An Oscar for Ledger?

Have you guys heard the Oscar talk yet for Heath Ledger?

First, “Heath Ledger gives a blockbuster performance in the new Batman movie. His work as The Joker will absolutely be nominated for an Oscar... Ledger offers perfect pitch, perfect tone...”

And then, Mr. Peter Travers of the Rolling Stone, in the Dark Knight’s very first review, wrote:

“I can only speak superlatives of Ledger, who is mad-crazy-blazing brilliant as the Joker. Miles from Jack Nicholson's broadly funny take on the role in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman, Ledger takes the role to the shadows, where even what's comic is hardly a relief. No plastic mask for Ledger; his face is caked with moldy makeup that highlights the red scar of a grin, the grungy hair and the yellowing teeth of a hound fresh out of hell. To the clown prince of crime, a knife is preferable to a gun, the better to 'savor the moment.'

“The deft script, by Nolan and his brother Jonathan, taking note of Bob Kane's original Batman and Frank Miller's bleak rethink, refuses to explain the Joker with pop psychology. Forget Freudian hints about a dad who carved a smile into his son's face with a razor. As the Joker says, 'What doesn't kill you makes you stranger…' Ledger's Joker has no gray areas — he's all rampaging id. Watch him crash a party and circle Rachel, a woman torn between Bale's Bruce (she knows he's Batman) and Eckhart's DA, another lover she has to share with his civic duty. 'Hello, beautiful,' says the Joker, sniffing Rachel like a feral beast. He's right when he compares himself to a dog chasing a car: The chase is all. The Joker's sadism is limitless, and the masochistic delight he takes in being punched and bloodied to a pulp would shame the Marquis de Sade. 'I choose chaos,' says the Joker, and those words sum up what's at stake in The Dark Knight.”


Sara Stewart of the NY Post wrote, “If he had a soundtrack, it would be something along the lines of the Sex Pistols, whose singer, Johnny Rotten, was cited by the actor as one of his inspirations for the role, along with Malcolm McDowell's performance in A Clockwork Orange. His puckered grin of a scar and cracked, sweat-smeared makeup are a punk-rock take on the original, purple-suited archnemesis. Ledger developed a whole new body language for the character. His Joker's tendency to lick his lips and blink extra slowly gives him, at times, the appearance of a demonic lizard.”

I love it! I love his whole take on the Joker, certainly his laugh but also his lizard-like lip-licking. I especially love the rampaging id without any pop psychology explanation beyond his addiction to chaos. Why explain it all? Isn't the mystery of his wicked villainy far more interesting?

I don’t recall where I read this exactly, perhaps it was the NY Times, but Heath saw an uncut version of the film before he died, loved it, and asked Nolan to play it again, which he did for him, of course.

Here’s the brand new extended trailer if you haven’t seen it.



Great, great fun.

-MM

Wall*E & The Robot Protagonist

Quick question – is it possible to have a robot protagonist? I’ve always been intrigued by this question. Obviously, Wall-E’s weekend success answers that, doesn’t it? Perhaps a better question might be - Are there any limits to the idea of a robot protagonist?

Now there are, of course, many famous robots in cinema history. R2D2 and C3P0, naturally. There was Robby of the Forbidden Planet, Maria from Metropolis, The Iron Giant, Ash from Alien, Lt. Commander Data from Star Trek, The Terminator, The Transformers, perhaps the Fembots of Austin Powers, and Johnny 5 of Short Circuit.


None of them were protags, were they? I believe they were all supporting characters with the exception of one really cool antagonist. But can any of those characters actually carry a 90-plus-minute film in the lead role? How feasible is it to have a robot protagonist?

Matt Prigge over at the Philadelphia Weekly listed Six Movies Featuring Robot Protagonists. Here’s his list:

Infra-man (1975): Robots have always been a staple of cinema, but it’s a touch unnatural for moviegoers to follow around an artificial, non-carbon-based lead character incapable of real emotions. But it happened and it required baby steps—say, going to bionic hybrids first. Shortly after Steve Austin stormed America, Hong Kong was met with this colorful and cheerfully silly Shaw Brothers production—a proto-Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in which a part-robotic superhero smacks around alien invaders, including skeleton bikers and guys in rubber demon suits.

D.A.R.Y.L. (1985): Long before Haley Joel Osment was even born, there was Barret Oliver, star of The Neverending Story and this family sci-fi about an android boy adopted by Michael McKean.

