Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Saturday, December 10, 2011
'Prometheus': To Be or Not to Be....
I anxiously await the arrival of two films slated for release during next year's competitive summer months. One is the last entry in the Caped Crusader's trilogy. The other has been shrouded in perfectly choreographed secrecy, churning blogospheres into overdrive.
Ridley Scott, with much hesitation, is finally returning to the genre he almost single-handedly revolutionized with 'Alien' and 'Blade Runner', delivering his vision of future's landscape in a highly stylized, bleak, noirish world whose every light flare and highly lit corridor would be copied the moment the first reels began.
Armed with the conceptual art of H.R. Gieger, Scott created a bleak, over-populated future of mega-corporations, deep space travel, elevated technology beyond our imagination. Nearly every futuristic city landscape in film borrows heavily from Scott's 'Blade Runner' as nearly every film that happens to be set in deep space pays tribute to 'Alien'.
Ridley Scott did not agree to direct this film forthright. Originally, he opted to co-produce along with his brother and fellow film maker, Tony Scott, but 20th Century Fox balked at that idea. If the studio was going out on a limb, announcing 'Prometheus' as its Summer 2012 tent pole film, reportedly budgeted at $250 million and ambitiously filmed in both live action as well as 3-D, they wanted the originating director to helm. It was Scott or no one. Finally, in 2009, Scott agreed then began quickly assembling a cast, visual artists, set designers and writers Damon Lindelof and Jon Spaihts to bring together what is unofficially not being called the prequel to 'Alien'. Well, is it or isn't it part of the 'Alien' lexicon, bringing the story full circle with cartharsis? Or is the original helmer simpley returning to reboot, relaunch and reinvision the franchise, whetting appetites with the promise of seeing the alien's home world. Or maybe even explanations of the 'space jockey' from the original film (fans will understand).
Director Scott drops vague hints, only saying the story takes place within the realm and world of 'Alien', but is a stand alone story in its right.
With a cast that boasts Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Noomi Rapace, Patrick Wilson, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce and Rutina Wesley, it will either breathe new life into the 'Alien' franchise or it will be mothballed for another 20 years.
June 2012
Sunday, December 4, 2011
'Melancholia': a review
My original thought after reading that Kirsten Dunst has been cast as the female lead in Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier's (Breaking the Waves) latest in his ongoing exercise in patience, rhythm and pace, was that von Trier had finally decided to go commercial. Was I ever wrong.
Being raised, spoiled and eventually exhausted with disappointing big budget American film making I've devoured for decades (comic-book-to-movie film making is the new Shakespeare) my introduction to Trier's world of minimalism was with Dancer in the Dark which featured Icelandic singer, Bjork, in her first leading role as a tortured mother with failing eyesight who is dragged into, what can only be described as, a walk through Dante's Inferno. It was not an easy watch nor is any of von Trier's work. Not because it's bad. Because it's harrowing. His characters are affected by life and they are burdened, put-upon and worn.
Trier's direction is precise and sprawling as his actors are put through their paces. Sometimes sparse dialogue. Chalk outlines as sets. Bare-bones budgets. It allows von Trier complete control of all elements, almost leaving the viewer up to their own ideas of what a set is supposed to look like. Especially when it does not exist. This allows the viewer to focus mainly on the actor and their actions.
Although this is defined as a disaster movie, it does not unfurl with the stereotypical disaster flick hysteria. Instead, it opens with a couple late to their wedding. Everyone already knows disaster is looming with the impending arrival of Melancholia, the recently discovered planet hiding behind the sun that wrests free from its own orbit, hurtling directly towards Earth but it seems the characters are in a dazed denial.
Dunst follows in a long line of actresses who signed on to be directed by von Trier's militant, bootcamp style of directing. Low budget. No frills, yet brilliant. Nicole Kidman, Emily Watson (Oscar nominated for Breaking the Waves), Bjork won Best Actress at the Canne Film Festival for her protrayal of the tortured mother with failing eyesight, then promtly announced that the filmmaking experience so traumatized her, she would never do it again. Sadly.
The film acts as an experiment in unyielding technique, juggling very precise acting technique with moody atmospheric photographing/lighting.
Dunst's character, 'Justine', suffers bouts of depression and for seemingly good reason. Her boss at an ad agency practically bullies her into coming up with a slogan for a new ad campaign. At her wedding! Her mother is a piece of work. Her father, divorced from 'Justine's' mother, is flighty and leaves the constantly stalled wedding even after Justine begs him to stay the night at the lavishly, palatial estate of her sister, Claire (wondering played by Charlotte Gainsbourg) and brother-in-law, John (Kiefer Sutherland) complete with its own 18 hole golf course.
