectre is the way it connects itself to the events of
the three previous films. As Devon Faraci pointed out this is accomplished by
having Christoph Waltz’s villain say he was responsible for the events. “It was
me, James. The author of all your pain.” We learn that Casino Royale’s
LeChiffre, Quantum of Solace’s Dominic Greene and Skyfall’s Silva were all
underlings in Ernst Stavro Blofeld’s global network of Spectre. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The intricacies of how these previous criminal
foes were connected could be fleshed out as the premise of an entire film, but
the fact that they are revealed through a few sentences and some investigative
work by Q Branch accomplishes the task just fine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Casino
Royale demonstrated that LeChiffre was a low-level player in a major
organization. This is why M repeatedly counseled Bond on the merits of viewing
“The Big Picture” instead of simply killing the enemy right in front of him.
This is a lesson she continued to try to teach him in Quantum by saying, “If
you could avoid killing every possible lead, it would be much appreciated.” It
is for this reason that Bond’s objective in Casino Royale was to bankrupt
LeChiffre at the poker table, so that due to the loss of his money he would be
sought out be his overlords and have to seek asylum. The British government
would then offer this asylum in exchange for intel on his organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Quantum
opens with Bond bringing Mr. White, one of LeChiffre’s superiors (and the man
who killed LeChiffre to prevent him from divulging secrets) to an interrogation
room. He is the next link in the organization and the key to uncovering the
power structure. White escapes and Bond eventually comes face to face with
Dominic Greene, the movie’s main villain. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Skyfall did
not contain any direct links to the Casino Royale and instead focused on a
storyline involving a former British agent named Silva who was bent on revenge
for what he viewed as a betrayal by M. Yet there is nothing in this film to
prove Silva couldn’t have also been part of an organization. As we learned from
M, he has a history of working on the side for other teams and it’s possible
his revenge plan was merely an extracurricular activity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">In Spectre,
Mr. White returns to the storyline and after learning intel from him Bond
finally meets with the most iconic Bond villain of them all; Ernst Stavro
Blofeld. He is, as Carrie Mathison would put it, “the head of the snake” and he
gleefully boasts to Bond that he was in charge the whole time. This should not
be construed as inconsistent. Casino Royale rebooted the series and the
character. While watching the 21<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">st</span></sup> James Bond film and seeing Daniel
Craig’s Bond go on his first assignment as a double-O agent, nobody complained,
“But he was a double-O agent in the last 20 films! This isn’t right at all!” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Bond films
can be linked through characters and events, but as far back as the late 1960’s
continuity has had a different definition than in other series. You Only Live
Twice featured Sean Connery as 007 and Donald Pleasence as the first actor to
play Blofeld without his face obscured.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Blofeld escaped and in the next film, 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret
Service,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bond was now played by George
Lazenby and Blofeld by Telly Savalas. In the film, Bond impersonates a member
of the heraldry in order to infiltrate Blofeld’s top-secret clinic. Blofeld is
attempting to establish his claim as the rightful heir to a count position in
an esteemed lineage and Bond is ostensibly working with him to research this.
The ruse works until Bond gives some incorrect information, causing Blofeld to
be suspicious of his identity. Blofeld discovers the truth and while
brandishing Bond’s glasses which were part of his disguise, says “It will take
more than a few props to turn 007 into a herald.” Blofeld’s suspicions, he says, were
also aroused Bond began seducing several of the female patients at the clinic.
The use of two different actors here was coincidental and keeps the fact that
while having spent time face to face with Bond, Blofeld doesn’t recognize him
out of the audience’s mind. The glasses comment is meant as an insult from
Blofeld and not meant to suggest the frames were the reason Bond stayed hidden.
After all, it wasn’t as if Blofeld was only suspicious once they were removed. The
reason this supposed inconsistency isn’t an issue is because it’s not a true
inconsistency. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The reason
for this is that in the world of Bond, not the cinematic one the audience
views, but in Bond’s actual life, the events of You Only Live Twice didn’t
happen. Bond movies, while sometimes connected with story threads like
characters such as Mr. White, are independent entries and unrelated to the
others. Part of the reason for this is that when the movies started there was
already a wealth of Ian Fleming novels to use as source material and these were
adapted out of sequence. The movie versions of You Only Live Twice and On Her
Majesty’s Secret Service came in reverse chronological order compared to their
literary counterparts. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">It’s fair if
not every critic is a fan of the James Bond canon. In the 1960’s the Bond films
created a new take on the secret agent genre and influenced countless films and
TV shoes (not to mention men’s fashion and drink choices), but nobody in the
world of film criticism said it was art in the form of the contemporary French
New Wave. This is not a criticism of the series, but a compliment. The Bond
films exist in their own realm of the movie world. Bond is a genre all its own.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">It is a
longstanding, popcorn, escapist entertainment that has been a staple of
moviegoing for more than half a century. At this point, the series has been recycling
and reusing locations and action sequences, but again, this isn’t an insult.
It’s a compliment. It’s a compliment to the series’ importance to our lives and
to the fact that it is so beloved. It’s why when before getting to see Spectre,
just the sight of a production still featuring Bond in a suit, holding a gun
with a gorgeous female in a designer dress by his side running from an
exploding lair, audiences know they’re going to get exactly what they want. It’s
why when the early production photos of Spectre were released, the sight of
Craig on an Austrian ski slope quickened the pulse of fans who weren’t around
or were too young when Lazenby, Moore and Brosnan each had snowbound
adventures. Now it’s their Bond’s turn to be chased down a mountain! Connery is
the only Bond to never hit the slopes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Bond is to
many a sign of the Holiday season. Almost every Bond film was released in
November or December and therefore, they are as comforting as a hot chocolate
or an eggnog latte. In the dead of winter, audiences can count on an exciting
adventure in amazing locales. They can admire pressed, perfectly tailored suits
and vicariously experience the luxury of five-star hotels and exquisite meals
in Michelin-star caliber restaurants. Bond films are event movies and almost
everyone has a story and memory of seeing one with special family, friends or
loved ones. Spectre is a great Bond film, but is also important because it
satisfies the need for audiences to form lasting memories and have an amazing
escape. If this sounds a little too mushy, remember it was Daniel Craig who said,
“People feel very strongly about James Bond … and that’s absolutely cool.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></div>
Chaz Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00821136996983009653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7347927009454287148.post-11060289825015136972015-10-31T01:14:00.002-07:002015-10-31T01:17:51.791-07:00She's a role model, a Millenial and a work in progress<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3iR8CAVVTEzRTATOYAzvsLBmAZ-sU1lm_jbb65BRgBu54PNRXBmTeEeTeJUMx09hdMvuXTOfHpZDp31wAtVrvE4jt5YPENoOHK7xRDS186PwNHNxpi8brJhgxH_sM2ZMRhM3WrpOxqWxe/s1600/Lola-Kirke-Greta-Gerwig-in-Mistress-America.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3iR8CAVVTEzRTATOYAzvsLBmAZ-sU1lm_jbb65BRgBu54PNRXBmTeEeTeJUMx09hdMvuXTOfHpZDp31wAtVrvE4jt5YPENoOHK7xRDS186PwNHNxpi8brJhgxH_sM2ZMRhM3WrpOxqWxe/s320/Lola-Kirke-Greta-Gerwig-in-Mistress-America.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span>Noah Baumbach has carved a unique
niche for himself as a maker of fictional movies that double as socio-anthropological
studies. If his films were shot on a documentary quality film stock or
low-quality digital format and stripped of the scenes more common in feature
films, they could easily be shown to other cultures as documentations of people
of a certain age, place and time.<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In the case of his latest, the
delightful <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mistress America</i>, the
place and time is modern NYC and the subjects of his study are 20-somethings
and one very entertaining 30-something. Tracy (Lola Kirke) attends college and
when her mother, who is soon to be married, suggests she reach out to her
future stepsister, she calls Brooke (Greta Gerwig) and the night the two spend on
the town makes an impression on Tracy. Tracy is in awe of Brooke’s lifestyle.
She is enlivened ay her enthusiasm and the passion flowing from her. She begins
to reflect this. Tracy also starts writing a short story featuring a thinly
veiled version of Brooke in hopes of having it published in a campus literary
magazine, thereby gaining acceptance to a revered society of writers.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
Tracy is not exploiting or taking
advantage of Brooke and her relationship the two have. The story is out of
genuine fascination. Brooke’s goal of opening a restaurant is especially
exciting to Tracy and is of significant detail in the story. As enamored as
Tracy is, it’s not long before she realizes Brooke’s image as a successful,
cosmopolitan woman is more of a projection of who she wants to be than who she
is. As the two spend more time together, Baumbach presents some of the
anthropological elements through observing his subjects. These observations
come in the form of hilarious lines and character traits. After Tracy says something
Brooke finds insightful, Brooke says she’s going to shorten it, punch it up and
turn it into a tweet. In another exchange, Brooke asks Tracy to make coffee in
the apartment and after Tracy says she doesn’t know how, Brooke harshly tells
her not to be so incompetent, and that if she spent a matter of seconds with
the coffeemaker, she would know how.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That comment is amusing and telling because it highlights a dichotomy in
Brooke. Brooke is ambitious, but she’s not quite diligent enough to follow
through on her ideas. <o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span>The comment also is one of Baumbach’s
observations of millennials who are often viewed by older generations as being
pampered and spoiled. There may be some truth to this but Brooke seems to show
that some may be aware of this and dislike it in themselves, projecting it onto
others. Millennials aren’t the only group examined by Baumbach’s script. In one
of the film’s longest sequences in a single setting, Brooke, Tracy and some
acquaintances visit a potential investor in Brooke’s restaurant to lobby for
startup capital. The home is a spacious, modern residence in an upscale area.