Making Mr. Right (1987): Right up there with the Lea Thompson-Howard the Duck romance in the realm of creepy cross-species film hookups, this Susan Seidelman comedy romantically pairs scientist Ann Magnuson with a space-bound android, played by a young and arguably never more eccentric John Malkovich.

AI: Artificial Intelligence (2001): Osment was already robotlike even when he was Murphy Brown’s toddler, so casting him as an actual robot feels a bit redundant. Still, no film has so seriously treated an artificial lead with the sensitivity it would a human one, or played so intriguingly with audience identification figures. With a lead whose emotions are as artificial as the rest of him, AI—rather than such desecrations as Bicentennial Man or I, Robot—is the true filmic heir to Isaac Asimov.

Daft Punk’s Electroma (2006): Hand it to the French electronica duo to make their film debut with a painfully slow and wordless portrait of a world just like ours populated only by metal-headed robots.

I might be able to think of a few more. I hadn’t seen Bicentennial Man, but Robin Williams, the robobutler, WAS the protag in that film, wasn’t he? There was also Robots (2005), which had a robot protag called Rodney Copperbottom. Robert John Burke, aka Robocop, was the protag, too, wasn’t he? Not sure about that one. Of course, if they ever get around to making it, you can add to the list the Six Million Dollar Man (or Woman, whichever comes first – like the chicken or the egg). With respect to A.I., I used to be obsessed about the ideas (and the now famous Kubrick legends) at the time regarding the creation of that story. When I sat through the finished film, though, I was never fully won over by Haley Joel Osment as a robot protag, and if Spielberg and Osment can’t win me over, it can’t be done.


Here’s my conclusion. Nowadays, robot protags are possible, but only if it’s designed to be an animated film or CGI. Hence the reason I felt very strongly that they should’ve made Optimus Prime and his Transformers the protags. People can easily buy into it if it’s CGI just as easily as kids bought into it when they were cartoons on television. There’s just something about humans playing robots that doesn’t work well enough to have that compelling lead you need for a film.

But then again, if you mix up the Six Million Dollar Woman with a bunch of Fembots... I don't know. That could be a really good show.

Hehehe...

Your thoughts?

QoS

Anger Management

(UPDATED: Shortened this post. It is indeed a little bit too long even for my standard. LOL)

Don't Make Me Angry | Arkworld

Okay, finally I am back online. Your level of laziness is literally multiplied by a hundred time when you know that your holiday is arriving to its ends. Of course it was getting worst when I am too mixed up with my bad mood about SOME of my subscribed blogs, readers, odd visitors, my self, my parents, politician and human worldwide. I am not actually sure why my anger/dissatisfaction (I am not even sure what it is but it is mostly anger) is building up fast inside of me. Finally last night, after watching an interesting match between Spain and Germany (in which Spain won) for EURO08 finale, I dreamt about scolding and screaming at several people who do not have any connection with my reality, but just because they were at the wrong place at wrong time to be in my dream.

I was in a restaurant having my meal with my parents when something is not up to my level of satisfaction and thus, I spilled out my anger towards them.Yes, I know it isn't healthy for my physiological state - finding a way to solve my problem in semi conscious mind instead of facing it in reality but I also feel quite relief after I woke up. Oh my, I should start making appointment to see one of my readers, which also a counselor, Waliz to spend countless hours and money just for talking 'to a friend'. No offense Waliz.

What Is Anger?

Anger is "an emotional state that varies in intensity from mild irritation to intense fury and rage," according to Charles Spielberger, PhD, a psychologist who specializes in the study of anger. Like other emotions, it is accompanied by physiological and biological changes; when you get angry, your heart rate and blood pressure go up, as do the levels of your energy hormones, adrenaline, and noradrenaline. (blah blah blah - I just copy and paste).

In a normal words, anger is when you feel something boiling up inside you and you feel like wanna punch somebody. In case you are an alien from outer space, this feeling (or what they say, emotion) is a normal for an average person. However, it is becoming a problem when you can't control it and it affects your daily routine.

What Cause Your Anger?

If you want me to list out 100 things that will trigger my anger button, I be well passed 150 by now. To summary the very long list, I think what really make me angry is reoccurrence of human stupidity. I know it is a very strong word to use, but it is true. Whether it is other people stupidity; translation: when one person made a stupid decision and others will have to suffer the pain, or when people are taking advantages from your own stupidity; such as cheated on you in your less knowledgeable field. It is a natural thing for ordinary human to make mistake due to its own imperfections, but, we should all learn from the past and try to avoid it to reoccurs again.

