Bridge and Scotch

Period films are not for everyone. Books made into movies are not always appreciated by everyone. But The Help is one of the exceptions where it's all the above and it's a win, a definite must see.

The Help (2011) takes place in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1950's during the starting of the civil rights movement. Jackson is a world that is stuck in the plantation ideal where mothers play bridge and fathers drink scotch at supper clubs.

And the children? They are raised from babes to adulthood by black maids. The children often form stronger bonds with their maids than their own mothers, and The Help tunes in on that.

Skeeter, played by a ravishing Emma Stone, is a fresh out of college wanna be journalist who stumbles upon a story that needs to be told. She was raised by a maid, Constantine, and understands both points of view of the high flouted white people and the plight of the maids.

Before we have only seen Emma Stone as Easy A, a slutty high schooler with higher potential, and as a sassy young woman in the rom/com Crazy Stupid Love lying next to Ryan Goseling. But now we see her in a whole new light. As a strong confident quirky woman who does what she believes in. And don't worry. We still get to hear her quirky awkward laugh.

This film has many levels. Like Shrek says "Onions have layers" and so does the film. On the surface level The Help is a heartwarming dramatic comedy that shows the human condition and relationships.

On a lower, below the surface level, it is social commentary on the civil rights movement on the time. That the issues about black maids raising white children is really about how black people were treated in society during that particular time period.

And yet another lower level is the true issue. This period piece is direct social commentary on the issues of today. Do we still treat certain minorities similar to how the black maids were treated? Do some white people still live on cloud nine, ignoring their children, attending galas to raise money for aids in Africa while Mexican "nannies" tend to their children?

This film hits home emotionally and it is also full of laughs. Emma Stone is enchanting, playing a woman coming of age and realizing her dreams. Aibileen is played nose to the nail by Viola Davis. Minny is played by Octavia Davis and is often the comedic relief. Bryce Dallas Howard plays a stunning "bitch" of a character and is really convincing as a conniving narrow minded control freak.

True, this film may be in a way a sophisticated chick flick, but I think it's message can hit home with anyone.

We need to follow the golden rule. Treat others as we want to be treated.

Black Blood

Big fan of Tarantino and Rodriguez films.

Kill Bill and Grindhouse blew me away

and so did the recent Machete.

Lilo was the best trick in the film

as she just played herself.

What could be better than a film

about a big angry Mexican wielding a machete?

Spellbound

Just finished watching The Rolling Stones film Sympathy for the Devil. It's directed and written by Goddard so it is one pile of confusing metaphorical shit.

I went into it thinking that it would be Rolling Stone studio footage, and yes, part of it was. But the other half of the film consisted of odd political segments involving graffiti, Nazis, and nudity.

Perhaps Goddard was making political commentary on the world issues of 1968. Perhaps he was saying "something" about the Black Panthers and Marxism. Perhaps the segments made no cohesive statement and confused 95% of the viewers.

The Stones shine through with the recording process of "Sympathy for the Devil." Such a great record and it was great to see the birth of the song on film. My roommate and I got so into it we picked up our own drums and started banging along to the tropical sounding drum beat.

Check here for more background on the film

Doc Holiday the Straight Shooter

Val Kilmer is yet again gracing the silver screen in McGruber, the SNL spin off film featuring Will Forte.

Kilmer in his prime, in films like The Doors and Tombstone, was a suave sexy gentleman. Now, taking into consideration time and age, Kilmer is a shadow of his old looking self, but I'm still digging him. He will never reach the status of Robert Downey Jr., but he is on the tops, well above Tom Cruise.

As Doc Holiday, I'm down.

As Jim Morrison, I'm in.

As Gay Perry in Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, I'm slightly turned off.

In McGruber, we'll see...

A Slow Ride is a Good Ride

Yes, Easy Rider, the 1969 classic film that shot Jack Nicholson into the blood stream of America. If you haven't seen this epic, watch it now. It's filled with drugs, bikes and good tunes. What else can you ask for?

The Byrds are a huge part of the soundtrack. "Natural Harmony" is beautifully paired with Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda riding their bikes through the dessert. The Byrds even titled a track "Ballad of Easy Rider".