Tracy comments on how beautiful it is and says “When you live in the suburbs
you have to really like being in your house.”<o:p></o:p>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
Like Lena Dunham, who writes about
similar disaffected millennials on “Girls”, Baumbach’s treatment of his
protagonists is endearing and critical. Brooke may be ambitious, but she still
has a lot of improvements to make before her goals can become reality. <u><o:p></o:p></u></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />Chaz Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00821136996983009653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7347927009454287148.post-64785665753042764832015-06-03T21:20:00.000-07:002015-06-04T01:00:43.668-07:00Age is just a number<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZJRmWs6v9NLPDImEz_jO6B25sBTbiLzBsz_voBRlEiNEnqNMG_NW6dgRKLdSb1H3qxFgIg1qc7z3brdo9bhpwe9HsFttGF4P9AaGDnNSJ76-WeSc-I8LWSJG2l8_nPBWcXKL9Hpwtyx60/s1600/Blake_Lively.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZJRmWs6v9NLPDImEz_jO6B25sBTbiLzBsz_voBRlEiNEnqNMG_NW6dgRKLdSb1H3qxFgIg1qc7z3brdo9bhpwe9HsFttGF4P9AaGDnNSJ76-WeSc-I8LWSJG2l8_nPBWcXKL9Hpwtyx60/s320/Blake_Lively.jpg" /></a>
<br />
Nostalgia can be a pleasant activity because it allows us to revisit some of our favorite experiences and memories. When it veers into maudlin territory, it can become a burden. The Age of Adaline is about a woman who never has the luxury of engaging in pleasant nostalgia before revisiting the present and travelling forward in life’s journey.
Adaline Bowman hasn’t aged since she was 29 years old due to a freak accident and subsequent jolt of electricity stopping time, but only for her, in its tracks. Adaline is played by Blake Lively, who for the first time is given a movie to carry herself and she does so with a great deal of emotion. When we first she Adaline appears friendly and smiles frequently, but there is a sense of underlying sadness. She conceals the heartbreak of never having a shared life and future with someone and therefore leaving behind her loved ones along the way. Adaline relocates every decade with a new identity in order to avoid the suspicions of anyone who might find her lack of aging odd. Because of this, she even spends far less time with her naturally aging daughter played by Ellen Burstyn.
If this seems like heavy material, it’s because it is. The Age of Adaline is unique and brave in the way it views immortality as a curse rather than a blessing. Yet, the screenplay by J. Mills Goodloe and Salvador Paskowitz explores these challenges of timeless aging in a thoughtful way that avoids melodrama. This film is a pleasure from start to finish. A lesser story would have left certain elements unexplored, but Adaline examines the details of how someone would need to keep their secret, provide for themselves and how this life affects them with great intelligence. In an early scene Adaline collects her false driver’s license and passport from a young man and asks why he does this. She explains forgery is a felony, he is a smart man and she doesn’t like to see talent wasted. This is a brief exchange, but one of the most insightful in the script as it shows Adaline’s constant awareness of time and her sadness that she has not been able to live hers as fully as she’d like and doesn’t want the same fate for others.
Adaline hasn’t wasted her life and she’s used her time to become fluent in several languages and absorb a rich variety of culture, art and literature. It’s through her work as an archivist that she meets Ellis (Michiel Huisman), a handsome philanthropist. She is reluctant to start a relationship but goes on a couple dates. The San Francisco setting, the cinematography and directing by David Lanzenberg and directing by Lee Toland Krieger and the chemistry between the two leads make this romance and movie a visual delight as well as an emotional one.
Adaline eventually goes with Ellis to meet with his parents and when Ellis’ dad William, played by Harrison Ford, sees Adaline (who now goes by the alias Jenny), he practically stops in his tracks. He tells her she looks exactly like an old friend of his. When William was 26, he met Adaline while they were both studying in London. The two spent five memorable weeks together and now more than forty years later are standing face to face. Both actors do impressive work here. Lively has to convey the look of someone who is masking the surprise of seeing him again while keeping up the ruse that she is Adaline’s daughter, which is the most logical response to her appearance. For Lively to show no surprise or emotion would have been unconvincing and too much would have been suspicious, but she finds exactly the right amount and her eyes speak volumes. Ford also must walk an emotional tightrope here and there’s a moment when Adaline says her mother has passed away. Ford does a subtle move in which his body is very slightly lowered under the weight of the news, his face briefly gives in to anguish then conceals it to avoid hurting the feelings of his wife. It’s some of his finest work and these two being reunited after so long is the emotional core of the film.
The Age of Adaline has other strengths including the muted way Adaline shows her sophistication and wisdom beyond her 29-year-old appearance, but the greatest strength is this film is simply a joy.
Chaz Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00821136996983009653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7347927009454287148.post-46046419296797585522014-11-18T23:17:00.000-08:002014-11-18T23:17:11.444-08:00Making a name at all costs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7EhHcCEzU8hBd-qVvNPIM9CwlrxBVDWeMF-wgMzWiJAFtUQIjq_6HPpZqwtd6SnI0vKXxa9pbk2HLKPA69zQufAF-9O9l9rT8TWcADtozwkjQB8DJySfdlfTYGMHSzhV1DfuMf20kJGr8/s1600/Whiplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7EhHcCEzU8hBd-qVvNPIM9CwlrxBVDWeMF-wgMzWiJAFtUQIjq_6HPpZqwtd6SnI0vKXxa9pbk2HLKPA69zQufAF-9O9l9rT8TWcADtozwkjQB8DJySfdlfTYGMHSzhV1DfuMf20kJGr8/s320/Whiplash.jpg" /></a></div>
“Whiplash” is unlike any movie I’ve seen before. On the surface it’s about a young drummer’s quest to become “one of the greats”, but it tells this story in a way which feels almost entirely original and incorporates the best elements of the drama, suspense and horror genres.
Miles Teller plays Andrew, a student at the prestigious Schaefer Music Conservatory who is invited by Mr. Fletcher, a band leader he admires, to join his band. Within the first few minutes of class, Mr. Fletcher stops practice to announce there is an out-of-tune player. He gets within a few inches of the player’s face and before he’s even finished asking the player if he’s out of tune the student is on the verge of tears. Fletcher berates him and permanently dismisses him from the band. Andrew is soon the recipient of Fletcher’s anger as his face is slapped while he counts beats and is asked if the slapping is ahead of or behind the tempo. When not playing, the entire class sits quiet and rigid with their eyes toward the floor. They are fearful of what might come. Mental and physical abuse is a daily occurrence and Fletcher gets away with it because his pupils are all here to pursue a dream and will do nothing to jeopardize that. Pursue is too light a word; they are here to fulfill a dream.
While unique in many ways, “Whiplash” has similarities to Darren Aronofsky’s great films “The Wrestler” and “Black Swan”. Just as those films depict people who live for their professions and include rich detail of the dedication (Mickey Rourke’s Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson tanning and dyeing his hair in addition to working out and Natalie Portman’s Nina Sayers balancing on her toes until she breaks a nail off and dieting constantly) needed to succeed, “Whiplash” shows Andrew’s complete immersion in jazz. Deep in an obsession with maintaining a part in the band, Andrew clears his walls except for a poster of a jazz idol and holes up practicing until his fingers bleed. He then bandages his fingers and continues, his face contorting into a pained, determined and tortured countenance. Putting blood, sweat and tears into his work is not figurative for Andrew.
Everything about “Whiplash” is expertly crafted and the structure provides character detail rather than simply lay out the order of scenes. About 15 minutes into the film when Andrew goes on a casual date to have pizza with a girl named Nicole he knows from the theater he frequents with his dad, it’s the first significant amount of time he’s seen outside the conservatory. He and Nicole talk about their lives and he learns she doesn’t know what she wants to major in and attends her college because she applied and got in. When she asks him why he attends Schaefer he replies without any hesitation, “It’s the best music school in the country.” Later, the two are in a diner and he coldly but honestly tells her they shouldn’t date because he can’t be distracted. Nicole leaves in tears and the waitress comes to the table with a pitcher of ice water. The movie goes from this to another pitcher of ice water. This time the camera stays on the pitcher as Andrew, practicing on the drums, plunges his bloody fist into it the water, turning it red. Another scene in which Andrew discusses success with his family is enthralling, disturbing and tragic as the dialogue crackles.
Teller already has proven himself to be a fine actor with “The Spectacular Now”, but in “Whiplash” he gives what is one of the great performances in recent years. J.K. Simmons, who is always a strong actor usually seen in more lighthearted roles such as the dad in “Juno”, gives an impressively complex and intimidating portrayal of Fletcher. Much of the greatness of “Whiplash” is owed to the brilliant screenplay by Damien Chazelle, who also directed. It would have been very easy for Fletcher to appear as a one-note character. Instead, the viewer is never sure if Fletcher enjoys being abusive because he likes the power or because he genuinely wants his students to be great and this is way of getting them there. He tells Andrew, “There are no two words in the English language more harmful than ‘good job’.”
Chaz Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00821136996983009653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7347927009454287148.post-81765240033617433622014-11-05T23:27:00.000-08:002014-11-05T23:35:36.423-08:00He shoots visions of Hell in the City of Angels<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcYwzIKl_tTWj645udMR-TPfx19SafaIsCUM1k0qLAXWynWyUyLjk6WeGSY9rftiMbD3pXfznOv9U-kICBm9bZHoGs2m-SsV-shrMNHer5u9JNTt0_KPOnIQgwlXhVMwRuz_rqxVOxPXTz/s1600/Nightcrawler2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcYwzIKl_tTWj645udMR-TPfx19SafaIsCUM1k0qLAXWynWyUyLjk6WeGSY9rftiMbD3pXfznOv9U-kICBm9bZHoGs2m-SsV-shrMNHer5u9JNTt0_KPOnIQgwlXhVMwRuz_rqxVOxPXTz/s320/Nightcrawler2.jpg" /></a></div>For anyone fearing there is no creativity in the movie business, “Nightcrawler” will restore their faith that there is still plenty of talent out there.
Written and directed by Dan Gilroy, the movie is that rare one that leaves the viewer wanting to see it again. This desire comes not only to be enveloped in the almost surreal, dreamlike atmosphere created by the filmmakers, but also to absorb some of its sharp dialogue which might have been missed during the first viewing. “Nightcrawler” is completely engrossing from start to finish and its screenplay, which ranks with those of “Stoker” and “The Place Beyond the Pines”, is the main reason. Gilroy has created a rich and thoroughly entertaining character.
Jake Gyllenhaal portrays this character, Lou Bloom, with a wide-eyed zeal. Bloom puts himself on the fast track to become the most successful videographer of grisly accidents, fires and crime scenes in L.A. Renee Russo plays Nina Romina, a tough-as-nails news producer who is eager to bolster ratings and up her status. A lesser screenplay would have rolled out a tired and therefore boring indictment of the both the TV news business’ lack of decency and the public’s insatiable appetite for destruction. Gilroy is a much more thoughtful writer than that and for this reason “Nightcrawler” manages to build a fresh story in a familiar milieu.