Identify Your Source Of Anger

These questions might be helpful. Do you express anger in a way that overwhelms you and others? Do you get angry more often than most people you know? Do you get angrier than is necessary? Do you use threatening language or gestures? Do you get angry enough to hit, throw or kick things, people or animals? Do you seethe for hours? Do you hide angry feelings from others or try to suppress your feelings? Do you use alcohol or drugs to calm your rage? Do you experience physical reactions such as muscle tension or a racing heart when you get angry? Does expressing your anger usually leave you feeling better about yourself and the person who angered you?

When Victoria Beckham Smile | My Little Black Pot

I think Victoria Beckham is very pretty, but she seems to think that
smiling is not fashionable. So, I decided to lend her a smile from one of
my favorite TV series character to her. Check my other blog to
find out who he is - Bluecrystaldude

Anger Management Tips

The problem is not anger, the problem is the mismanagement of anger. Mismanaged anger and rage is the major cause of conflict in our personal and professional relationships. Domestic abuse, road rage, workplace violence, divorce, and addiction are just a few examples of what happens when anger is mismanaged. Here are some of the anger management tips (partially extracted from MayoClinic.com) to help get your anger under control:

1. Take a time out
2. Do something physically exerting
3. Find ways to calm and soothe yourself
4. Once you're calm, express your anger as soon as possible so that you aren't left stewing
5. Think carefully before you say anything
   
6. Work with the person who angered you
7. Use "I" statements when describing the problem to avoid criticizing or placing blame
8. Forgive the other person
9. Keep an anger log/list
10. Use humor to release tensions
    

There you go. Please, please, please, make this world a better place and easier for you and me. Oh, and please do not try to underestimate my intelligence by posting unrelated and general comments that only show you are not actually read my post. I know it usually very long and will take your valuable time to read it, but it already took mine a lot to make all those posts. I really have many things to take care off towards the end of my holiday rather than handling my anger problem yet in my dream again. Thank you.

Bluecrystaldude

My Little Black Pot - Recent Posts

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Once [2007]

Watching Once felt like a breath of fresh air for the simple reason that I didn’t have to be immersed in complex character studies, disturbing plot developments, and cynical humour in the quest for watching a good movie. A serendipitous and heart-warming tale of two gentle, lovelorn individuals and how they affect each other’s lives profoundly – he is a talented Irish songwriter who composes pieces of love and loss but never dreams beyond playing on the pavements of Dublin; she is a Czech immigrant who sells flowers and plays the piano during lunch time at a music shop because she can’t afford to buy one – the documentary-style musical is a charming piece of work. Devoid of any artsy pretentiousness and made on a shoe-string budget, Once strikes a chord (make that C Sharp) because of its simple, heart-felt portrayal of human emotions and of course, some truly well-composed songs. Given the storyline, it was tailor made for a dark, acid tale of self-destruction, or for that matter, a maudlin tear-jerker and sappy melodrama; hence the simplicity, understated humanity and the platonic friendship contained herein, but ripped off any overt sentimentalism or bitterness, is all the more touching, and I must add, appreciable.





Director: John Carney
Genre: Musical Drama/Romantic Drama
Language: English
Country: Ireland

12 Angry Men [1957]

Some of the finest movie directors have had sterling film debuts – Satyajit Ray, Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut and Orson Welles are excellent cases in point. Sydney Lumet too entered this exclusive pantheon with 12 Angry Men, a terrific deglamourized court room story and human drama. The movie concerns the debate between twelve average New Yorkers – jurors in this case – who have been entrusted by the court to provide their verdict regarding an alleged murder committed by a young Puerto Rican boy. Principally a dialogue-driven movie, 12 Angry Men peeps into the mores, psyches and lines of thought of the jury members as they argue, and argue some more, to ascertain the guilt or lack thereof of the boy. The jurors are angry not because they are hostile or irascible fellows; rather because apart from one of the members (Henry Fonda) everyone else has a reason to put the boy to the gallows – for reasons ranging from personal redemption to social prejudice, from overdependence on cold logic to severe apathy, from one-upmanship to a desire to get over with the arduous process with minimum involvement. The mindsets of the jurors and their conflicts have been made more stark and uncomfortable by the claustrophobic atmosphere and torrid weather. Great method acting, water-tight script and taut in-you-face direction have made this Lumet feature a memorable and thought-provoking classic.