The plot revolves around two counter culture bikers cross America trek on their motorcycles. The encounter rednecks, hippies living in a commune, bigots, and take a wild acid trip. Though the plot sounds superficial, during it's time, it was saying a lot on the current counter culture craze sweeping the nation. I read the film in the same way as I do Hunter S. Thompson's works: magically superficial on the surface, chillingly satirical sub-surface.

Brush, Brush Away...

I am well aware that we live in a visual culture.

Artists create works of art full of symbols and signals.

I often wonder where the ideas come from?

Why did they create this certain persona, etc.

Someone sent me this article about Lady Gaga and the Illuminati (http://vigilantcitizen.com/?p=1676) and after reading several other articles by the author, I am trying to grab some insight on it.

The author writes about Metropolis, the 1927 Fritz Lang film. I'm highly interested in German expressionist films and I did my term paper on this particular film. The author of this article claims that the film is about mind control and using robots to maintain control etc.

In the film, the scientist makes a robot in the likeness of Maria, the people's advocate. Maria did not consent and conspire with the scientist to make a robot of herself like the author says. Maria was captured by the scientist and he performed experiments on her to transform the robot into her likeness. If Lady Gaga is a willing participant in this mind control by the music industry like the author says, she cannot be compared to the character Maria in the film.

Metropolis is yes, about robot mind control, but it is also about war, fascism, the plight of the working class toiling away in the factory. It relates more to socialism than it does government mind control. In the end of the film, the true Maria tries to stop the robot from controlling the workers. She tries to save the people from the destruction, and she does succeed in ending the turmoil.

Although, what the author writes about Beyonce and Rihanna seems somewhat accurate. Rihanna was a "good girl", just singing about music and dancing. Until her "Good Girl Gone Bad" album. She seemed to have changed her image over night. Everyone was talking about her "new look" etc. And she just kept getting darker and darker. Like she sold her soul to the devil? As soon as she went darker, her album sales jumped.

Before I read the analysis of "Run This Town" by Jay-Z, I kind of wondered what it was about? I still do. The lyrics didn't seem to be telling at all. It wasn't talking about sex or money so it must be talking about fame?or something else.

This also made me think of how Beyonce and Gaga recently joined up for two songs, which just struck me as, a extremely odd collaboration. Not their style at all. I still wonder why they chose to do so.

So the author, from most articles I have checked out, is really saying that the music industry is using superstars like Gaga to control the population for evil purposes. This theory is not revolutionary, but it may be far fetched, maybe not.

A while ago, I read this book published in the 80's about how rock bands worshiped the devil and were brainwashing teens to become satanists and fornicate all the time. I thought the book was silly, but not completely crazy.

So in 2010 terms, rock music is a dying breed. So maybe the satanists needed some other type of stars to control the minds of people. So they took in control over the pop music industry. They have the right medium and can do it subliminally. Right?

It all reminds me of the song "the Devil Went Down to Georgia", and how the man sells his soul to the devil in order to play like a fiddle god. Fame comes with a price after all.

Think about the demise of Britney Spears. She was and innocent girl (Think "Hit Me baby One More Time" video), the music machine got a hold of her, made her into a star(think "I'm a Slave for You" era), and then a monster. I don't think she will ever recover. And think about how fucked up she was a year ago. She probably still is.

One thing that does not sit well into this theory yet, is someone like Taylor Swift. Where does she fit in? How is she being controlled by the music industry?

Or the Disney owned Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus. They have received immense fame and there is no evidence of symbols or whatever. The author has a theory. And that's all it is, just a theory.

Maybe we are just reading too much into it. But then again those who do not question, must then be accepting it.

Those who do not question anything in life, follow along like sheep to the slaughter.

All I am really saying is, watch what you are feeding your mind. Question the images you see, wonder where the ideas come from. Think of the message behind it. Don't just eat up the music/images like it's porridge to your soul.

Poor Little Rich Girl

Day 4:

This is a still shot of Edie Sedgwick from Andy's film "Poor Little Rich Girl" from 1965.

Yes again with the leopard print coat. There's more to come.

