Happy Birthday This Blog

I just realized it has been a year since I started this blog.  Also, like six months since I posted anything.  Apparently I am not good at blogging.  I was going to shut it down, but then I saw that I get like 500 views a month for a post I did about Heath Ledger’s Joker last year and there is some trickle onto other posts.  Because of that, I will not close it, I doubt I will post anything new though, its just not that high a priority for me.  Here’s to hoping for a Batman Dark Knight Sequel announced at Comic Con 2009!

Inland Empire

Runtime: 180 min

Directed By: David Lynch

Starring: Laura Dern

???

Technique- 7

Production Quality- 4

Story- ?

Thought Provoking- ?

Entertainment- 2

Metropolis

Release: (1927)

Runtime: Depends; I saw the 123 Minute Restored edition

Directed By: Fritz Lang

Starring: Germans

While a lot of the content seems silly, I can not deny the awesomeness of the art direction and purity of the class struggle presented.  Who can forget the shots of the model city with its towering buildings five and six blocks wide or the transformation of the robot.  The rigid movements of the factory workers help exaggerate their plight while Maria’s eyes do not let us forget she is a robot.

The historical significance of this piece set a tone of decadence that helped shape the way we now think of movies.  Without the risks taken here where would our big budget sci-fi movie be?

The problem that speaks to us is the nature of the gap between the hands and the head.  The same problem addressed by Wordsworth and the Romantics, translated to film form.  We are told without mediation the hands slave for something they do not understand and the head demands something it has no part in creating.  How different are the hands of the clock the workers spin towards the lights and our own cubicles?

Technique- 6

Production Quality- 9

Story- 7

Thought Provoking- 7

Entertainment- 5

The Beach

IMDB

Release: (2000)

Runtime: 119 Minutes

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio

I was told I needed to watch this on account of my plans to buy a ticked to a random country and see what adventures I found myself in.

Before I get into my analysis, I want to point out some things that bothered me.  The paradise beach is not that much cooler than the other beaches, especially since the other island has; 1) waves 2) no drug farmers with guns.  About that, if you were on an inaccessible island growing pot, why would you need 6 guards with guns and monkeys.  I would think one would be more than enough, its not like you wouldn’t notice a truck trying to drag off your crop, and someone taking a few buds isn’t going to change your profit much.

We’ve got this basic theme of paradise and what it is.  The main character starts off the film by describing how people all want to escape the monotony of life and see something new.  The problem is that everyone does the same thing.  I think we can all feel like this sometimes.  Like all of our greatest attempts at originality are exactly the same as that of a million other people.  I think today with the internet we can feel even more so that way.  Back in the day, if you only knew about people from in person encounters, meeting a painter would seem pretty rare.  Now we all do everything and there is a lot of money in making it easy for us.

There are other issues to be addressed when talking about this flick but this is the one that most stood out to me.  Its the development of tourism.  You want to see something, so someone is willing to let you pay them for their help in showing you.  Once they make money, they advertise it and other people see it.  Eventually even the remotest of locations is full of basic conveniences to ensure proper logistics and then you’ve lost what was once there.  Go to Yellowstone, its like a city with some animals.  To feel unique, you really have to get off the beaten path, which is fully doable but not many people bother.

These people found a beach they consider paradise and more people came and then eventually they had a society.  Daffy Duck is said to have not liked the club house.  Thats a big deal.  At what point has your secluded retreat become a small community of its own.  It seems that even on the furthest corners of the earth you can not escape the problems we have here.  This leads to the conclusion that it is not society that has problems, but each one of us.  Its in our nature, it only stands out more when there are a lot of people.

Have you ever said about a group, “I don’t like them as a group, but a few of them are ok on their own.”  Guess what, they said that about you too, and if you had to pick them out you might find you like almost all of them but hate them together.  Thats interaction and group identity and it can’t be stopped, even on a desert island.

So what should we learn from this.  Keep it like a secret.  I used to tell everyone about anything cool I found.  But when people find out, they tell others and eventually it gets ruined.  Sometimes this is by sheer commercialism, sometimes it is because you were breaking rules and with more people doing so, it was caught and sometimes you just loose that sense of uniqueness.  Share it, but share it with people that you trust and that will enjoy it for what it is and enjoy it for as long as you can, because all things go.

Accessibility: 8

Technique: 7

Thought Provoking: 8

Originality: 6

Entertainment: 7

Dark Knight Opening Night

In case any of you want to see what opening night of the Dark Knight was like, here is some footage of the event.  Nothing too exciting, but we did see some people in costume and ask them a few questions.