The film has received a comparison to “Taxi Driver” from “The New York Times” for its depiction of a lonely, unhinged protagonist, but the movie could also and perhaps more accurately be compared to “Scarface” and “There Will Be Blood”, since it depicts a character whose ambition holds no boundaries, moral or otherwise. Bloom’s first desire to become a nightcrawler (the term a rival videographer played by Bill Paxton uses for what they do) after he stops at a traffic accident and sees freelance cameramen recording the wreckage. Earlier that night Bloom unsuccessfully lobbied for a position, then an internship at a scrap metal yard. The owner declined, telling him (who was there to unload obviously stolen metal) that he wouldn’t have a thief working for him. The exchange between the owner and Bloom is within the first five minutes of the movie and it sets the stage for what will be a showcase of great writing. Bloom goes through a confident price negotiation process before pitching aggressively to the owner himself as a vital part of the organization. Later it becomes clear Bloom sees himself as an entrepreneur as he works to build his business, any business, from the ground up. Whether it’s learning the scrap metal business or selling graphic images to TV news stations is irrelevant as long as there’s room to grow.
As soon as he sells his first video to Romina he begins hustling his way further into the station and higher up the ranks. He gives Romina a possibly earnest, possibly insincere speech about how an online business course he took taught him to look for a job combining his passion and talent and how he didn’t know before, but now he is certain TV news is where he needs to be. While the movie could most easily be labeled as an indictment of the TV news industry’s bloodlust and fear mongering, but when one looks a little deeper it’s clear “Nightcrawler” is a look at the dark side of ambition.It is by looking at the movie through this lens that Lou Bloom has more in common with Tony Montana or Daniel Plainview than he does with Travis Bickle.
While Bloom is clearly a sociopath, he has much in common with many people today who desperately want to build something and make their mark. Bloom often speaks in business-workshop terms and phrases, seeming to be an amateur Tony Robbins or Robert T. Kiyosaki of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” fame. Based on the popularity of Robbins and Kiyosaki, many people are buying what Bloom is selling. One of the best scenes displaying Bloom’s slick businessman-like showmanship is when he meets an impressionable disciple for what this person thinks is a job interview. This young man (Riz Ahmed, amazing in this supporting role) clearly has had his confidence eroded from a hard road from an employment perspective and tells Bloom he was even homeless for a little while. Bloom needs someone to provide navigation and shoot a second angle while he’s trolling L.A. for footage and after a brief interview he offers the man the position. He asks Bloom how much it pays. “It’s an internship,” Bloom replies. When his employee balks at this, he tells him he’s offering him experience and it’s not at all uncommon for him to offer full-time jobs to his interns. His applicant, Rick, manages to talk him into a stipend of $30 cash per night and after they’ve been working together a couple months, Bloom has given his business a name and mentally structures it as a real company. It is within this imaginary structure that he tells Rick, who has been all-but-begging for his performance review that he has noticed his increased enthusiasm and therefore is promoting him to executive vice president.
“What I am now?” Rick asks.
“You’re an assistant,” Bloom says.
Rick asks if it comes with a raise and upon being told to pick a number replies meekly he’d like $75 a night. Later, he asks for more.
“We can reopen negotiations but when it comes to your career reputation, you can’t unring that bell,” Bloom tells him.
Part of the fun of the Bloom character is not knowing to what extent he actually believes his pseudo-corporate talk and to what extent he knows he’s stringing his employee along and inflating his business’ and his status.
As stated before, “Nightcrawler” is a movie worth seeing again and with plenty of dark humor, a twisted main character and insightful, revealing dialogue, it’s one which will be talked about and watched again for years to come, ideally on the midnight movie circuit.
Chaz Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00821136996983009653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7347927009454287148.post-48673994557439372552013-12-23T15:29:00.005-08:002015-11-28T01:51:28.170-08:00A celebration of life and romance; and all they have to offer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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“Blue is the Warmest Color” tells its story with intelligence, maturity and passion, making it an incredibly powerful journey. The scope of the movie is too vast to describe sufficiently in a single sentence, but when pressed, the simplest term for it would be a love story.
Yet is it not just a story about the love between two people. It’s a story about the love of work, art, food, political causes, and other sources of inspiration which make life more fulfilling. The film spans several years and when the audience is first introduced to Adele (Adele Exarchopoulos) she is a bookish high-school student with a circle of friends she doesn’t seem to connect well with. She is asked out by a boy and they engage in discussions about literature, one of her favorite subjects. He is working his way through a book she’s studied and likes, “La Vie de Marianne”, and promises to finish the 600-page tome and while he does so out of sincerity and interest in Adele, it’s clear he doesn’t have her same love of reading.
She is soon captivated by the sight of a woman with closely cropped blue hair and after meeting her at a bar, the two start spending time together. The other woman is Emma (Lea Seydoux) and she’s hoping to make a career as an artist. She and Adele easily talk to each other about art and they soon fall in love. Throughout the course of their relationship each one visits the other’s parents for dinner and the conversations at the table are some of the best and most memorable in the film. Adele doesn’t like shellfish, so when she has dinner at Emma’s house the sight of oysters and shrimp is not appealing but she listens to the instructions on how to properly flavor and eat oysters and gives them a try. Part of the thrill of a relationship is having one’s life enriched by sharing new experiences with one’s partner and finding a connection through already shared interests. Movie lovers are compatible with other movie lovers, book lovers with other book lovers and in the case of Adele and Emma, there's a shared passion for art, literature and the accompanying culture. Yet even the most loving and passionate relationships can be damaged if a difference creates a large enough schism.
During the two dinner sequences is when the source of this rift first appears. Emma’s parents ask Adele about her plans for the future and she tells them she wants to be a teacher because she loves working with children. She describes this path as being more stable than going to college and then struggling to find a job. The lack of opportunity facing the young in France is referenced in a scene showing Adele protesting the country’s austerity measures. Emma’s parents pick up on Adele’s fear of the job market. When Emma visits Adele’s family she is almost condescended to by Adele’s father who upon learning of her dream of becoming an artist lectures her on the importance of earning a living rather than pursuing a passion. The movie eventually leaps years ahead and Adele and Emma are living together. Emma is a successful artist, renowned in certain circles and on her way toward an even brighter future. Adele seems content being a teacher and the less interesting person of the couple at dinner parties but Emma persists during some pillow talk in trying to get Adele to start writing more and fulfill her life by making a career as an author. They have this conversation while Adele embraces Emma at night and it’s a turning point in the film because it shows Emma is starting to be dissatisfied with Adele’s complacency and her lack of passion outside the confines of their romance. Just as their love was born out of a shared lust for life, it is now suffering from the doldrums of domestic bliss. Many relationships have ended because the two were not at the same place professionally and when someone who is attracted to drive begins to see it fade from another, the wonder and appreciation they once felt for the person might fade.
Something striking about “Blue is the Warmest Color” is the representation of hunger for life’s pleasures. This is first shown early on when Adele is eating bolognese with her family at home. She eats ravenously, taking large bites of the pasta and leaving bolognese sauce at the corners of her mouth. At first, it seemed the sloppiness of her eating was to be more realistic, but it’s perhaps representative of her appetite for life’s joys. One of these joys is sex and “Blue is the Warmest Color” is the source of much discussion because of its lengthy and uninhibited sex scenes. The love scenes between the two women reveal enough to earn the film its NC-17 rating but to classify them as tawdry, prurient or gratuitous would be a mistake and to dismiss the film because of them would be unfortunate. Something unique about these scenes is the lack of agenda. Often in movies, sex is the product of an attraction following an act of danger in which the partners are turned on by this; it also forms out of taboo, such as when the two are turned on by infidelity. These associations have painted a negative portrait of sex and perpetuate the idea that sex is usually connected to sin. In “Blue is the Warmest Color” the audience only sees two people who care for each other and enjoy expressing this on a physical level. By this standard, the movie features some of the most romantic bedroom scenes in cinematic history.
“Blue is the Warmest Color” is likely to be significant to different audiences in different ways throughout various stages of life. Because of this, it will be enjoyed for many years to come and will remain just as relevant.
Chaz Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00821136996983009653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7347927009454287148.post-5958473883124321082013-03-03T12:45:00.001-08:002014-01-07T21:05:41.081-08:00Inspired by classics, 'Stoker' becomes one itself<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9a7o8eAPCa_-0BPZJA6c0mAQBFDngGay15LYtpf8432gFdRmyGSKFsCXBe_N34UVH15YPjryIyZaJeZDo1-MUZeQT5SFUjnnRM6HTp97mvgkTp0n2CkEJMXqRvjuTaEtiWh4dxCfkjxX8/s1600/Stoker.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9a7o8eAPCa_-0BPZJA6c0mAQBFDngGay15LYtpf8432gFdRmyGSKFsCXBe_N34UVH15YPjryIyZaJeZDo1-MUZeQT5SFUjnnRM6HTp97mvgkTp0n2CkEJMXqRvjuTaEtiWh4dxCfkjxX8/s320/Stoker.jpg" /><script>
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To say one watches “Stoker” is to use a far too passive verb. One doesn’t merely watch this masterful thriller, but instead is mesmerized by it and at times can even feel as if they’re being pulled toward the screen.
The movie has been receiving comparisons to Alfred Hitchcock classics and while there are definitely strong similarities, director Park Chan-wook (“Oldboy”), writer Wentworth Miller and contributing writer Erin Cressida Wilson put enough of their own stamp on it to allow “Stoker” to stand alone. Mia Wasikowska has played several blonde and demure characters in movies like “Alice in Wonderland”, “The Kids are All Right” and “Lawless”, but here she reinvents herself as the dark (both in hair color and mood) India Stoker, a young woman whose father has just died. Her father was a mentor to her and she has a strained relationship with her mother Evelyn (Nicole Kidman), so when her long-absent uncle Charlie arrives, the two start to form a bond. Movie buffs might recognize this plot point as an homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s “Shadow of a Doubt”, the 1943 film with Joseph Cotten as a visiting uncle whose arrival marks the start of unpleasant events. While the two uncles are both named Charlie and “Stoker” clearly draws inspiration from “Shadow of a Doubt”, it embarks on its own strange and engrossing path.
As Charlie acquaints himself with India and her Evelyn, a battle for affection takes place between the three. Evelyn tries to get closer to India, who was always more connected to her father, while Charlie begins to spend time with Evelyn before connecting with India. While this transpires, the true characters of Charlie and India are revealed with startling results. To reveal anything more would cheapen the experience for viewers and while the story is good, the technical aspects are where the movie really excels.