Cinematographer Manuel Alberto Claro deserves great credit for his amazing eye, providing such depth within exterior scenes and then capturing every bit of the uncomfortable wedding reception which is lightly sprinkled with von Trier favorite, Udo Kier, providing wonderful comic relief.
The film is a feast for the eyes and worth of every accolade it has slowly began garnering since the beginning of award season around the world. (We'll see if the U.S. is as in love with the film as Europeans seem to be.) Even after von Trier's ill-fated, ill-timed Nazi comment which sprang forth from his morbid sense of humor and was taken quite seriously by Cannes Film Festival big wigs, the film can not be denied. It is an undoubted von Trier masterpiece.
From the beginning to its satisfying denouenment, von Trier delivers as only he can. No pricey special effects. No skyscrapers tumbling into the streets. No screaming crowds running across breaking pavement. It ends the way it began: quietly satisfying with a dramatic chaser.
The elder, legendary actors in the form of John Hurt and Charlotte Rampling provide support in 'Melancholia', assisting the much younger, yet, capable cast who, in turn, respond by giving some of the greatest performances of their careers.
Cast & Credits
Justine...................................... Kirsten Dunst
Claire........................................ Charlotte Gainsbourg
Michael.................................... Alexander Skarsgard
John.......................................... Kiefer Sutherland
Tim........................................... Brady Corbet
Gaby......................................... Charlotte Rampling
Dexter...................................... John Hurt
Jack.......................................... Stellan Skarsgard
Wedding Planner.................... Udo Kier
Saturday, December 3, 2011
The Kardashian Albatross
"Don't let your children watch television
until they know how to read. Unless all
they'll know how 2 do is cuss fight and
breed. No child is bad from the beginning.
They only imitate their atmosphere."
- Prince, 'Sexuality'
The Thanksgiving holiday was filled with the usual amount of cheer sprinkled with just enough red wine and perfectly baked stuffing that even the most trite of subjects were cannon fodder for the light-hearted soiree. And when we were done tossing those topics around, each of the family members giving their opinion with a slight slur, we found just enough energy to scrape the bottom of the barrel marked Most Trivial of Trivia Especially When Tipsy on Thanksgiving. I emerged with, "Vatican City is the only country in the world with a birthrate of zero!" After a quick pause, back we went into that barrel of hit or miss but this time, emerging was something I'd never had the energy to partake in. The topic of the not so clandestine Kardashian clan.
I don't know which is more trendy: disliking them for the obvious reasons of jealousy and/or overexposure. Or....actually liking them because it's supposedly edgy to go against the grain from time to time. It's like copping to being nerdy. After years of being offended by accusations of being such, you notice that the world's best and most creative people are quite the nerds. Bill Gates and the Facebook founder? Nerds. To the nth degree.
I would simply be remiss if I didn't take a stab at Kris Jenner and her growing brood's mission to single-handedly raise the bar for most money made while being completely and unapologetic in their wallow in the land of the untalented. Or is that unfair? Are they talented? Tyler Perry cast Kim Kardashian (or as we call her, the pretty one) in his next project. So, we shall soon see. And because they are single-minded, like the Borg, if one can, the others can, too.
Kris Jenner could teach a semester of marketing courses at Northwestern University, along with the other celebrity imports invited to self congratulate themselves in front of a class made to listen in lieu of a grade.
Rumor has it Kris will be on one of the plethora of celeb D-List dancing shows designed to help fading/aging stars to shed pounds while being humiliated. It's looking more and more like the marketing world's own Sun Tzu is writing her own Art of War and waging it against all those who watch television and mindlessly leaf through magazines without merit. She's more than Gypsy
Rose Lee, the pushy stage mother who would eat her own in order to live vicariously through the success of her child. She is a strategist as cunning as any Patton or Powell and appears absolutely cut-throat which is a terrifying trait when your mother is your manager.
The Kardashian sisters are set. Finanacially. Even the ugly one. The youngest Jenner girl is modeling, therefore, she is set. The brother , Rob, is merely a face in the crowd, jumping up and down to be noticed. He remains totally unremarkable in every way.
