I actually saw this movie a few weeks ago, but it was just too hard for me to comment on it at the time. It's a beautiful children's movie that addresses the real effects of relationships on young people and what it's like for a young person or child to feel hurt or betrayed by a person that they love and depend on.
The main character, Max, is dealing with feelings that stem from his mother's new dating life and his sister's growing distance due to adolescence. His culminated reaction to the situation causes him to run away to a fantasy island where he meets the Wild Things. Max develops intimate friendships with the Wild Things and when he disappoints them, they have a similar reaction to the one Max had towards his family.
This movie is a deep and fantastical equivalent to watching a child yell at and hit her dolls in much the same way that she experienced what may have done to her, her sibling or parent. There is no father figure in the film for Max; his mother has a boyfriend that does not seem to be involved in his or his sister's lives. His father may have passed or left the family. It then seems logical to infer that the behavior exemplified by Max when he runs away was "learned" from his father "running away" from Maxs family.
This movie was especially hard to watch because it was difficult to come to terms with the fact that a boy so young understands the deeply felt anger and disappointment that would come from being hurt by someone he loves. It is normal for an adult to have to come to terms with pain, disappointment, resentment, and abandonment. However, knowing that a young child has to try not only to understand and come to terms with these feelings, but then to forgive and move on so that he may live freely, without being hampered.
Director Spike Jonze's choice to use the fantasy world of the child to present this issue was even more poignant because the association with a fantasy world usually allows a person to escape from painful realities, not explore them more deeply.
Beautiful film; very deeply felt.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Inglourious Basterds
This movie is a taste of brilliance brought to you by the insurmountable Quentin Tarantino. Brad Pitt, blowing things up, and Nazis; what more could you possibly ask for?
The opening scene puts us on the beautiful French countryside and focuses in on a man tending to his dairy farm, with the help of his daughters. Think Clint Eastwood, Unforgiven; or Paul Newman, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as he approaches the innocent boy and his family on their farm. This scene leads us allows us to look into the life of a man's man who aspires to do good, but in the end becomes who all of us have inevitably and regrettably been at one point in our lives: bad, or a tool used by the bad guy, if they aren't one and the same. The tears he sheds are felt by the audience when he realizes he must help the Nazi Jew-hunter, or suffer the consequences put on himself and his three exquisitely beautiful daughters.
This is also the scene in which we are introduced to the Jew-hunter, adeptfully and artfully played by Christoph Waltz. You know who he is the moment he steps on screen as he exudes meticulous evil and commands the most deeply felt fear. As he sits and drinks a glass of milk brought to him by one of the dairy farmer's daughters, and casually discusses his talent for hunting Jews and the weight of the lives being hidden by the dairy farmer, your fear and disgust for him rises to a bitter taste in your mouth.
This fear is realized again in a wonderful scene expertly carried out by Tarantino, in which he places the dairy farmer's only surviving daughter, Shoshanna, at a table surrounded by the pretentious, self-important heirarchy of the Third Reich. None of them know who she truly is: a Jew. And the fear of her position is felt by the audience, just as her father's was, when she sees the Jew-hunter approach. Does he know who she is? Can he see her; smell her? Will he bring her to an end?
Tarantino's filmmaking is brought to a palpable edge-of-your-seat moment when the Jew-hunter orders a glass of milk for Shoshanna, the same drink of choice given to him by the dairy farmer as he weighed out the lives of her family.
These scenes are but a glance into another triumph given to us by Tarantino.
Please watch this film. Over and over again.
The opening scene puts us on the beautiful French countryside and focuses in on a man tending to his dairy farm, with the help of his daughters. Think Clint Eastwood, Unforgiven; or Paul Newman, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as he approaches the innocent boy and his family on their farm. This scene leads us allows us to look into the life of a man's man who aspires to do good, but in the end becomes who all of us have inevitably and regrettably been at one point in our lives: bad, or a tool used by the bad guy, if they aren't one and the same. The tears he sheds are felt by the audience when he realizes he must help the Nazi Jew-hunter, or suffer the consequences put on himself and his three exquisitely beautiful daughters.
This is also the scene in which we are introduced to the Jew-hunter, adeptfully and artfully played by Christoph Waltz. You know who he is the moment he steps on screen as he exudes meticulous evil and commands the most deeply felt fear. As he sits and drinks a glass of milk brought to him by one of the dairy farmer's daughters, and casually discusses his talent for hunting Jews and the weight of the lives being hidden by the dairy farmer, your fear and disgust for him rises to a bitter taste in your mouth.