“Stoker” is consistently ornamented with sharp uses of editing, sound and color. Transitions from one scene to the next are often so stylish the viewer might need a few seconds to appreciate the effect before fully turning their attention to the next scene. Robert Altman was credited with popularizing overlapping dialogue in which characters speak over each other and dialogue at times carries from one scene to the next. The scene transitions in “Stoker” occur in a similar way and in one of the best sequences the audience is taken from a school where a student walking from one side of the screen to the other serves as a wipe, bringing the audience onto a bus. The camera focuses on Wasikowska as the bus and everyone else on it dissolves, leaving Wasikowska walking on the same stretch of road the bus was just travelling on. As she walks, her surroundings disappear and are replaced with another road and new scenery as she makes her way toward her home, now at the top of the screen. In perhaps the most striking of these transitions, India brushes her mother’s hair and there’s a close-up image of the brush flowing downward through the red strands as they begin to change color, shape and coarseness, becoming tall blades of grass. Suddenly, the audience is looking at a field with a breeze travelling through it. Sometimes there is so much to appreciate simultaneously the eyes and ears are competing against each other. Near the end of the movie, the dialogue is revealing important details, but while the characters are speaking, the room they are in and the clothes they are wearing are so richly colored and the atmosphere so vivid that one has to focus with extra intent. Sound is practically its own character and the sounds of an eggshell cracking, a pencil being sharpened and the stretching of a leather belt are augmented the way one might gaze at a distant landscape through a telescope. Contrasting with these sounds, the quiet surrounding a desolate road in the daylight is unsettling and enhances the scene. None of these editing techniques, transitions, colors and sounds are simply for the sake of being strange or different. They all play an important role in creating the “Stoker” universe. It’s a universe in which these sights and sounds are not superfluous and are closely related to India. It’s a universe in which seemingly innocuous items pose a threat and the sight of a pair of high-heeled shoes increases the tension in an environment already saturated with anxiety. It would be easy to go on about how remarkable this movie is, how it’s refreshing to see there are still people working who love to further the possibilities of filmmaking and how this will invigorate the jaded filmgoer who’s tired of the endless stream of superheroes, vampires and teens with magical powers. As is always the case with great movies, no amount of writing can ever do the film justice. “Stoker” is a film which simply needs to be experienced.
Chaz Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00821136996983009653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7347927009454287148.post-41588137064652909112012-10-01T22:01:00.001-07:002014-01-07T20:45:54.307-08:00Singing praises about "Pitch Perfect"It has been an incredibly long time since I enjoyed a movie as much as I did “Pitch Perfect.”
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaip6LfWtTOrJHUWUTu8AWwiLD67YJWoGrZZV_9jLiOyHvukHAwevaUV6BDAuQJeP7WryOx3Yx-T29pfV3A2nmsBQldnmuS0053VqoNkLKjkA1Q1AXs6hD0ZEduYidIpI9DsWW5bumKCfA/s1600/Anna+Kendrick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaip6LfWtTOrJHUWUTu8AWwiLD67YJWoGrZZV_9jLiOyHvukHAwevaUV6BDAuQJeP7WryOx3Yx-T29pfV3A2nmsBQldnmuS0053VqoNkLKjkA1Q1AXs6hD0ZEduYidIpI9DsWW5bumKCfA/s320/Anna+Kendrick.jpg" /></a></div>The movie belongs to the genre of group competition which typically involves rival females and includes such works as “Bring it On” and “The House Bunny”. Those entries examined the world of competitive cheerleading and sorority houses and are two of the most enjoyable. “Pitch Perfect” is set in the world of a cappella singing and is bursting with humor and charm.
Anna Kendrick stars as Beca, a college freshman pursuing a future in music production. While attending the activities fair at college, she is asked by Chloe (Brittany Snow) and Aubrey (Anna Camp) to audition for their a cappella group. The group had several members leave following a disastrous onstage incident at last year’s finals competition. Beca and several other vocalists join the group and begin preparing for redemption at this year’s competition. Yes, the movie has the standard rivalry within the group, the newcomer who needs to gain acceptance, a climactic competition and a college romance, but it feels fresh and lively thanks to a strong screenplay full of clever and funny one-liners, enjoyable music numbers and great performances by Kendrick, Rebel Wilson and the always wonderful Snow. Kendrick has the difficult task of transitioning from a reserved introvert, to being a major stage presence and a strong driving force in her a cappella group. Elizabeth Banks (who is one of the film’s producers) has a terrific supporting role as a crass, wisecracking announcer. “Pitch Perfect” expertly weaves the scenes of musical numbers into the story so the music never overshadows the story of the group and doesn’t alienate viewers who aren’t fans of singing competitions. It would be a mistake for people who don’t like “Glee” to dismiss this film as being just about singing. The singing of course is part of “Pitch Perfect”, but I would recommend this film to anyone who likes good comedies and having a great time at the movies.
Not every joke works, but most do and the movie is consistently funny and entertaining. The members of the group all work well together and elicit our support and affection. There are a few false notes (this review had to have at least one musical pun), mostly involving Beca’s relationship with her almost boyfriend, but their storyline builds to one of the movie’s sweetest and most satisfying moments.
Roger Ebert said of “A Prairie Home Companion” it’s a film so sweet you want to cuddle with it. Pardon me for pouring on the cheese, but I think “Pitch Perfect” is like a warm, snuggly blanket or that rare sunny day after a long stretch of rain. I watch many movies, but very few find their way into my DVD collection. “Pitch Perfect” is one I’ll definitely be adding.
Chaz Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00821136996983009653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7347927009454287148.post-73021028818663652602012-08-30T16:29:00.001-07:002014-01-07T20:46:04.318-08:00"Cosmopolis" isn't always clear, but always absorbingI did not fully understand “Cosmopolis”, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It ranks among “Mulholland Dr.” as one of those strange journeys through an off-kilter version of reality. “Mulholland Dr.” is the better movie, but “Cosmopolis” has the same ability to envelop the viewer in a dreamlike excursion.
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Robert Pattinson gets to display the widest acting skills of his career as Eric Packer, a billionaire financier who has just made the biggest mistake of his career by betting incorrectly against the yuan. As his fortune dwindles throughout the day, Eric is chauffeured in his stretch limo through the city. Reviews in “People” and “Us” have dismissed “Cosmopolis” as a movie entirely about a guy riding around while having inane conversations with random passengers. This is incredibly misleading. True, there are many scenes set inside the limousine during which conversations occur. There are also many scenes outside the limo taking place in restaurants, a bookstore, a nightclub, a barber shop, a taxi headquarters and other locations. It honestly feels as if only a third of the movie is set inside the limousine. To say the whole film is set here is similar to saying the entire film “Training Day” takes place inside the black Monte Carlo driven by Denzel Washington’s character while Ethan Hawke’s character rides shotgun. Furthermore, the conversations are often interesting and many of the exchanges are memorable and thoughtful. Characters discuss economic theories, monetary units, units of time, social revolution with an academic and amused aloofness. Whether viewers enjoy this is largely dependent on whether they find the topics of discussion interesting. This is not unlike any other movie or even an evening at a cocktail party in which a guest can be pleasant or interminable based on the subject of their conversation. One exchange between Eric and his wife Elisse (Sarah Gadon) is about cab drivers. She says to him she enjoys talking to the drivers to learn about where they come from.
“They come from horror and despair,” he says.
She replies one can learn a lot about the horrors of the world this way.
In addition to good dialogue, the movie is full of narrowly drawn, but captivating characters played strongly by talented actors. Because each character joining Packer in his limo is in the movie for a short time, there isn’t much opportunity to learn about their story, but this doesn’t stop most of them from leaving an indelible impression. Most of the passengers are associates of Packer and they are not villainous, nor are they endearing. One glimpse of a life outside Packer’s world of high finance comes from a co-worker who was called to a meeting in the car on her day off. Wearing workout clothes with her hair pulled back and sweat on her face, Jane (Emily Hampshire) explains she’d been jogging in the park on her day off when her phone rang. She thought there might be an emergency involving her child and the nanny was calling. This conversation occurs while a doctor performs Packer’s daily medical exam. He observes she is clutching her water bottle and tells her it is indicative of sexual tension. Other characters in the limo are played by Jay Baruchel, Samantha Morton and Juliette Binoche and each encounter offers a piece of Packer’s life. While several scenes occur inside the limo, there is a rich display of detail. Baruchel’s character grabs an ice-cold bottled beverage from a cylindrical cooler with a glass door. Pattinson relaxes in a large throne-like chair in the back of the stretch. LCD screens and panels cover many inches of the interior and trading information graphs are visible in bright lights. No outside sound enters the vehicle, making the audience an additional passenger and bringing viewers closer to the characters.
As stated before, “Cosmopolis” is not easily decipherable upon a single viewing, but it’s not easy to forget. It’s also one of the few movies this summer worth revisiting.
Chaz Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00821136996983009653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7347927009454287148.post-75843859084049093612012-07-04T11:51:00.000-07:002014-01-07T20:46:59.629-08:00An exploration of how people's characters are formed<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLvCftNcaDPHaH-OHhoQPHIukkULogKaPTb4hAlhxGIsWqdNYJ8H1EKIJd9PqKuhbccb29dy1G_HbSb7ChtE0zPChSMB05ssf2wN0wZ5JqjvPRwDHofXnocirAxy61PJoIw3xvM-L5F_Cx/s1600/jolene_21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLvCftNcaDPHaH-OHhoQPHIukkULogKaPTb4hAlhxGIsWqdNYJ8H1EKIJd9PqKuhbccb29dy1G_HbSb7ChtE0zPChSMB05ssf2wN0wZ5JqjvPRwDHofXnocirAxy61PJoIw3xvM-L5F_Cx/s320/jolene_21.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jessica Chastain in "Jolene".</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Jolene” is an impressive film on several levels. There is a
power to it, which accompanies so few movies. That power lies in the film’s
ability to grab not the viewer’s attention, but their heart and mind. The story
is that of a young girl who at 15 finds herself married and living in a small
town with her working-class husband. Jolene tells us early on her parents have
died and she spent her life in various foster homes where she was mistreated by
her foster parents. She is excited to settle down and enjoy a comfortable
future. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you are someone who prefers to know very little about a
film’s story before seeing it then you might prefer to wait until you’ve seen
“Jolene” to finish this review. As a writer, I make a strong effort never to
reveal any surprises and do not discuss anything not reasonably inferred from
the trailer. My reviews may contain more information than someone who wants to
go in completely fresh might like, but that is the nature of reviews. With that
out of the way, Jolene doesn’t stay put for long and the movie plays out like a
series of vignettes threaded together my this character as she travels through
life. Jolene is played by Jessica Chastain. This was her first feature film and
she won a Best Actress award at the Seattle International Film Festival for it.
