Harry Potter premiere: whoopdy doo. . .

Like my previous Jude Law rant, what causes hundreds of people to stand in the streets during torrential downpours and lightning? The Harry Potter and th Order of the Phoenix premiere potentially had thousands of opportunities of fainting young teenage girls and photo ops with Daniel Radcliffe. However, once the Benz' started showing up, the rain set in followed by a few bolts of lightning and thunder. But, just as society would seem fit, the hoards of people still gathered for the chance to catch a small glimpse of Harry and his buddies walking underneath an umbrella to the VIP area closed off to us simpletons. Idol worshiping, I thought, was one of the things the 10 Commandments said NOT to do. People camped out in Leicester Square to catch a glimpse of these people, and the only one who really went out there in the rain was Rupert Grint. Good man.
Another thing: Why is it necessary to be camera whores in today's society? Where ever a news anchor went, a screeching scream who come out of the crowd of mostly young girls, trying to get noticed in the background. This kind of behavior gives way to "Girls Gone Wild." There was this one girl who must have slept there overnight to get her spot in the front of the barricades. She had a bright yellow sign that said "Dan Dan He's Our Man", obviously to get Radcliffe's attention. while it never was seen by Radcliffe, that girl with her sign must have been seen worldwide on millions of television sets, showing how devoted people are to their stars.
Society makes it OK to worship these idols in today's world. I just hope that some old man doesn't come down from a mountain in Hollywood somewhere and break a couple of tablets of stone with writing on them, completely damning us for our ways.

Cowardly Lion: had it all along

The Cowardly Lion, played by the incredible Bert Lahr, conveyed a simple-minded character who cannot face the counterattack. He can put on a mean face, but cannot man up once someone stands up to him. The Lion says he lacks the courage, being that even though he is the King of the Forrest, he does not have the bravery. Who said these things to him to make him believe that? What kind of upbringing did he receive to allow such self doubt? Unfortunately, we will never full know these answers. However, through both the book and film, the Lion shows qualities of courage which nobody notices other than the audience. All along, the Cowardly Lion was not a coward, just self loathing and self doubt wrongfully applied to himself. His character, just like every other character in the film, is a metaphor of the human psyche and how we as human doubt ourselves so much that we begin to believe we don't have certain qualities. We as human have such a powerful grip on our own consciousness that we can trick ourselves into whatever we think. Realities and dreams intertwine and we confuse ourselves. The Lion obviously has courage when he says, "All right, I'll go in there for Dorothy. Wicked Witch or no Wicked Witch, guards or no guards, I'll tear them apart. I may not come out alive, but I'm going in there." If you believe in yourself, you can achieve what you want: A great lesson taught in the Wizard of Oz

Thanks for nothing, mr. law

No, I'm not going to start quoting the Beatles like everyone else. I'm better than that. Anyways, yeah...what is the big deal, women? I saw Jude. I wasn't impressed. OK now to be an anthropologist.

Society has placed a certain "god-like" vision of entertainers in the past 100 years. Why? Do they not breathe and eat like ourselves? Do they not have the same faults and mannerisms everyday people have all around us simple folk? No, they do. They’re human. Jude Law sat up on stage and woman almost purred at the sight of him, but all he did was gave a simple conversation on a film he probably never saw or had his entourage give a brief synopsis to him before heading into the French Film Institute. Maybe that's a little too harsh, but how can you not see the humanity of someone you see in film once you see them in person? (I'm going to say 'I' for the next few sentences, but it's for a reason) Since moving to greater part of Los Angeles, California, 6 years ago, I have had the opportunity of running into movie and television stars from time to time, most notably Vince Vaughn, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Kirsten Dunst. Growing up in DC, movie stars were hard to come by; politicians came a dime a dozen. However, after living in Cali and seeing these people with my own eyes, I just don't see how people can get so crazy over another human being. They all look like they just got out of bed, don't shave in the morning, and can't keep a healthy relationship to save their lives (listening, Jude?). Every person has their flaws, even movie stars. Actors in Shakespeare’s time barely got by with the money they made, and were almost looked down upon. When and where did that change? The only reason actors and actresses seem "larger than life" is because the movie industry needs to make money by having large screens in large venues to shove large amounts of people in and out. Why did the camera change everything? One interesting thing I noticed at the Film Institute was that after the intro, Jude picked up his chair and brought it to the side, not making someone clean up after him. Maybe it’s nothing, but it seemed like a small, courteous gesture uncommon in the film star of today.

Out of the Past

"Dry your eyes baby, it's out of character."
"Now get of this room. I have to sleep here." "Baby, I don't care."

Oh, the one-liners in this movie. . .Simply amazing. the dialog flows so quickly between each other. The actors snap great lines back and forth between each other so fast I couldn't keep up. Did people back in the 40's and 50's talk like that anyways? In that dry, lightning fast sarcasm with no remorse? I would love to hear it if my grandparents spoke like that to each other.

Out of the Past is a classic film noir in the sense that it has the femme fatale, the womanizing yet moral hero, and plenty of backstabbing to go around. Yet, compared to other noirs I've seen like Double Indemnity, there are subtle differences that gave the film a much more majestic and powerful feel. The drama is not cramped into a city setting, but out in the country side and open areas, like Lake Tahoe and Mexico. Typical noirs have all the action taking place in urban centers like Chicago and NYC where the hard nosed hero eventually ends up dead.

Was America scared of women back in the 40's and 50's? It seems as if women in almost all films in that day were portrayed as double-crossers and untrustworthy. Maybe it's the idea of the Post War, working woman was bad for society. This portrayal of women quite possibly may have helped the feminist movement.