Director: Sidney Lumet
Genre: Drama/Courtroom Drama/Psychological Drama
Language: English
Country: US

Last Tango in Paris [1972]

Sexuality, repressed and otherwise, has been the central theme in most of the renowned (and I daresay, controversial) Italian maestro Barnardo Bertolucci’s movies. And it is nowhere better expressed, or for that matter more graphically depicted, than in The Last Tango in Paris, which ranks along with The Conformist as his two most famous works. A complex examination of the relationship between two distinctly different individuals united by chance as well as convenience, the movie boasts of fine performances by its two leads – a world-weary middle-aged American globetrotter who has recently lost his wife (in the champion hands of the great Marlon Brando, the role has attained a surreal, philosophical level), and a young French lady tired of her superficial relationship with her eccentric fiancé. Thanks to the director’s sensitive treatment and evocative photography, even the graphic nudity and strong sexual content seems simultaneously mundane and artistic. At the end of the day, the various parts of this deeply philosophical movie have added up to produce a marvelous deconstruction of the human psyche, the conflict between physical attachment and spiritual detachment, and the various paradoxes that define existence.





Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Genre: Drama/Erotic Drama/Psychological Drama
Language: French/English
Country: France

Unproduced Scripts of Alfred Hitchcock

Hey guys,

Above is Scorsese’s wonderful short - The Key to Reserva.

God, I love that short. Don’t you want to just finish the story?

Inspired by the Key to Reserva, as well as David Freeman’s book, The Last Days of Alfred Hitchcock, and another wonderful book I read recently, Steven DeRosa’s Writing with Hitchcock, I’d like to try something different. I’d like to write a series on the unproduced screenplays of Alfred Hitchcock. Instead of writing long articles, I’m going to post short notes, brief thoughts, and nuggets that I hope will prove insightful or, perhaps, even inspirational. Plus, I’m going to write reviews on two of those lost screenplays, which will be fun.

I’ll update THIS POST with links to all the articles.

Hope you enjoy it.

-MM

---------------------------

The Man Who Made Movies

Unproduced Hitch: The Complete List

Hitchcock, Cinema's Purist

The Derosa Links

The Exposition of Rear Window

Tension & Suspense Blog-a-thon

Elements of Suspense

Peet Gelderblom's Alternatives to Suspense

Hitchcock Goodies for Cinephiles

Two Fabulous Unused Hitchcock Ideas

1939 Alfred Hitchcock Lecture

John Michael Hayes, Lucky Bastard

Script Review - The Short Night

1964 Hitchcock Interview

A murder scene written by - Hitchcock!

Script Review - Mary Rose Part One & Part Two

The Man Who Made Movies

Winnipeg Blue Bomber Season Opener

The Bombers fell to the Toronto Argos 23-16 last evening at Canad Inns Stadium.

It was raining really badly in my neck of the woods just before I left home, so I called a friend to see how badly it was raining at the opposite end of town before leaving.Everyone at the stadium really lucked out as the rain stopped about 10 minutes before kickoff.

It was nice that the light actually increased as the evening went on. The storm clouds dissipated and there was a tiny bit of sun for a few minutes. But by the end of the night the ISO was pushing 2500+. I wasn't super pleased with the D300 over 1600 for football, but it was certainly better than my previous D200 and D2H.

The photographers in the last two shots are Marianne Helm & Mike Deal.

Eastern Promises [2007]

David Cronenberg’s follow-up to A History of Violence is a sequel of sorts to the heavily acclaimed film. Though Eastern Promises does indeed fail to live up to the masterpiece, it is a very good movie nonetheless. Where the former was a near surreal poetry on violence, the latter is unflinching and at times near operatic in its brutal force. The tragic death of a young pregnant mother in London opens a can of beans and leads the half-Russian obstetrician, desperate to find the orphaned baby’s home, to the very epicenter of the nefarious and deadly Russian Mafia in London. Naomi Watts’s charged performance in the role of a desperate lady with a traumatic past is reminiscent of her superlative career-making turn in Mullholand Drive. Viggo Mortensen as the menacing and ruthless gangster with a strangely sympathetic streak is an alter-ego to his character in A History of Violence or perhaps an alternate existence that the character could have had. Terrific turns by the supporting cast, and the leisurely pace of the narrative punctuated by such graphic violence that only Cronenberg – one of the most important directors of his times – can concoct and alleviate to the level of art, have ensured what could have been just another slick action movie is instead something worth watching and perhaps even contemplating on.