My ultimate question is why does America care so much about this family and very little about the state of the world? The Kardashian high point...its zenith....its paramount was the wedding between Kim and that bland, bamboozled athlete. Nuptials that ended before she could barely say, "I do." And the following faux furor fueling an outcry to end their multitude of reality shows.
People, please.
The Kardashian's have become a very big deal, earning upward of $100 million last year. Doing what? Who knows? Endorsement deals and basically just showing up. Not a bad gig if you can get it, so rethink your hollow disdain. Is this not the American dream?
It is Madame Kris' ultimate endgame. Total marketing domination while wielding exotic features, dark locks and totally flat affects. She just wants viewers/readers/buyers. And she has them. Though what appears to be one of the greatest shows on earth even trumping Ringling Bros., seems to be bulging at the seams with 'the wedding' debacle ending less than blissfully, though, feeling hauntingly rehearsed and forced. Okay....faked! How does one top what has emptied more jars of ink onto headlines than 'Who Shot J.R.?' thirty something years ago?
I racked my brain over that question. Over and over it tumbled as if on a continuous fluff cycle. And this was all while pouring a glass of Bordeaux. And then, I was struck with an epiphany. It was simple, actually. The only way to top the wedding: one of the girls has to go! Simple. It's the most logical step! Exiled to the Isle of Kardashian Over-Exposure which I'm sure is decorated lavishly with zebra prints, half clad Black, male, oversexed/overpaid pro athletes and reeking of vanilla incense. It would even have a majordomo: Bruce Jenner and his taut face (or as he's known by millions: Kris Jenner's bitch).
I remember how this fame began. With the Kim Kardashian sex tape. The very graphic sex tape. And it makes me wonder just how behind things Kris Jenner is, where she draws the line and why any company would want Kim Kardashian hawking their product after seeing every inch of her cervix.
There are days where I silently sit, impressed with the Kardashian takeover and Kris Jenner's steady, yet, iron-fisted guidance.
Then, there are times when I wished Kris Jenner had been raised in Vatican City where, since the wine opened, we all know the birth rate is zero.
until they know how to read. Unless all
they'll know how 2 do is cuss fight and
breed. No child is bad from the beginning.
They only imitate their atmosphere."
- Prince, 'Sexuality'
The Thanksgiving holiday was filled with the usual amount of cheer sprinkled with just enough red wine and perfectly baked stuffing that even the most trite of subjects were cannon fodder for the light-hearted soiree. And when we were done tossing those topics around, each of the family members giving their opinion with a slight slur, we found just enough energy to scrape the bottom of the barrel marked Most Trivial of Trivia Especially When Tipsy on Thanksgiving. I emerged with, "Vatican City is the only country in the world with a birthrate of zero!" After a quick pause, back we went into that barrel of hit or miss but this time, emerging was something I'd never had the energy to partake in. The topic of the not so clandestine Kardashian clan.
I don't know which is more trendy: disliking them for the obvious reasons of jealousy and/or overexposure. Or....actually liking them because it's supposedly edgy to go against the grain from time to time. It's like copping to being nerdy. After years of being offended by accusations of being such, you notice that the world's best and most creative people are quite the nerds. Bill Gates and the Facebook founder? Nerds. To the nth degree.
I would simply be remiss if I didn't take a stab at Kris Jenner and her growing brood's mission to single-handedly raise the bar for most money made while being completely and unapologetic in their wallow in the land of the untalented. Or is that unfair? Are they talented? Tyler Perry cast Kim Kardashian (or as we call her, the pretty one) in his next project. So, we shall soon see. And because they are single-minded, like the Borg, if one can, the others can, too.
Kris Jenner could teach a semester of marketing courses at Northwestern University, along with the other celebrity imports invited to self congratulate themselves in front of a class made to listen in lieu of a grade.
Rumor has it Kris will be on one of the plethora of celeb D-List dancing shows designed to help fading/aging stars to shed pounds while being humiliated. It's looking more and more like the marketing world's own Sun Tzu is writing her own Art of War and waging it against all those who watch television and mindlessly leaf through magazines without merit. She's more than Gypsy
Rose Lee, the pushy stage mother who would eat her own in order to live vicariously through the success of her child. She is a strategist as cunning as any Patton or Powell and appears absolutely cut-throat which is a terrifying trait when your mother is your manager.
The Kardashian sisters are set. Finanacially. Even the ugly one. The youngest Jenner girl is modeling, therefore, she is set. The brother , Rob, is merely a face in the crowd, jumping up and down to be noticed. He remains totally unremarkable in every way.