Die Blechtrommel aka The Tin Drum

"That day, thinking about the grown-up world and my own future, I decided to call a halt. To stop growing then and there and remain a three-year-old, a gnome, once and for all" - Oskar

Volker Schlöndorff's Tin Drum is the best German film I've ever seen! (It’s the only German film I've seen) Anyways, the little boy who plays Oskar (David Bennett) is such a remarkable actor even at the age of 11. Oskar is a little boy who, after seeing all the horridness of being an adult, decides to stop growing and stay a 3 year old forever by falling down the stairs. A gross Peter Pan if you will.

The film, I believe, is an abstract tale on how Germany grew in the late 1800's/early 1900's. Also, there are subtle points in the film showing how the people of Germany were almost mind washed into the Nazi regime and how they almost wish it not part of their history. By today's standards, the film is very grotesque and sometimes unbearable to watch (incest, child sex, fishing for eels with a horse's head), but the images happen during the most gruesome times of Germany's history. I believe the director used this to show his message of how Germans were led astray for a long period of time. Also, an image I remember vividly: at the beginning of the Nazi involvement of Oskar's family, the father takes down a picture of Beethoven to make way for a new radio and a picture of Hitler. Towards the end of the film, Beethoven is put back in it's place while the father speaks of how regretful he is of what has happened, what he has done (possibly a metaphor of how the German people are regretful of how they lost their way??? something to think about...)

Dali and Disney's Destino

Surrealism, especially Dali's masterpieces, is so abstract and invigorating that one must stop and stare at the complexity and beauty of the art. This is exactly how I stumbled upon Dali and Disney's joint work on the short film Destino while stumbling through his exhibit in the Tate Modern. A visual hallucination or mind and reality, the joint production felt unusually fluid and gentle. Man and landscapes tend to flow into one another throughout the film, dissolving into the vastness of space and time. If I were ever to take any hard drug, I can’t believe it would look anything different than how Dali presents his realities on his painting and especially in this film. It seems all his work focus on the subconscious and dreams in a visual art form, all which startle and disturb me. We have Disney to thank on making this Destino happen, because he believed all the current and big artists to have such opportunities to “break new trails.”
Honestly, I tend to stay away from Freudian conversations because a) I don’t know shit about Freud and his findings, and b) all technical jargon frightens me. However, after seeing Destino, Dali’s subtle yet profound approach to search within the inner dealings within one’s mind intrigues me and lured me into focusing on his other pieces like The Persistence of Memory (melting clocks) and Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening. His work is spellbinding and has to be really dissected carefully when looked upon, or you will lose his message.

8 1/2: Celebrate the Moment

A collague of dream sequences and reality, Fellini’s 8 ½ is a majestic piece of cinematic art. Particularly, I would like to focus on the ending, so if you haven’t seen it and do not want it to be spoiled for you, don’t read further.
Guido after all his misleadings and unfocused floudering in making his film is finally forced to face the demons and set a date for filming. At the beginnning of the film, we see a dream sequence where a man is trapped in his own car in traffic, suffocating by the fumes, obviously meaning his situation with the producers, actors, *women* hounding him throught 8 ½. The pressure of his duties as director have finally wore him down so much that he wants nothing to do with them, but he cannot simply give the project up for he would lose everything he needs (I believe the women). At a press conference, he is questioned on when the filming will begin and who will be starring. He has no answers, only a blank stare which the media pounces on. He flees the stalking questions of the new reporters and producers by hiding underneath the conference table. The only way he sees to release himself is through the bullet of a gun, given to him by his faithful assistant whom he treated horribly. It is unclear if he actually commited suicide or it is just a methaphorical symbol that he finally let go of his responsibilities. However, the important message to take from the ending, or at least what I got out of it, is that life if a game that we are all actors and actresses performing our simple roles and that our only real response from the stage of life is to join hands and celebrate the good moments.

mike smitty

The Fountain

At the Everyman Theatre, a certain aroma and feeling came through to me as we walked in. And it was the nicely stocked bar, the nicely prepared canapes, or the nicely stacked glasses of champagne for easy consumption. No, i knew this film was going to be an experience, something possibly life changing. I heard about The Fountain almost a year ago when it first came out in the States. Just as IMDB states, the plot keeps true as a "story of love, death, spirituality, and the fragility of our existence in this world."
The visuals intrigued me the most, more than any other amazing aspect throughout this film. the father-son scene designer tandem was at the theatre to answer questions and actually see the complete film for the first time. Their forte was in the chemical reaction of certain elements and compounds and capturing them on film. before the start, they gave a brief history of their work. The father spoke of his chemistry-esque work in film, most notably Superman: the movie. Once he said that, he had my full attention. My childhood (and probably all-time) film was Superman, my hero. In the opening credits of the first two Superman films, if you ever saw them, the viewers flies through space, seeing abstract explosions and oddly-shaped galaxies. this was his work, an i remembered it vividly. Once the film started, i made it essential to spot out the designers contributions to the film.
The film had three core time periods where everything took place: old Conquistadorian Spain, present day, and 2500. the story is about this Spanish soldier, hugh jackman, who finds the fountain of youth. only in the 2500 era do you really see the designers contributions, though. Jackman's character is moving towards a dying star to save his love. the scenes in space are so vibrant and radiant with particles slowly flying by Jackman's "space bubble." it's just amazing thinking how these two people would slave over a microscope seeing how each combination of elements will give a certain reaction, and how they happened upon the exact formula to create the scenes in this movie.