This fear is realized again in a wonderful scene expertly carried out by Tarantino, in which he places the dairy farmer's only surviving daughter, Shoshanna, at a table surrounded by the pretentious, self-important heirarchy of the Third Reich. None of them know who she truly is: a Jew. And the fear of her position is felt by the audience, just as her father's was, when she sees the Jew-hunter approach. Does he know who she is? Can he see her; smell her? Will he bring her to an end?
Tarantino's filmmaking is brought to a palpable edge-of-your-seat moment when the Jew-hunter orders a glass of milk for Shoshanna, the same drink of choice given to him by the dairy farmer as he weighed out the lives of her family.
These scenes are but a glance into another triumph given to us by Tarantino.
Please watch this film. Over and over again.
Friday, August 21, 2009
The Brothers Bloom
Please see this film! Adrian Brody and Mark Ruffalo are fantastic as the title characters in this cat and mouse chase about two brothers who make their way through the world as con artists. Many of the nuances are never explained and that way the film never loses its novelty, such as Boom-Boom. Where did she come from, why does she never speak and why does she leave without reason?
This is defintely a love story that epitomises romance. But asks the modern question: who rescues who? Does Brody's character, Bloom rescue Weisz's Penelope from the castle or does Penelope rescue Bloom from his life of crime? Or perhaps it is in fact Ruffalo's Stephen that rescues them both by giving them something greater than themselves to live for: their love. In the end, everyone really does get what they want as Rian Johnson depicts a beautiful, quarky and adventurous Wes Anderson-esque film that everyone should see and fall in love with.
"I've been doing a lot of thinking and the thing is, I love you."
This is defintely a love story that epitomises romance. But asks the modern question: who rescues who? Does Brody's character, Bloom rescue Weisz's Penelope from the castle or does Penelope rescue Bloom from his life of crime? Or perhaps it is in fact Ruffalo's Stephen that rescues them both by giving them something greater than themselves to live for: their love. In the end, everyone really does get what they want as Rian Johnson depicts a beautiful, quarky and adventurous Wes Anderson-esque film that everyone should see and fall in love with.
"I've been doing a lot of thinking and the thing is, I love you."
Star Trek
Loved it! The concept of mulitiple space-time overlapping wormholes!! I could talk about it all day!
My favorite part of the movie is when young Kirk and young Spock meet Scotty, who has been banished to a planet whose entire surface is akin to the Siberian tundra for his crazy ideas about space overlapping. Scotty is trying to formulate a way for objects to travel within space and be transported from one place to another. The formula, however, has already been discovered by Scotty and is reiterated by young Spock, who is able to do so because the formula has already been invented by Scotty in the future. So was the formula in fact discovered by Scotty, or is it known because Spock gave it to him? The concept of historical context and the impact of one event upon another is astounding and can be used in all topics of interest.
Case in Point: I actually got into a debate with my fiance about the greater value of a primary cause versus an immediate cause (I'm not sure about the correct language...). Basically, I said that Elvis was greater than The Beatles even though the Beatles have a greater causal influence on popular music. My reasoning is that Elvis opened the door for The Beatles to come onto the scene with their more well-known lyrical creations. Because Elvis preceded The Beatles and opened the door that allowed The Beatles to be heard amongst mainstream music across the U.S., he therefore has a greater causal effect on music because he 'caused the cause'!
The Beatles have a ginormous causal inpact upon music, even today. But because it was Elvis's music that allowed the music of The Beatles to become popular, Elvis's impact on music in a historical context becomes greater. This is not to say that Elvis's music is somehow better or that he was even a more popular musician that The Beatles. I only mean to allow that Elvis's music was the primary impact that preceded The Beatles' immediate impact on popular music today.
Maybe w'll never know who, what or when things will impact us or whether or not we've impacted another person. But it's important to think about why we do what we do.
"...when I asked her where she was when Kennedy was shot she said, 'Ted Keneddy was shot?'"
My favorite part of the movie is when young Kirk and young Spock meet Scotty, who has been banished to a planet whose entire surface is akin to the Siberian tundra for his crazy ideas about space overlapping. Scotty is trying to formulate a way for objects to travel within space and be transported from one place to another. The formula, however, has already been discovered by Scotty and is reiterated by young Spock, who is able to do so because the formula has already been invented by Scotty in the future. So was the formula in fact discovered by Scotty, or is it known because Spock gave it to him? The concept of historical context and the impact of one event upon another is astounding and can be used in all topics of interest.