Director: David Cronenberg
Genre: Crime Thriller/Gangster Movie/Action
Language: English
Country: UK

Minority Report [2002]

This one has got to be the most underrated film of Steven Spielberg. Though starring Hollywood’s biggest superstar Tom Cruise and made on a huge budget (thanks to the marvelous SFX that we all have come to associate with Spielberg), this is essentially a very offbeat and an extremely unique take on the genre of neo-noirs. It is a dark, frenetic and futuristic sci-fi tale of the protagonist played by Cruise, who is part of a police squad that intercepts murderers before they have actually committed the crime, and thanks to a lovely set up, finds himself being chased for a murder that he is sure he will not commit in the near future. Collin Farrell stars in a supporting role. The movie is entertaining, visually engaging, extremely innovative and very well-paced – all traits of the famous American director of some of the world’s biggest blockbusters. The labyrinthine storyline and the terrific plot twists may be edge-of-the-seat stuff, but the movie also raises some serious issues including free will and choice of action vis-à-vis crime and real politic.






Director: Steven Spielberg
Genre: Sci-Fi Thriller/Post-Noir/Tech Noir/Action
Language: English
Country: US

Blood Simple [1984]

Blood Simple was the movie that introduced the film aficionados to the genius and unpredictability of the Coen brothers, and their dangerously captivating world – a dark, murky place where all rules of normality have gone completely haywire, and where things have a splendid knack of going horribly wrong at the slightest opportunity. A neonoir, with an almost lazy yet beautifully paced plot– a Coens’ speciality – filled with all their quirkiness, bizarre morality plays, ironies, and of course a copious amount of betrayal, double and triple dealings, and murders. The trivial tale of a husband hiring a private eye to murder his wife who is cheating on him, turns out to be a delicious treatise on the famous Murphy’s Law – if things can go wrong, they will. The movie, as in all their subsequent films, is littered with a great cast of character actors from the slippery and unscrupulous private eye to the opportunist wife cum quasi-femme fatale to the cuckolded and burning-for-revenge husband. [This happens to be my 50^th film review. Way to go]






Director: Joel & Ethan Coen
Genre: Post-Noir/Crime Thriller/Private Eye
Language: English
Country: US

Reservoir Dogs [1992]

This was the movie that introduced the world to the devilish genius of the former video library clerk, Quentin Tarantino. And the fact that the Reservoir Dogs is an exceedingly fresh and original story that creeps under your skin right from the very first shot comprising of criminals, psychopaths, and masterminds, sitting in a café and discussing about something as inane as whether tips are necessary, is enough to convince you that you are onto something special. And then when you end up watching a crime thriller which doesn’t show the crime in the first place but what happens before and after it, told in no particular order, you realize that you have entered the quirky, mesmerizing world of Mr. Tarantino. The ensemble cast, as in his next feature Pulp Fiction, is unforgettable, comprising of such brilliant character actors like Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, and of course, the eccentric Tarantino himself. Every single Tarantino signature is there – unbelievably cool dialogues that can be so misleading for the uninitiated, deliberately bizarre plot twists, a wacky sense of humour, graphic violence and profanity, and a visual experience that is so captivating that it lingers with you for a very long time.





Director: Quentin Tarantino
Genre: Crime Thriller, Gangster Movie, Ensemble Film, Black Comedy
Language: English
Country: US

Day 2 of Nygard campaign, VIDEO!

Most of you probably don't realize that I used to shoot a lot of video (even w/ the Bolex and had a minor in film for the first couple years whilst @ u of m).

I'm trying to get back into it again. I shot this video while assisting Ian (www.ian.ca) on 3 crazy days of the next Nygard campaign with a point and shoot that does HD video @ a clearly uprezzed 720 (pretty damn good for web though...) Didn't shoot a ton as I actually had a job to do, and I was limited to 6 min 54 seconds of 720HD video with the 2gb card that was in it. Ian did the editing on this one (great job!!!). Had I edited it, Seal would have been the soundtrack!

--> LINK TO VIDEO HERE<--

Bad Timing [1980]

Nicolas Roeg’s Bad Timing happens to be one of the most deeply disturbing movies that one can hope to come across, and that, along with its explicit and controversial content, I feel are the strongest reasons for near anonymity of an otherwise extremely ambitious and well made movie. Set in Vienna, this is a haunting psycho-analytical tale that explores the darkest corners of the characters’ minds. The fractured non-linear narrative adds to the severe detachment, alienation and claustrophobia that the viewers share with its lead players. The shocking denouement at the end of the emotionally draining journey through jealousy, obsessions, graphic sexual situations, paranoia, and dark explorations of the human psyche, severely adds to the trauma and suddenly the detachment flies though the window. Art Gurfunkel as an obsessed psychiatrist and Harvey Keitel as an equally obsessed police investigator have provided measured performances; while the female lead, as a deeply troubled, emotionally fragile girl-woman in desperate need of love and affection without any constraints or commitment, is almost brilliant in her spontaneous and passionate histrionics.