I’ve seen almost all of Chastain’s films and after seeing this it’s obvious why
she quickly became one of the busiest actresses in the business. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">What Chastain manages to do with this character is
breathtaking. Over the course of the film she plays Jolene as a naïve teenager,
someone running from her past, someone who is capable of being self-sufficient
and who has weathered some rough patches. The transition is seamless and seemingly
effortless. A miscast actress in this role could have made it an excruciating
thing to watch as she went from an “Aw, shucks” personality and strait into a
gruff tone of voice and cold, steely eyes to represent world weariness. Chastain
does what a truly great performer does, which is actually become the character.
Watching the character of Jolene is so much like watching an actual person
metamorphose over time that it almost transcends filmmaking and becomes a real
experience. The span of time in the movie is 10 years, but Chastain’s acting
range in this role does more than the best Oscar-winning makeup effects could
do in biopics spanning a greater length of time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I can’t speak for others, but as I get older I find myself
becoming more interested in and affected by films that have something to say
about life’s effect on people. The simplistic black hats and white hats is
uninteresting to me and I am fascinated by characters that are not good or bad,
but simply products of their environments and who behave the best they can at
the given time and circumstances. “Jolene” is an excellent exploration of how
people are shaped by their experiences. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">While married Jolene has an affair and the marriage ends
badly. Her affair is a selfish act, but there is no malice motivating this. She
is young and has not experienced much genuine affection before and to her it
seems fine. She leaves town and gets a job working at drive-in burger joint
somewhere in Arizona. What’s a cross-country journey film without a stop in Arizona?
Her time here not only brings the next chapter in her life, but also allows for
some of the film’s most striking scenery having been shot on location in
Scottsdale. In every segment or chapter or vignette Jolene learns new skills,
meets new people and enters a relationship. The men she meets include a shady
tattoo artist (Rupert Friend), a mid-level Las Vegas mobster (Chazz Palminteri)
and a wealthy businessman who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and is
worse off for it (Michael Vartan). Of these three men I find it curious the one
who treated Jolene with the most respect and showed her the most kindness was
the mobster. I haven’t read the story “Jolene: A Life” by E.L. Doctorow, on
which the film is based but perhaps there is something to this. The tattoo
artist is disrespectful and dishonest and the businessman named Brad is
physically and mentally abusive, but in keeping with this film’s theme of (as I
see it) demonstrating how people become who they are because of life experience.
The tattoo artist engages in an illegal side business because from his point of
view it’s the only way to keep his shop open. The businessman’s parents gave
him too much and he treats people badly as a result. On their first date he
orders a bottle of wine and after a matter of seconds complains about the
“incompetent waiter” for not having brought the wine yet. He berates the
waiter. Jolene comments on how rude he is and he apologizes to the waiter. This
is one of my favorite scenes in the movie. Any woman who is turned off by
someone mistreating a waiter or anyone in a service position is definitely a
keeper, yet this scene illustrates how two people from different backgrounds
can have completely different views of how to treat the same person. Jolene’s hardscrabble
past has taught her humility and empathy, while the businessman’s privileged
existence has created an unhealthy and almost pathological detachment from much
of society. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Something great about “Jolene” is its exploration of
different walks of life in America and its willingness to explore a type of
character underrepresented in film. So often working-class characters serve only
as decoration or support to the main character. It’s refreshing to see the
story of someone who struggles to find their footing take priority. At the end
of the film Jolene is wiser, but still hasn’t learned everything about life.
Nobody ever does. <o:p></o:p></span></div>Chaz Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00821136996983009653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7347927009454287148.post-55561392750516676162012-02-11T21:33:00.000-08:002014-01-07T20:47:13.218-08:00Communication is difficult for most couples, some more than others<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Adam</span></strong><br />
Written and directed by Max Mayer.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_F3StwJhmQCsvR1rxl6V-VZAwa08gvVNCG8Mhn062RQ4JniMuLD5LnNiQ0Pr0dd5CTu062811S0oIhAQT2eA13zqLxDBGU_3BLj42e0iVX094tnSDC4lEZlcrwW3xZ-2kAW_nltuDuVjI/s1600/adam-movie-2009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_F3StwJhmQCsvR1rxl6V-VZAwa08gvVNCG8Mhn062RQ4JniMuLD5LnNiQ0Pr0dd5CTu062811S0oIhAQT2eA13zqLxDBGU_3BLj42e0iVX094tnSDC4lEZlcrwW3xZ-2kAW_nltuDuVjI/s320/adam-movie-2009.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Calibri;">About halfway through <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Adam</i>, a wonderful and deeply affecting movie about a romance between two young people, I realized something which made me appreciate the movie more.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Adam Raki (Hugh Dancy) has Asperger’s syndrome and struggles to pick up social cues. This results in some awkward conversations with people including the woman (a charming Rose Byrne) who moved into his building and with whom he slowly enters a courtship. For example, Adam sometimes talks for great lengths to people about astronomy who clearly aren’t interested. He doesn’t recognize the look in their eyes indicating a need to switch topics or he doesn’t have the sense to restrain himself to a few sentences on the matter. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What I realized is Adam really isn’t that different from someone without Asperger’s syndrome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve all been at a cocktail party and spoken to someone who went on and on way too long about a single topic without regard to whether we were interested. We politely nodded and then found a way to exit the conversation. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As a romance, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Adam</i> presents one of the most honest and thoughtful portraits of a relationship I’ve seen in years. As a drama, it shows its protagonists at a crossroads and examines the difficult choices people must make. Following the death of his father, Adam finds himself living independently for the first time at the age of 29. After a breakup, Beth Buchwald (Byrne) moves into a new apartment to start a new chapter in her life. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After meeting each other in the laundry room of their apartment building, Beth asks Adam to join her on an outing with her friends. He stays behind. He is too overwhelmed by the prospect to leave his apartment, but when Beth returns he is waiting for her and they have a conversation before saying goodnight. These conversations and experiences between Beth and Adam are what make their relationship so touching and unlike a typical movie romance. Much of the time they are on screen it is only the two of them, without any outside distractions. This allows the audience to witness the relationship’s most personal and endearing moments. Adam and Beth each have a friend to confide in and discuss their relationship with, but there are none of the obnoxious sidekicks so popular in movies who serve only to ask crass questions about how good the sex is or make quips about penis or breast size. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sexuality plays a small, but important role in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Adam</i>. Once the couple has agreed they are dating, Beth lays down some ground rules while the two are cuddling in bed (fully clothed) together. She tells Adam holding and kissing are OK, but she needs time before she is ready to have sex. He has no problem with this and agrees. She then embraces him tighter. Later in the movie they are giving each other massages (again fully clothed) on the bed. Beth eventually takes Adam’s hand and places it beneath her shirt and onto her breast. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Do you want sex?” Adam asks.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“I think I do,” Beth replies.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The two embrace each other as the screen fades to black. It is a wise decision for the filmmakers to not include any more of this. With a PG-13 rating, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Adam</i> could have included much more here, but by omitting the visuals the movie keeps the focus on what is important about the scene. It’s not about the act of sex here, but the intimacy and trust required by both participants to make the act possible. It’s refreshing to see a relationship in which the sex is discussed as an important step in the relationship rather than simply something to rush into and get out of the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Communication for this couple is paramount given Adam’s condition and sometimes Adam’s communication is a little too blunt, but this is something which might be a benefit. Many people might like it if someone simply asked or stated something rather than being secretive about it. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Further praise can be given for the way <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Adam</i> shows both Beth and Adam struggling to make their own ways in the world. Beth’s father hovers over her and tries to guide her relationship. Adam needs to do things he’s not done on his own before. This parallel allows <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Adam</i> to transcend being a movie about someone with Asperger’s syndrome and become a movie about two young adults becoming more self-reliant. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Adam</i> explores Asperger’s syndrome without being condescending. It is cute without being cutesy, sweet without being smarmy and tugs at the heartstrings without being manipulative. In many movie relationships, couples' interactions often seem contrived or forced, but everything in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Adam</i> seemed real to me.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was sad when <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Adam</i> ended because I cared so much about the characters and wanted to spend more time with them. I became strongly affected by their story and would have been pleased for the film to be longer, although it does not feel incomplete. This is an almost perfect romance and one I’ll be watching again and again in the future.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