Case in Point: I actually got into a debate with my fiance about the greater value of a primary cause versus an immediate cause (I'm not sure about the correct language...). Basically, I said that Elvis was greater than The Beatles even though the Beatles have a greater causal influence on popular music. My reasoning is that Elvis opened the door for The Beatles to come onto the scene with their more well-known lyrical creations. Because Elvis preceded The Beatles and opened the door that allowed The Beatles to be heard amongst mainstream music across the U.S., he therefore has a greater causal effect on music because he 'caused the cause'!
The Beatles have a ginormous causal inpact upon music, even today. But because it was Elvis's music that allowed the music of The Beatles to become popular, Elvis's impact on music in a historical context becomes greater. This is not to say that Elvis's music is somehow better or that he was even a more popular musician that The Beatles. I only mean to allow that Elvis's music was the primary impact that preceded The Beatles' immediate impact on popular music today.
Maybe w'll never know who, what or when things will impact us or whether or not we've impacted another person. But it's important to think about why we do what we do.
"...when I asked her where she was when Kennedy was shot she said, 'Ted Keneddy was shot?'"
Friday, July 24, 2009
The Ugly Truth
I watched the film, The Ugly Truth, with Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler and loved it! It was the type of romantic comedy that a guy can appreciate. The whole time Gerard Butler's character, Mike, tells you how men really think and Katherine Heigl's character, Abby, is an uptight, "award-winning news producer" who can't stand Mike because of what he represents: a rude, crude, misogynist man-whore.
My fiance and I cracked up the entire time. Abby is uptight, delusional about relationships, and consantly critical about what people say or do. She's not interested in getting to know a man, she just wants to know the bottom line: Where does my guy fit on my 10-point checklist? Her obsession with tap water versus bottled and how there is no difference between the two perfectly exemplified her personality.
But the true depth of character came from Gerard's Mike when you realized that he wasn't saying all of these derogatory things about woman because of his innate personality; he had been truly heartbroken over and over and finally decided he was going to make a living off trying to tell off the "other sex".
He truly has sex "like he's out for revenge, or something."
It was all about the difference between men and women and how they view love and sex. In the end, neither of them win, but they do find love.
My fiance and I cracked up the entire time. Abby is uptight, delusional about relationships, and consantly critical about what people say or do. She's not interested in getting to know a man, she just wants to know the bottom line: Where does my guy fit on my 10-point checklist? Her obsession with tap water versus bottled and how there is no difference between the two perfectly exemplified her personality.
But the true depth of character came from Gerard's Mike when you realized that he wasn't saying all of these derogatory things about woman because of his innate personality; he had been truly heartbroken over and over and finally decided he was going to make a living off trying to tell off the "other sex".
He truly has sex "like he's out for revenge, or something."
It was all about the difference between men and women and how they view love and sex. In the end, neither of them win, but they do find love.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Julie & Julia
Tonight I saw the film, Julie & Julia. It's about a woman who spends a year cooking and blogging through Julia Child's cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
This is not why I started this blog.
Movies are a major part of my vocabulary. They remind me of my life: quiet moments about myself that I've never shared with another soul; the hilarity of familial life and dating; and of course, the joy, the promise and the painful suffering that comes from being human.
Julie & Julia shares the hardship of knowing who you are at the present moment and realizing its not who you are meant to be. You have skills, you have knowledge, you have ambition; but where does it all go? Julia Child and Julie Powell put it towards cooking and sharing their passion with other people. Though cooking is not my forte, I have to admit I am all too familiar with the existensial dilemma of longing for more.......
Hence, the blog, which started in my head long ago, but had never come into fruition. Until now. I hope to share, through this venue, the hopes and heartaches in my life, and my love of art and film.
"Say goodnight, Harry."
"Goodnight, Harry."
This is not why I started this blog.
Movies are a major part of my vocabulary. They remind me of my life: quiet moments about myself that I've never shared with another soul; the hilarity of familial life and dating; and of course, the joy, the promise and the painful suffering that comes from being human.
Julie & Julia shares the hardship of knowing who you are at the present moment and realizing its not who you are meant to be. You have skills, you have knowledge, you have ambition; but where does it all go? Julia Child and Julie Powell put it towards cooking and sharing their passion with other people. Though cooking is not my forte, I have to admit I am all too familiar with the existensial dilemma of longing for more.......
Hence, the blog, which started in my head long ago, but had never come into fruition. Until now. I hope to share, through this venue, the hopes and heartaches in my life, and my love of art and film.
"Say goodnight, Harry."
"Goodnight, Harry."
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