Director: Nicholas Roeg
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Erotic Thriller/Mystery
Language: English
Country: UK

I preferred “The Green Effect”

Do you remember the heat I took for my bad script review of The Happening? I’m not naming names, but a writer (whom I still consider a friend) wrote, “Wow. I don't know what to say. I'm speechless. I feel so betrayed, so hurt. So pained. It's like my wife left me for my best friend. And his name is Mystery Man. It's like the President lied an no one does anything about it. It's like my dog would prefer to play with the cat rather than me. It's like...someone I respect is totally off base with Shyamalan with his totally ludicrous comments.”

And do you remember what I said?

“Hey look, if this film comes out and it's a gigantic hit and I'm completely wrong, then I'll certainly do something fun, like post a pic with egg dripping off my face or something.”

Yeah, that ain’t Happening. Those of us who study films and have a Sixth Sense about screenwriting could see the Signs a frickin’ year ago in this little Village we call Hollywood. Because M. Night Shyamalan, Mr. Unbreakable himself, had written yet another Lady in the Water.

Have you guys seen this movie?

I watched it last night with a (really brilliant) friend of mine who loves to rip apart bad films. He had a field day. He never stopped pointing out errors during the film in the theater. An hour after we left, he was STILL coming up with new errors. “DUDE… I’m FROM Pennsylvania, man… They don’t say ‘town OF Princeton.’ They just say ‘Princeton.’ How stupid is that? Who fucking SAYS that?” He’s the only reason I had fun. Luckily, we were also in a theater that served beer. It took me 4 big ones to get through 90 minutes of that shit.

Oh, look. Here’s Shyamalan still trying to figure out how it works:


* TOTAL SPOILERS *

The most shocking thing to me was the fact that the finished film was actually worse than The Green Effect script I reviewed last November. At least the ending to The Green Effect made sense! Because in the script, Elliot figured out the problem. The plants were like mood rings. When Elliot and Alma stepped out into the “open air,” they saved themselves because they knew they had to drum up as much good feelings for each other as they possibly could. Elliot proved himself to Alma by figuring all of this out. It was stupid, but it made sense.

Here, we’re not sure how they were saved except that they were over the hump of that peak period of toxin release. Are you kidding me? What they chose to do in the final version when they stepped out into the “open air” was not a moment of triumph for them because they figured out how to make it out of this alive, but instead, it’s a moment where they throw their hands up in defeat and choose to commit suicide together and take that little girl with them. But then they got lucky. Yeah, those are protags audiences can really get behind.

If I was that little girl, I'd ask for new parents.

My friend thought the freaky Eight Is Enough grandma-lady should’ve been the cause behind this whole crisis. By the way, grandma-lady slapped the shit out of that little girl and she didn’t even cry.

Only two words kept coming to mind as I watched this highfalutan cloud of nothingness linger in the air like a bad fart, and those two words were: STUNNING INEPTITUDE.

We do not believe one single moment of this film. Not one step, not one gesture, not one plot point, and not one single damn word of on-the-nose dialogue. Every little thing rang false. Either Shymalan’s internal shit detector needs new batteries or he was unwilling to do the hard work of getting it right before filming it. I’m guessing it’s both.

Shit detectors take double D batteries, don't they?

Plus, I love Zooey Deschanel. She’s a cutie! She could’ve shined in this film for us and Shyamalan! Yet, M. Night made her almost unbearable to be around. Her character never felt fleshed out. What did this girl want? We were never given a chance to see or understand why she was unhappy about that marriage. The stupid exposition from Leguizamo’s character about seeing her crying before the wedding was weak screenwriting. Kids, this is Screenwriting 101. Say it with me now: you gotta, what? SHOW, DON’T TELL. We won’t FEEL for the characters unless we experience WITH them their struggles and their pain. The only reason I cared to see those two reconcile was because Alma was played by Zooey Deschanel and I love to see her smile.

Smile again for me, Zooey.


God, I love your smiles. She sings, too, ya know.


Say, did you notice how Elliot and Alma reconciled in the bedroom the night before they reconciled AGAIN in those two rooms where they talked to each other? At the very least, they should’ve reached a breaking point in the bedroom and THEN reconciled the next day.

I wonder if she should’ve died.

My friend thought the acting was horrific. I disagree. The dialogue was SO poorly written, scenes badly staged, and conflicts pitifully melodramatic, that the best actors in the world could not save this. Hear my words – bad melodrama always begins on the page.