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</div>Chaz Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00821136996983009653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7347927009454287148.post-37295363991599836732011-07-19T21:47:00.000-07:002014-01-07T20:48:18.950-08:00"Finding Amanda" is worth discovering<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXrPX-Z8ohCdrQIR5leJQqSgifTjl9c_JyiHltWs5ryM_EYrP8JIecLjFp9WF-ohKaKIrkzbzffPzvzErWesQZria_ADVpP4ycDD-h3DrN63AB7vSPDx4qx-QgeC4QXhQMCo_6MaHYD1e9/s1600/Finding+Amanda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="cssfloat: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXrPX-Z8ohCdrQIR5leJQqSgifTjl9c_JyiHltWs5ryM_EYrP8JIecLjFp9WF-ohKaKIrkzbzffPzvzErWesQZria_ADVpP4ycDD-h3DrN63AB7vSPDx4qx-QgeC4QXhQMCo_6MaHYD1e9/s320/Finding+Amanda.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">A truly great performance is marked by the audience's inability to imagine any other performer being as good in the role. In <em>Finding Amanda</em>, Brittany Snow gives such a performance.</div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Snow is a charming and talented actress who after becoming a household name in 2002 with her role in the TV show <em>American Dreams</em>, has been the highlight of both comedies and dramas. Snow’s signature acting trait is to bring an irresistible sweetness to all her roles, whether it’s in the teen comedy <em>John Tucker Must Die</em> or the unsavory sex-industry exploration <em>On the Doll</em>. She has the type of innocent look the phrase “button cute” was created for, and could easily have a successful career hopping from one safe romantic comedy to another. Instead, she has proven herself to be one of Hollywood’s most daring risk-takers. On the Doll’s dark material made the film a very hard sell. Snow’s 2009 film <em>Black Water Transit</em>, by controversial director Tony Kaye is still awaiting distribution. Another of her films, <em>96 Minutes</em>, played at festivals, but hasn’t been widely released. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">In 2009, Snow starred in one of the year’s best films, <em>The Vicious Kind</em>. The movie is a caustic and unflinching examination of the burgeoning romance between Snow’s character, Emma Gainsborough, and her college boyfriend as well as the boyfriend’s older brother, whose misogyny stemming from the demise of his own relationship threatens to derail them. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Finding Amanda is another risky role and because of this is a little-seen movie. This is a shame since it’s a thoughtful and touching study of two troubled people at different stages of their lives.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Matthew Broderick stars as a recovering alcoholic and addict who is lying to his wife about his ongoing gambling habit. When he hears his 20-year-old niece Amanda is working in Las Vegas as a hooker with a drug problem, he drives there to find her and get her into a rehab facility. It soon becomes clear his motivation for heading to Vegas may have less to do with Amanda and more to do with betting on horse races. No sooner has he checked into his hotel than he heads to the casino for some betting money. He eventually takes a break from gambling and finds Amanda at a casino where she is picking up customers near the elevators. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em>Finding Amanda</em> easily could have been a bland hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold story, but the screenplay by writer/director Peter Tolan eschews clichés and instead charts new and deep waters.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">In one of the film’s more moving and poignant scenes, Amanda confides in her uncle about her start in the business and why she continues to sell herself. While recounting her first experience with a client, she reveals her vulnerability for one of the few times in the film. Throughout much of the movie, Amanda puts on a front and seems to be content with her life. She explains her job away by saying a lot of people have jobs they don’t like and she views her profession as another line of work. Describing the incident, she reveals it is so life-changing that to stop wouldn’t be able to erase the event, so why not just continue? </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">A story of a young prostitute could be a dark film, but <em>Finding Amanda</em> manages to be both a comedy and a drama convincingly. While it is set in Las Vegas, there are few familiar, exciting overhead shots of the Strip, no scenes in front of Caesars Palace and no trip to the Eiffel tower at Paris. Instead, the audience sees the inside of nondescript casinos. By doing this, the film removes the excitement and allure the tourists see and focuses instead on the less glamorous and dark side of Las Vegas. Amanda is all too familiar with the unsavory side of Sin City and in one sequence her uncle accompanies her on a nighttime excursion during which she purchases drugs while visiting sketchy off-Strip areas.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>Yet in between these dark patches there are scenes of charm and humor. Steve Coogan is great as a pit boss who is familiar with Broderick’s character. The two share a few amusing scenes together. Peter Facinelli has some great moments as Amanda’s tool boyfriend and Snow’s performance is at times equal measure adorable and heartbreaking. <br />
<br />
<em>Finding Amanda</em> may not have found an audience while in theaters, but it deserves to be watched on DVD and cable. It is an insightful and thoughtful character stury which avoids cliches and takes its own path.Chaz Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00821136996983009653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7347927009454287148.post-91198008162054857432011-06-28T23:32:00.000-07:002011-06-28T23:44:52.756-07:00Living my dream in Las Vegas was a career and life highlight<div class="MsoNormal">OK, so I’ve been putting off writing this because there are way too many wonderful experiences to sort through, but I want to share some of the joys of my Las Vegas adventure.</div><div class="MsoNormal">As some readers know, I spent three weeks in Las Vegas, the Best City in the World, in March and April. The goal was to find a job in public relations or entertainment journalism and although I returned to Seattle without full-time work, I experienced some of the best times of my life and career. That was just the warm-up.</div><div class="MsoNormal">Not long after returning, only about two weeks or so, I noticed through Twitter an opening for an internship at Wicked Creative, a PR company. I immediately responded and was soon making arrangements to move yet again to Vegas; this time for a month! </div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6_s0jE_hkdHx4fvrcsaur1KYG3vQ4BUXNjIn2IKuHhuz2OfdawJxRbx6QjpnbzSjlJEeAHESm8WuriaAU_vD6ra3p-pedc5Xrj1O3wRsfC2BeZNo-VggngVFs1tlyvNv-zH2eky1ewpMV/s1600/Ke%2524ha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6_s0jE_hkdHx4fvrcsaur1KYG3vQ4BUXNjIn2IKuHhuz2OfdawJxRbx6QjpnbzSjlJEeAHESm8WuriaAU_vD6ra3p-pedc5Xrj1O3wRsfC2BeZNo-VggngVFs1tlyvNv-zH2eky1ewpMV/s320/Ke%2524ha.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ke$ha is interviewed by Abigail Miller of Wicked Creative/Photo credit Chaz Holmes</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal">The internship was one of the best experiences of my life and one I will always cherish and remember fondly. Wicked Creative handles a lot of red-carpet events, which is my ideal job. Just three days after arriving in Las Vegas I found myself mere inches away from Ke$ha as I assisted with a red-carpet event. So excited was I that tasks which many might find trivial I took great pride in. When I arrived at Sugar Factory American Brasserie at Paris on Las Vegas Boulevard on May 7 my first task was to set out the place cards on the red carpet so the photographers would know where to stand. I know, this isn’t really a major job and it certainly doesn’t require the type of skills associated with a journalism degree from a four-year university, but for someone who has seen the red carpet as their goal for more than a decade, it was exciting. I set foot on the carpet and began carefully placing the pages on the floor, making sure they were well -spaced and parallel to the carpet. </div><div class="MsoNormal">Red-carpet events are a surreal experience. There’s a lot of waiting and things never seem to go exactly as planned, but they are very energizing experiences for me and the rush from them completely makes me forget I’m working well past midnight. While a co-worker and I were waiting for Ke$ha to arrive, my co-worker asked if I would take photos of the singer so we could post them on social media sites. OMG, could I have been more excited?!? Of course I agreed and after a brief iPhone tutorial I was ready to take pics of America’s fave $leazy pop star. Without any official announcement, Ke$ha suddenly emerged from Sugar Factory and walked inside the Paris casino and onto the red carpet. I took way more photos than necessary, but I wanted to make sure we had some good ones. When I later saw one of the pics I took posted via Twitter I felt a sense of pride and excitement I didn’t think I was still capable of feeling. After the event that night I grabbed a burger and milkshake from Sugar Factory and headed back to my room in the early a.m. hours. I had the experience of opening the door and looking out the window at a gorgeous, late Las Vegas view of the Strip which allowed me to see The Cosmopolitan, Planet Hollywood and the Eiffel Tower. Amazing.</div><div class="MsoNormal">While in Las Vegas I worked events with T-Pain, Nicky Hilton, Samantha Ronson and most of the “Holly’s World” cast. For the T-Pain event I got to do some reporting from inside Chateau Nightclub. I recorded such details as what he drank, what he wore and what his general mood was during the evening. You know, the hard-hitting stuff which gave Barbara Walters her credibility. I got to stand right across the table from Nicky Hilton and take photos of her sipping from her Sugar Factory beverage as well as snap pics of her inside the candy shop posing with some sweets. I was allowed near her VIP table by security to record more details. My PR experiences were not only significant on a professional level, but some were even meaningful on a personal level.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTpsauaB1yAknNOXzbDIF9mN6_nHzINec1ObErTJhBF_acrWbomMiSySwtW5qW_7Q557-6Ltf1tMfQPC_nD5nfrsJgCv328xM4em-0MCXUNoKwYbpReDS2rFWWpL6slG6ZAeO4GD6Aio6O/s1600/Samantha+Ronson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTpsauaB1yAknNOXzbDIF9mN6_nHzINec1ObErTJhBF_acrWbomMiSySwtW5qW_7Q557-6Ltf1tMfQPC_nD5nfrsJgCv328xM4em-0MCXUNoKwYbpReDS2rFWWpL6slG6ZAeO4GD6Aio6O/s320/Samantha+Ronson.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">DJ Samantha Ronson poses with a Sugar Factory Couture Pop/Photo by Chaz Holmes</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal">I am a major fan of Lindsay Lohan. Her movies are my go-to source of cheer when I’m down and I even wrote her a letter while she was in the Betty Ford Clinic. She didn’t respond, but I know she’s busy with other things. So it was with great excitement I learned I would be working an event attended by her on-again-off-again girlfriend Samantha Ronson. As Samantha approached the carpet, I got into position to take photos and was sort of in a strange dreamlike zone while doing so. I don’t mean dreamlike in the sense of being out of it. Far from it. My professionalism in all situations is something I take very seriously and I was on my game. Yet while taking the pictures I had this wonderful sensation of registering this moment for the special, top-shelf area of the memory vault. When the photographers, including me, were finished and Samantha was walking off the carpet, I said two words: “Thanks, Sam.” OMG again! Samantha then entered Gallery Nightclub where she would DJ for Angel Porrino’s 22<sup>nd</sup> birthday party, which was the event for the night.</div><div class="MsoNormal">The next guests were <i>Holly’s World</i> co-stars Josh Strickland and birthday girl Angel Porrino, along with the show’s star, Holly Madison. OK, getting a little personal here, I want to express the significance of being at a red-carpet event with the three stars of <i>Holly’s World</i>. When I first made the decision in February to try my hand in Las Vegas, I spent hours upstairs in my makeshift office sending out resumes, writing cover letters and establishing contacts in town. While doing so I watched untold numbers of <i>Holly’s World</i> episodes (often the same episode repeatedly) because it provided me with a boost to assuage the anxiety of moving. It was amazingly fun watching a show set in Vegas with the realization I was on my way there. It’s also a really fun show! Before long I knew the words to the theme song: “She’s single and sexy, smart and independent, Vegas celebrity, #1 resident!” </div><div class="MsoNormal">When I watched the show I thought: “I’ll be living in Las Vegas soon, too.” It did not cross my mind I’d be inches away from this crowd on the red carpet! Words cannot express the significance. I pride myself on my professionalism and this excitement was all kept under control while I assisted my co-workers by taking photos and making sure they had plenty of Sugar Factory Couture Pops prior to the photo opportunities. My excitement actually was put to good use that night, since when I ran from the red carpet to Sugar Factory it was with great speed and agility. </div><div class="MsoNormal">Honestly, this night alone would have made the month worthwhile, but amazingly enough, the most fulfilling experiences of my career had yet to take place.