My ultimate question is why does America care so much about this family and very little about the state of the world? The Kardashian high point...its zenith....its paramount was the wedding between Kim and that bland, bamboozled athlete. Nuptials that ended before she could barely say, "I do." And the following faux furor fueling an outcry to end their multitude of reality shows.
People, please.
The Kardashian's have become a very big deal, earning upward of $100 million last year. Doing what? Who knows? Endorsement deals and basically just showing up. Not a bad gig if you can get it, so rethink your hollow disdain. Is this not the American dream?
It is Madame Kris' ultimate endgame. Total marketing domination while wielding exotic features, dark locks and totally flat affects. She just wants viewers/readers/buyers. And she has them. Though what appears to be one of the greatest shows on earth even trumping Ringling Bros., seems to be bulging at the seams with 'the wedding' debacle ending less than blissfully, though, feeling hauntingly rehearsed and forced. Okay....faked! How does one top what has emptied more jars of ink onto headlines than 'Who Shot J.R.?' thirty something years ago?
I racked my brain over that question. Over and over it tumbled as if on a continuous fluff cycle. And this was all while pouring a glass of Bordeaux. And then, I was struck with an epiphany. It was simple, actually. The only way to top the wedding: one of the girls has to go! Simple. It's the most logical step! Exiled to the Isle of Kardashian Over-Exposure which I'm sure is decorated lavishly with zebra prints, half clad Black, male, oversexed/overpaid pro athletes and reeking of vanilla incense. It would even have a majordomo: Bruce Jenner and his taut face (or as he's known by millions: Kris Jenner's bitch).
I remember how this fame began. With the Kim Kardashian sex tape. The very graphic sex tape. And it makes me wonder just how behind things Kris Jenner is, where she draws the line and why any company would want Kim Kardashian hawking their product after seeing every inch of her cervix.
There are days where I silently sit, impressed with the Kardashian takeover and Kris Jenner's steady, yet, iron-fisted guidance.
Then, there are times when I wished Kris Jenner had been raised in Vatican City where, since the wine opened, we all know the birth rate is zero.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Transitioning Parties: Dying To Fit Into the Gay Scene
Allow me to invite you to the latest in the evolution of gay culture.
It's called the Transitioning Party and before you make any uneducated guesses as to what it is, let me just say that it has absolutely nothing to do with drag queens, make-up or make-overs, for that matter. It won't be featured on one of the Logo Channel's embarrassingly tepid subjects of the month. RuPaul won't be judging and Tyra won't be snapping. None of today's stereotypical gaieties will be on deck.
Before I launch into this new phenomenon, allow me to preface with this: this is not judgement. This is a hypercritical tongue-lashing. I wanted to refrain from writing with a creased brow or hypocritical pen. I wanted it to be an observation. But that would be a lie and, therefore, I can not.
During my days chained to Corporate America's sweat-stained armpit, I was trained to approach possibly sticky situations through HIP PA filtered eyes and with much caution, as to avoid lawsuits or possibly agitating the accidentally employed and terrifyingly deranged.
So....it has come to my attention and noticed by others that a vast number of HIV-(negative) men around the globe are having parties in which the only people invited are men who are HIV+ (positive) regardless of sexual orientation (gay, bi, confused).
Why are the only people on the guest list men who are HIV+? It is for the simple yet morally reprehensible/irresponsible task of infecting the HIV- party thrower. Consensually. Of course. Talk about the gift that keeps on giving. I must reiterate that this is only a segment of the gay populace but can hardly be polled since so many gay men live in denial about, well, everything, including safe sex practices. (Just because you've not tested, ever, does not make you negative. Being positive, yet, undetectable, does not make you suddenly negative.) Many gay men I've told about this 'party' are horrified like normal gay men should be and don't want on any guest lists.
I don't think the gay populace wants to open its eyes to facts. One fact being that coupling HIV strains can possibly cause what is known as the Super Virus which speeds up the rate of the virus, exponentially, killing its host quickly.
So....this is what is known as the Transitioning Party. One of the gay scene's dirty little secrets....among many. Attending a party where someone who is not infected requests that the infected guests infect him, transitioning him into the vast, mythical world of the infected, possibly freeing his mind of all that pesky worrying that he may get infected through his unsafe and life-threatening sexual practices and not have fun! And what is sex if not unprotected and risky? Well.....a roll of the dice.