Remember the moment when the Jeep hit the tree? Can someone please – PLEASE – explain to me how, if John Leguizamo was sitting in the front seat, TWO PEOPLE managed to fly out of the windshield? Oh, and how did they also miss that big ass tree the Jeep crashed in to?

So we had in the opening scene two women sitting on a bench. They were both reading books. One woman tells the other that she lost her place. The other says something like “you were at that part where the killer shows up.” How the hell would she know this? Were they psychically reading along together? That's more amazing than toxins in the air! If I was in that scene, I would’ve done the same thing:


So Elliot gave his mood ring to that little girl. When did he take it back? A few scenes later, the ring was back on his hand! Hell, it wasn’t even HIS ring. It was his wife’s from their first date! That’s kind of rude, don’t you think, to take back the mood ring that isn't his that he gave to the little girl? No wonder Zooey was flirting with Joey over Tiramisu.

And what the hell did the colors on the ring mean?

And who the hell thinks to take along a mood ring when you have two minutes to pack before the end of the world?

So then the lady sitting next to Wahlberg in the diner says, “You’ve gotta see this” and she shows him a video of a man getting mauled by lions in a zoo. What was the point of that? Why would anyone need to share that over burgers and steaks in a diner?

If the toxins came from plants, how is it people in the CITY started dying first? Shouldn’t people in the COUNTRY be the first to go?

After seeing the shots of New York City, was anyone else confused about the fact that the scene afterwards with Wahlberg in the school was actually located in… Pennsylvania? Shyamalan used SUPERs to explain that we were in Central Park in New York City and then we were “three blocks over,” but he can’t tell us we’re in Pennsylvania?

Where was that train going? Does anyone know? Wouldn’t it be better to fly? You’d be safer with all that cabin pressure, right?

So Walhberg asked the conductor why they stopped the train. “Sir, we lost contact.” “With who?” “Everyone.” Oh. I would’ve said, “Uhh, doesn’t that mean we should go faster?” Here’s my friend: “DUDE… everything else is working, like TVs and radios, and you can’t even use a fucking cellphone? What the fuck, man? So WHAT if you can’t talk to your bosses or whatever. KEEP GOING, MAN, KEEP GOING!”

Was anyone terrified of the shots of wind blowing through trees?


So then they’re at the crossroads. By this point, they’ve figured out that the toxins must be coming from the plants. When Mark’s had enough and has to go someplace quiet to cry, where does he sit? AMONGST THE PLANTS. You don’t think, “Hey, Mark, look out, man! You’re sitting right next to the plants that are killing everyone!” No-no, instead, you think, “Hey, dumb ass, why the hell are you sitting next the plants?” Then, instead of driving down one of those roads to get away, what do they decide to do? RUN THROUGH THE FIELDS.

There was a recent article by Kim Newman in the Guardian film blog in which she actually defends the film: “Here's the thing: The Happening is not that bad.” Are you kidding me? She concludes: “Can it be a kind of racism that the Indian-born, Philadelphia-raised auteur is hammered for his apparent character (or funny name) rather more than, say, Quentin Tarantino or Spike Lee?” Emerson replied, “Wow, so the best the ‘horror scholar’ can muster on behalf of The Happening is that it's ‘not that bad’ -- and the hostile reaction to Shyamalan must have to do with the filmmaker's ‘funny name’ or his race? That's insulting. What about his Philadelphianism? Maybe that explains it.”

Jim, he couldn’t even get his Philadelphianisms right. “DUDE… I’m FROM Pennsylvania, man… They don’t say ‘town OF Princeton.’ They say ‘Princeton.’ How fucking stupid is that? Who SAYS that?”

Hehehe…

Do you know what was missing? Zooey and a gun.

Hot News This Week #3

News 1: Boy Eaten By Family

When we all thought that became a sex slave to your own father is the worst thing that could happen, just imagine when you're eaten alive by your cannibal family? That had happen exactly to a 7 years-old Czech boy, Ondrej Mauerova. He was rescued alive when a neighbor's TV picked up a footage from his camera filming Ondrej's agony. The neighbor's camera was supposedly captured his newborn child, but instead, ending up with live images of Ondrej naked in the cellar, beaten and chained.

He had been partially skinned after monstrous mum Klara, 31, caged him for months while relatives who were also in a sick cult feasted on his raw flesh, an appalled judge heard yesterday. The mum wept in a Czech court as her evil was exposed in a case echoing the Fritzl dungeon horror in Austria. Ondrej and his helpless brother Jakub, nine, were kept in cages or handcuffed to tables as they were ritually TORTURED, BURNT and WHIPPED with belts.