</div><div class="MsoNormal">A lot of different things aligned allowing me to be in the right place at the right time and <i>US Weekly </i>commissioned me to cover three events over Memorial Day Weekend. I remember in sophomore English class learning the word zenith. I believe it’s a perfect word to describe this point in my career.</div><div class="MsoNormal">Scott Disick and Kourtney Kardashian were in town celebrating his 28<sup>th</sup> birthday at Gallery Nightclub and I was to interview them on the red carpet. OK, let me break down the significance here. The Kardashians are pretty much the cornerstone of celebrity journalism. There’s rarely a magazine without a story about Kim’s new man, Khloe’s pregnancy struggle or Kourtney’s post-baby bod. To interview one of the Kardashians is to have made it. Much to my excitement, my “made it” moment arrived three days after Kim K announced her engagement to Kris Humphries. In addition to standard red-carpet questions, all of which were new to me, I was to ask Kourtney and Scott about Kim’s engagement. OMG!!!!!!! I would like to say I do keep this in perspective and I know in the grand scheme of things, Kim’s engagement is not significant. That said, on a relative scale and in the world of entertainment journalism, it’s major. It’s like a political reporter getting to ask Hillary Clinton about her foreign policy strategy. To use a celeb/politician analogy, interviewing Kourtney Kardashian is like a political reporter interviewing Joe Biden. Kim Kardashian is of course the Barack Obama of the entertainment world. She’s change I can believe in! </div><div class="MsoNormal">So I got to ask Kourtney about this and her beauty secrets. I will always remember the exchange we had when I asked what beauty product she always has to have with her. While making eye contact, she replied, “Aqua Four.” </div><div class="MsoNormal">One of my other assignments was to interview Holly Madison. As you might imagine, this was also very significant for me. I’ve alrea<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=7347927009454287148&postID=9119800816205485743" name="_GoBack"></a>dy mentioned <i>Holly’s World</i>, and to be in Las Vegas and interview the city’s resident “mascot”, a term given her by “Las Vegas Weekly” was wonderful. I even got to join her and Angel Porrino at their VIP table while taking notes and pictures. </div><div class="MsoNormal">Following my big weekend of events for <i>Us Weekly</i>, a coworker at Wicked Creative tweeted that she could be seen on that evening’s <i>E! News</i> because they were covering the Scott Disick and Kourtney Kardashian event. I quickly called home to ask my parents to record the show just in case I ended up making a cameo too. Later that night I settled into my room to watch <i>E! News</i>. This is of course, not out of the ordinary sine the 60 minutes of <i>E! News</i> are among my favorite of each weekday, but my anticipation was building. </div><div class="MsoNormal">Finally <i>E! News </i>cut to the piece on Scott Disick’s birthday and I got to see the event I’d worked at on TV. The broadcast included footage of Scott and Kourtney inside Sugar Factory and Gallery Nightclub, but most exciting was the footage of them on the red carpet. I could tell from the angle the camera operator had been right behind me when filming and I saw my co-worker from Wicked Creative on the screen. I also saw a voice recorder which belonged to a fellow journalist. In fact, I could eventually see three voice recorders being help toward Scott and Kourtney. The most fantastic thing about this is one of the recorders was being held by me! I was so excited!</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggiXlou6Es45IqYDperzFXr60ePS60EeNmfrGoVKaqN_nZNgbIdvPnHw7n9O5gigkmkZwXOLSBLJTS39n3AEPfYgZDVvYaOk6NZGVEjq32fbUarxAmOByCXchytcyUduc5IBRqHxxz-I55/s1600/ScottandKourtney.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggiXlou6Es45IqYDperzFXr60ePS60EeNmfrGoVKaqN_nZNgbIdvPnHw7n9O5gigkmkZwXOLSBLJTS39n3AEPfYgZDVvYaOk6NZGVEjq32fbUarxAmOByCXchytcyUduc5IBRqHxxz-I55/s320/ScottandKourtney.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My recorder is the black one in the front. It is just behind the caption on the screen.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">All I ever wanted was to be seen on TV reporting from the red carpet. I realize this isn’t like saying all I ever wanted was to have a self-published blog, but I’ve never been good at setting small goals for myself. </div><div class="MsoNormal">Last August, I went to Vegas for The Monster Ball and while there, had lunch with a journalist who interviewed celebs on the red carpet for magazines including <i>Us Weekly</i>. During that lunch we discussed career paths and she told me some red-carpet and celeb stories. It was one of the highlights of my year. Later that night, she was to interview Kim Kardashian. When I returned home, I watched <i>E! News</i> and they covered the K-Dash event. On screen for at least a few seconds and in full view was Melissa, the journalist I’d met with. In the time since our lunch together, Melissa has been a better mentor than I ever imagined I would have. I’ve worked tirelessly to find a job in Las Vegas, even flying down for a single day and night for an interview in October. Melissa’s supported me the entire time, providing advice, helping me network, making introductions, and including me in her events. When I was in Vegas in March and April, she invited me to go with her as her “assistant” at a CinemaCon event at which she interviewed Cameron Diaz.</div><div class="MsoNormal">It was Melissa who made my work with <i>Us Weekly</i> possible. She recommended me to the magazine and it is because of her this was possible. To go from that lunch last August as a fledgling entertainment reporter to actually being on the red carpet just like someone I admire is really quite magical. I will always be grateful to Melissa for helping make my dream a reality. </div><div class="MsoNormal">I returned to Seattle a month ago and the transition to my former life has been difficult. I knew it would be and for this reason, was sure to cherish every amazing moment in Las Vegas. I feel so lucky to have had the experience of commuting to and from work and having a view of the Strip. The commute was really quite an adventure, entailing several buses and a combination of long waits and quick sprints. Yet, to finish a day of work which involved writing a Britney Spears press release, searching entertainment sites and preparing for the weekend’s event, and then ride the bus to Las Vegas Boulevard, is an experience I will always hold near and dear to my heart, which is where Las Vegas really resides.</div><div class="MsoNormal">Before boarding my flight home, I bought an issue of <i>Us Weekly</i> which includes a picture from Scott Disick’s birthday celebration. My interview with Scott and Kourtney was not included, but I would be foolish to complain. Three days after I got home, I put the magazine in a frame and it now rests beside my bed. Before drifting off to sleep each night, I get to look at this magazine and feel a sense of pride and fulfillment beyond belief.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgggpwaO5LOQ9b-witntXqxR4siZkJ_3Og4z6-Ct4FHqAtcbPiJSbSOvcg3VxZDyx9-lYyUS8d7H-3tU9CHos58rsOkv1Gz3eIId1Varb_T3tyoYmk7fMK-zCe_qwaxL9V3I6V4XoXZb2vu/s1600/Us+Weekly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgggpwaO5LOQ9b-witntXqxR4siZkJ_3Og4z6-Ct4FHqAtcbPiJSbSOvcg3VxZDyx9-lYyUS8d7H-3tU9CHos58rsOkv1Gz3eIId1Varb_T3tyoYmk7fMK-zCe_qwaxL9V3I6V4XoXZb2vu/s320/Us+Weekly.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me holding my framed copy of <i>Us Weekly</i>. Introducing myself as "Chaz from <i>Us Weekly</i>" is among the great joys of my life.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I truly hope to be able to continue this career in the future, but even if I don’t I am so grateful to have lived the dream for a month. I can’t think of a better way to close this entry than with one of my favorite quotes.</div><div class="MsoNormal">“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”</div>Chaz Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00821136996983009653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7347927009454287148.post-20003573818033895482011-06-14T21:45:00.000-07:002011-06-14T21:47:30.511-07:00Yet another reason I love Lindsay Lohan!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZvHjaUTAoawLVcWGiup6ywi8SjEAUNY9pUmEEdngxnTlRj4oahQAm1TAR4FPGZ-SvFOH42YXpCxOPzmD5k_B_siK91CYGRveAZaRJ2pPoU8mavjdo6o8FH9tEGzAvc_NoQnOheDR-4Zom/s1600/LindsayLohan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZvHjaUTAoawLVcWGiup6ywi8SjEAUNY9pUmEEdngxnTlRj4oahQAm1TAR4FPGZ-SvFOH42YXpCxOPzmD5k_B_siK91CYGRveAZaRJ2pPoU8mavjdo6o8FH9tEGzAvc_NoQnOheDR-4Zom/s200/LindsayLohan.jpg" t8="true" width="200" /></a></div>Dark, brooding, talented actress. Natural, gorgeous redhead. Star of numerous films that always cheer me up. As if I needed another reason to love Lindsay Lohan, she’s now added entertainment reporter to her resume! When I hopped on the Internet, it was Lindsay Lohan who broke the news to me via Twitter that Natalie Portman gave birth to a baby boy. <br />
<br />
<br />
Lindsay, I have an idea. How about you and I do an entertainment show together? We can call it “Two Redheads and a Red Carpet”!<br />
<br />
Call me!Chaz Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00821136996983009653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7347927009454287148.post-13615624633627443342011-04-20T22:28:00.000-07:002014-01-07T20:48:36.455-08:00'Hanna' is among its genre's best<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQngLcba_4J2QuI9510tFUiRb8zTUSyCdWEjhtOBfrz8MI8OIDpaXneHz3Na5v34IvTytzY37rFPH5xBggZ6IWDvbxfAwu94VGT-Sh-08lp3qPAlSTTDRxDT0l6xIihOUR_XBM7Yc5Aw2u/s1600/Hanna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQngLcba_4J2QuI9510tFUiRb8zTUSyCdWEjhtOBfrz8MI8OIDpaXneHz3Na5v34IvTytzY37rFPH5xBggZ6IWDvbxfAwu94VGT-Sh-08lp3qPAlSTTDRxDT0l6xIihOUR_XBM7Yc5Aw2u/s320/Hanna.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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Cold, brutal, wickedly intelligent and a whole lot of fun, <em>Hanna</em> takes the rogue-CIA-asset subgenre and revitalizes it with creativity at every turn. <br />
Hanna, played by 17-year-old Saoirse Ronan, appears to have spent almost her entire life in the forest under the tutelage of her father Erik. Knowing his daughter would need to defend herself against Marissa, a ruthless CIA agent played by Cate Blanchett, Erik taught her how to fight with various weapons and her hands. When she uses her hand-to-hand combat skills, she unleashes a torrent of hurt which would intimidate Daniel Craig’s James Bond. Ronan, whose breakthrough Oscar-nominated role in Wright’s 2007 film <em>Atonement</em>, is perfect in the role. She has a pixie-nymph look to her face and with her pale skin and bright, blue eyes, she looks as if she actually could be a child raised in the wilderness. Just as the character Hanna, raised and trained by her ex-CIA father, possesses an arsenal of finely tuned and expertly executed skills, the film <em>Hanna</em> is a showcase of tremendous filmmaking talent.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioQaTO4R-IwU8nK0IMNE_jfDBMOEn8Rf2ZP-O4KQ8RmCRU315eCA10HBtUBqqpcLrrCEtNwaHJmbEtaNYvLmj9OSrZw3nbM8QN2dVPnVhx6yeQXbl9kWMa0ZloFIk_MqPVF7cStW908xFQ/s1600/Hanna+chase.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioQaTO4R-IwU8nK0IMNE_jfDBMOEn8Rf2ZP-O4KQ8RmCRU315eCA10HBtUBqqpcLrrCEtNwaHJmbEtaNYvLmj9OSrZw3nbM8QN2dVPnVhx6yeQXbl9kWMa0ZloFIk_MqPVF7cStW908xFQ/s320/Hanna+chase.bmp" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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Director Joe Wright and editor Paul Tothill brilliantly blend their techniques to create nail-biting sequences out of what could easily have been rote, yawn-inducing chases. In a rousing sequence Hanna escapes from a top-secret government facility and runs through a large, round tunnel. The camera focuses on her face as she runs, circling within the tunnel, adding urgency to her getaway and providing visual flair for the audience. As it does for other action scenes in the film, the music by The Chemical Brothers adds further excitement.<br />