Dr. Aline Brown, leading Infectious Diseases doctor, specializing in the treatment of HIV/AIDS in Oklahoma, spoke with me months ago. "I receive a new patient infected with the virus everyday." Daunting news. She is not the only person to speak of the evaporating limits within the gay communities with a tone just shy of grieving. She went on to liken it to the 1980s early outbreak of the virus and strolling through the once bustling streets of Haight/Ashbury in San Francisco. She said it looked like a ghost town. The virus has swept through the gay districts and either wiped many out or sent many into a panic, hiding and waiting for Madonna to emancipate with, "It's okay, gay men. It's o-kay. Now, strike a pose."
These HIV- men know the advances in medicines assisting those living with the virus. These advances have stripped away many of the bad side-effects of the earlier medicines, so, getting the menace of infection over and done with sounds like a clever idea! But it is, in fact, destroying the gay community and casting an ever widening shadow of disdain over a community that wants equality and cleaner bathhouses. Oh...and lawful marriage. I tend to forget.
Self-destructive behavior such as this merely loads another bullet in the chamber for a community hell bent on playing Russian Roulette with its own lives and the the lives of others.
It's no longer defeatist.
It's nihilism at its most macabre.
It's called the Transitioning Party and before you make any uneducated guesses as to what it is, let me just say that it has absolutely nothing to do with drag queens, make-up or make-overs, for that matter. It won't be featured on one of the Logo Channel's embarrassingly tepid subjects of the month. RuPaul won't be judging and Tyra won't be snapping. None of today's stereotypical gaieties will be on deck.
Before I launch into this new phenomenon, allow me to preface with this: this is not judgement. This is a hypercritical tongue-lashing. I wanted to refrain from writing with a creased brow or hypocritical pen. I wanted it to be an observation. But that would be a lie and, therefore, I can not.
During my days chained to Corporate America's sweat-stained armpit, I was trained to approach possibly sticky situations through HIP PA filtered eyes and with much caution, as to avoid lawsuits or possibly agitating the accidentally employed and terrifyingly deranged.
So....it has come to my attention and noticed by others that a vast number of HIV-(negative) men around the globe are having parties in which the only people invited are men who are HIV+ (positive) regardless of sexual orientation (gay, bi, confused).
Why are the only people on the guest list men who are HIV+? It is for the simple yet morally reprehensible/irresponsible task of infecting the HIV- party thrower. Consensually. Of course. Talk about the gift that keeps on giving. I must reiterate that this is only a segment of the gay populace but can hardly be polled since so many gay men live in denial about, well, everything, including safe sex practices. (Just because you've not tested, ever, does not make you negative. Being positive, yet, undetectable, does not make you suddenly negative.) Many gay men I've told about this 'party' are horrified like normal gay men should be and don't want on any guest lists.
I don't think the gay populace wants to open its eyes to facts. One fact being that coupling HIV strains can possibly cause what is known as the Super Virus which speeds up the rate of the virus, exponentially, killing its host quickly.
So....this is what is known as the Transitioning Party. One of the gay scene's dirty little secrets....among many. Attending a party where someone who is not infected requests that the infected guests infect him, transitioning him into the vast, mythical world of the infected, possibly freeing his mind of all that pesky worrying that he may get infected through his unsafe and life-threatening sexual practices and not have fun! And what is sex if not unprotected and risky? Well.....a roll of the dice.
Dr. Aline Brown, leading Infectious Diseases doctor, specializing in the treatment of HIV/AIDS in Oklahoma, spoke with me months ago. "I receive a new patient infected with the virus everyday." Daunting news. She is not the only person to speak of the evaporating limits within the gay communities with a tone just shy of grieving. She went on to liken it to the 1980s early outbreak of the virus and strolling through the once bustling streets of Haight/Ashbury in San Francisco. She said it looked like a ghost town. The virus has swept through the gay districts and either wiped many out or sent many into a panic, hiding and waiting for Madonna to emancipate with, "It's okay, gay men. It's o-kay. Now, strike a pose."
These HIV- men know the advances in medicines assisting those living with the virus. These advances have stripped away many of the bad side-effects of the earlier medicines, so, getting the menace of infection over and done with sounds like a clever idea! But it is, in fact, destroying the gay community and casting an ever widening shadow of disdain over a community that wants equality and cleaner bathhouses. Oh...and lawful marriage. I tend to forget.
Self-destructive behavior such as this merely loads another bullet in the chamber for a community hell bent on playing Russian Roulette with its own lives and the the lives of others.
It's no longer defeatist.
It's nihilism at its most macabre.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)