Cops swooped on the house next door and also freed a girl posing as an adopted sister aged 13 and clutching a teddy. She later turned out to be 34! And was one of the torturers. The story's getting weirder. The boys’ mum accused the woman, fellow cult member Barbora Skrlova for brainwashing her. She wailed, "Terrible things have happened. I realize it and can’t understand how I could have allowed it."

The court in her home city heard the abuse of her children was coordinated via text messages sent by a leader of the Grail Movement cult — who was known only as the "Doctor". Her sister Katerina was also involved. The abuse trial of the boys’ mum, another relative and their bogus sister Skrlova, who fled and was later found posing as a boy in Norway continues. Three others also face charges. (read the full story here)

News 2: When Teenager Pregnancy Become A Trend

The trend believe was started by the films such as Juno and Knocked Up, and was catalyzed furthermore by Britney Spear's younger sister, Jamie Lynn Spears who is only 16 when she delivered a baby girl last week. Her now fiance (only after the world knew she was pregnant) was a 19 years-old college dropped out.

17 Girls at Gloucester High School are expecting babies during this summer vacation. This is more than quadruple the number the last year. The school only has 1200 students. I sure believe that before long, baby shower will be inserted in school's curriculum. After back from summer vacation, the new baby mommas will ask each other their new babies' name. The students will be more closed than ever due to the mommy bonding. How amazing would that be? (read the full story here)

News 3: I Lost My Husband, Home and Family Because I Lost My Weight

Caution, this is a very sad story but yet, inspiring for others. I read it so tentatively until I felt like watching one of those Oprah's shows. The character is real and it happen in the real world. Who might thought that slimming down from a dress size 26 to a slender size 10, won the Slimmer of The Year tittle only to ruined her life and family.

Melanie Slinger's weight problems began at 12, when her parents, a naval officer and a health worker were separated. She then married her childhood sweetheart at the age of 19 and continued to put on weight after the birth of her first child, Lucy, in 1985. Michael, 19, and Samantha, 18, followed in quick succession. Then, when Melanie's husband Jonathan, 45, an Air Force engineer, was posted to a remote base in Scotland, Melanie further struggled to cope with the isolation and thus continue to sought comfort by eating.

It took a humiliating incident to finally spur Melanie into action. She was so fat until the safety gear bar on a roller coaster could not got down over her stomach. A few days later, in September 2001, Melanie joined her local Slimming World classes. As she carried on losing weight, her spending began to spiral. She began buying things that she once could not bought (high heels, tops - up to 13 at once shopping spare, trousers). Her new found spending habits landed the family with £10,000 in debt.


She won the tittle of Slimmer of The Year. She loves the new life, feted like a superstar, pictured in magazines and the worst from it, she loves all the attentions. Then, everything else started to fall apart. Her husband even said, "We were happy when you were fat - can't you just put the weight back on." She later lost her husband, home and family. But later, in 2003, after Melanie met her new partner and she now lives in quiet contentment while trying to build up her relationship back with her children.

Moral of the story is, don't matter how much did you change your outer appearances, your inner self must always be as who you are. Do read this full story. It would be a nice remainder to us, and I am sure you won't regret it. (read the full story here)

Bluecrystaldude

Interview [1971]

Though one of his most underrated effort, Interview was perhaps a demonstration of the iconoclastic and anti-establishmentarian Mrinal Sen at his sublime best. There is nothing apolitical or evasive about any of this Marxist Bengali intellectual. The pseudo-documentary style feature is about an educated Calcuttan youth – ambitious, elitist and apolitical – preparing for an interview at a British firm, at a time when the anti-bourgeois Naxalite revolution is slowly reaching its zenith in the city. The movie catalogues how he goes about trying to get to the interview for the cherished job and an entry into the world of capitalism where the sharks rule, and how that journey turns out to be more than he bargained for. Ranjit Mallik, as the candidate, has given a smart and captivating depiction of the transformation that was but inevitable (considering that this is a Mrinal Sen feature). Even though as a viewer I was given more than a few hints as to the climax, but when it finally did arrive, the shock upon seeing the protagonist, throwing a stone at the European-dress clad mannequin, felt so unanticipated, that I reeled from the sort of blow that only this fiery auteur can concoct time and again.





Director: Mrinal Sen
Genre: Urban Drama/Political Drama/Social Satire/Slice of Life/Black Comedy
Language: Bengali
Country: India