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Here is a portion of this sequence:<br />
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One of the wisest decisions of the filmmakers made is to let the audience discover the locations as the characters travel. When Hanna escapes from the facility, rather than have her emerge into a bustling city with the Washington Monument, smacking viewers in the face with the realization she’s in Washington, D.C., she emerges in an area with no obvious landmarks. It isn’t for some time afterward until her location is divulged. By doing this, the viewer is given a similar sense of confusion as Hanna, who is finding herself in strange places. The viewers fortunately don’t have Blanchett’s icy CIA agent on their heels. <br />
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As Hanna evades capture she uses her combat techniques and when she kills it’s with the speed and ruthlessness of an animal in a flight or flight situation. She doesn't kill for the sake of it and avoids harming some people she easily could dispatch, but when necessary there is no hesitation or remorse. Adapt or die is the mantra her father instilled in her and she is obviously a very good student.<br />
I have so much praise and gratitude for this movie and the talented cast and crew who made it possible. As most of us cinephiles know, the past two years were among the most egregious on record. The dearth of imagination, risk-taking and excitement in movies has been sapping the most ardent movie buffs of their enthusiasm for the medium. Even someone like me has stopped looking at the movie section in Friday's paper because it's almost a guarantee nothing interesting will be playing. <em>Hanna </em>is one of the best movies I've seen in a long time and it reminds me of why I love movies.Chaz Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00821136996983009653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7347927009454287148.post-87451681763418472742011-04-01T23:11:00.000-07:002011-04-09T21:46:27.943-07:00The Las Vegas Soundtrack is One of My Favorite Compilations<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZl5-KRwrYM-iLcxvsuyNOvz75YNkWIAq-B1nf2neLtzD6auNd7tInYY7GMrWObliM2Xdf7mZqhpbWCDdyoLquMJHu-ZglWf2p6Nb7Vvid7AHoZt9ARNquPClA1Xhi6jJjBbxaDCk8lrLC/s1600/Britney-Spears-Vegas_320.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZl5-KRwrYM-iLcxvsuyNOvz75YNkWIAq-B1nf2neLtzD6auNd7tInYY7GMrWObliM2Xdf7mZqhpbWCDdyoLquMJHu-ZglWf2p6Nb7Vvid7AHoZt9ARNquPClA1Xhi6jJjBbxaDCk8lrLC/s1600/Britney-Spears-Vegas_320.jpg" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">They say smell is the sense most strongly connected to memory. At least that is according to some deodorant commercials of the past. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Although I agree with this assessment, I think there is an underrated sense when it comes to recollection. That is hearing, specifically regarding music. Taking it a step further on a personal level, for me the connection to memory is strongest when the music is heard while in Las Vegas.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Here is a brief rundown of what I mean:</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">My first trip to Las Vegas was shortly after my 21st birthday. By shortly I mean a matter of days or maybe two weeks. As a result, virtually every bar had a panache and excitement to it which is certainly only that strong when one is that young. So, when I entered Coyote Ugly for the first time it was an incredible rush. After waiting a long time in line I finally made my way in and “Dirrty” by Christina Aguilera (or XTINA at the time) was blasting inside the raucous watering hole. I’ve never been a fan of Chrisitna but in that moment “Dirrty” became a significant song in the soundtrack of my life. Whenever I hear it, fond memories come flooding back and I feel warm inside.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">In the summer of 2007 I couldn’t walk from the kitchen to the living room in my tiny apartment without hearing "Umbrella" by Rihanna and Jay-Z. This isn’t because I chose to listen to it, but because it was on constant rotation virtually everywhere. I find Jay-Z to mumble too much on his songs and in my opinion Rihanna is second only to Fran Drescher when it comes to nasal voices. As a result, I always became frustrated at having to hear this song. This changed when I jetted of to Las Vegas that June to watch Avril Lavigne perform a special concert at Pearl at The Palms. While waiting for the doors to open, "Umbrella" began playing in the Casino. These two events occurring simultaneously turned that song into a nuisance into a welcome sound of a very fun time. Now whenever I hear "Umbrella" I mention how it makes me think of that day (I’m sure my friends wish I would stop telling that story).</div><br />
I could go on about other songs heard in Vegas which are gilded bookmarks in my biography, but I’m going to jump ahead to the latest. Through an amazing coincidence, Britney Spears gave a surprise performance at Rain at The Palms on March 25 while I was in town on a job hunt. I was fortunate enough to get a ticket and was probably in the second or third row in the general admission area. I’d of course already heard “Hold it Against Me” hundreds of times while driving around in Seattle, but that night marked my first full listen to “Till the World Ends” as well as my introduction to “Big Fat Bass”. <br />
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I just love listening to these two songs for the memories I have and will treasure forever. When I am an old man in the retirement home and am unable to recognize anyone around me I will listen to “Big Fat Bass” and “Till the World Ends” and be transported back to that Las Vegas club as a 28-year-old Britney fan finally getting to watch his favorite artist in his favorite city.Chaz Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00821136996983009653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7347927009454287148.post-21721998502239988992011-03-24T22:42:00.000-07:002011-03-24T22:42:59.879-07:00Dining at The Cosmopolitan is a Vegas mustMy favorite food is burgers. I actually consider myself somewhat of a burger connoisseur. <br />
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Sonic’s double cheeseburger is the best of the fast-food category, followed by the jalapeno burger from Carl’s Jr.<br />
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Chili’s chipotle bacon blue cheeseburger is the most delicious of the casual-dining establishments and the classic burger with cheese from The Cheesecake Factory is the most decadent and satisfying of the next tier of restaurants. <br />
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Today I had one of the best burgers of my life at Holstein’s at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. When I woke up this morning, there was nothing I wanted for lunch than a burger. I knew of this location from reading up on The Cosmopolitan in the months leading up to its opening and I headed there to satisfy my appetite.<br />
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Immediately I knew this would be a great experience because instead of a basket of bread, I was brought a small bucket of popcorn. Yum! Paired with a Diet Coke, the flavor reminded me of being at the movies. After carefully reading the menu to assess my options, I decided on the cheeseburger. A cheeseburger is a creation which is brilliant in its simplicity. Meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, ketchup and mayonnaise is not a complex recipe, but when it’s done to perfection, as this one was, it deserves praise. <br />
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What made this burger so exceptional was not only the freshness of the ingredients, but the way the flavors of each did not blend together, but rather stood on their own. It wasn’t one tasty flavor, which many burgers have and is just fine, but it was a layered buffet of individual pleasures. It was also one of the most carefully and expertly crafted burgers I’ve seen and held. It was evenly arranged and did not sit too high, so when I took each bite it retained its structure. The last few bites had more mayonnaise than the others, allowing this to crescendo with a unique flavor to the overall burger. <br />
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This is certainly a top-notch burger spot.Chaz Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00821136996983009653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7347927009454287148.post-91299266203015653062011-01-24T21:46:00.000-08:002011-01-27T12:29:09.894-08:00"What the Hell" took so long? Avril's new video is finally here and it rocks!!!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://1.gvt0.com/vi/tQmEd_UeeIk/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tQmEd_UeeIk&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tQmEd_UeeIk&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div>After nearly four years Avril Lavigne has finally given us a new video! OK, she did do a video for her song “Alice,” but it wasn’t from a studio album, so it’s not the same thing. <br />
Lavigne’s first video, “Complicated” came out in 2002 and solidified her as a fun-loving, mischievous rocker chick who does as she pleases. The video was brilliant in its simplicity as it showed her and her band mates running amok in a shopping mall. Her next video was for “Sk8er Boi” (arguably her best song) and in this she drew the attention of the police when she staged an illegal concert on a busy street. In several of her videos she is causing harmless trouble and is up to something, but always with a wink instead of a sneer. <br />
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One might say the video for “What the Hell,” the first single from Lavigne’s upcoming album due March 8, is a return to form. Except it’s not because in order to return, there must first be a departure and throughout her 9-year career, Lavigne remains consistent. Well, there is one significant change. When “What the Hell” begins, Lavigne is in bed and rises to give the viewer a look of her svelte figure in adorned with lingerie. Yes, that’s right. The girl who typically only shows skin on the beach or in the pages of “Maxim” is leaving less to the imagination in her video. Lavigne is an outspoken vegetarian and it evidently works wonders for her. Animal-rights activists may want to pass this video along because it’s likely to encourage others to give up meat and switch to tofu and veggies!<br />
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</div><div style="border: medium none;">She then spends the video evading the guy whom she woke up next to while stopping to enjoy some much-deserved mischief. She stops to shoot hoops with some dudes on a basketball court and tries on clothes and accessories in a store. Toward the end of the video she takes the stage at a club and gives the crowd a raucous performance complete with air kicks. Lavigne’s boundless energy, cutesy facial expressions and pink-streaked hair combine with her kick-ass song to make “What the Hell” one of her best-ever videos.</div><div style="border: medium none;"></div><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=popandpolitic-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B000SEGKC0&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>Chaz Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00821136996983009653noreply@blogger.com0