The Boat that Rocked

Yet another understated movie.

Pirate Radio(The Boat that Rocked) was released under most people's radar undetected. What a surprise! It being a very music oriented film, it is possible it wouldn't appeal to the Avatar/Transformers seeking group, but for music fanatics, it was welcomed with open arms.

Pirate Radio rides on the curtails of movies like Almost Famous and Dazed and Confused. It is filled with sex, drugs and rock and roll, of course. Debauchery and classic rock hits are meshed together along with engaging characters. Rhys Darby plays a hilariously awkward DJ, that is just a clueless as Murray, the poseur manager character he plays in Flight of the Concords. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays another cool as a cucumber DJ that bares a strikingly similar resemblance to his Lester Bangs character in Almost Famous. That must be just a coincidence.

In a way, the story of Pirate Radio is quite familiar. It's the story of a boy, Young Carl, who in the throws of youth, finds himself and his father. Another coming of age story right? Except it has charm and the swagger of Mick Jagger( Ode to Ke$sha). And the soundtrack is beyond fabulous; It's doused with hits from the Kinks to the Yardbirds.

Pirate Radio will never replace Almost Famous or The Doors, in the rock/bio flick gauntlet, but it does satisfy that lust for a music/film sundae.

Check out these other rock oriented films:

Almost Famous

Dazed and Confused

Detroit Rock City

Empire Records

The Doors

Hair

Across the Universe

Re-imagined on the Silver Screen

There is nothing I romanticize more- other than music- than films. The following is a make shift list of my top picks for films, not in any particular order

1) Rebel Without a Cause- Live fast, die young with James Dean. Classic.

2) Dear Wendy- Indie film about Dandies, guns and a fabulous Zombies soundtrack

3) The Doors- Bio pic about Jim Morrison.

4) The Bride of Frankenstein- One of my favorite horror/sci-fi films.

5) Almost Famous- The coming of age story of

a rock journalist. Based loosely on the life of Cameron Crowe.

6)East of Eden- Another James Dean classic. Epic Story.

7) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas- the Hunter S. Thompson epic come to life courtesy of Johnny Depp.

8) Willy Wonka and the Choclate Factory- The childhood classic with a sinister Gene Wilder.

9) The Wristcutters: A Love Story- A love/suicide story that ends the opposite of Romeo and Juliet.

10) The Beach- The one movie where Leonardo DiCaprio is not annoying. It's a savage film about true human nature.

11)Chitty Chitty Bang Bang- Disney Classic next to Marry Poppins. It turned me on to Dick Van Dyke.

12) Blow- Johnny Depp as legendary drug dealer George Jung.

13) Four Brothers- Mark Wahlberg is bad ass and makes us forget Marky Mark while protecting his brothers.

14)Lords of Dogtown- Semi historical film of the upstart of skateboarding.

15)Factory Girl- Bio pic of Edie Sedgwick's life. Very Warhol.

16)I'm Not Here- Bio pic of Bob Dylan's life told by 7 personalities.

17)A Clockwork Orange- A Stanley Kubrick classic.

18)Kill Bill Vol 1 and 2- Quintin Tarantino duo films with Uma Thurman as an assasin and Lucy Lu kicking butt.

19)Singing in the Rain- Best musical of all time.

20)The Graduate- Dustin Hoffman's first film. Mrs. Robinson is so naughty.

21)I Love You Man- One of the most genuine comedies, filled with bromance.

22)Across the Universe- The Beatles soundtrack re-imagined, visually stunning, it's the ultimate trip.

23)Fight Club- Brad Pitt looking buff, Edward Norton taking your mind on a trip.

24)Metropolis- One of the first science fiction films ever made. Fritz Lang imagines female robots taking over society.

25)The Virgin Diaries- a Kirsten Dunst classic. It's about suicide hint.

26)There Will Be Blood- The thirst for blood and oil. Outstanding film of the 2000's.

27)C.R.A.Z.Y.- Indie flick about a boy coming of age to the soundtrack of Bowie and Patsy Cline.

A Random Note-

"Each book I read, I feel I become one with the characters.

Each biography I read, I fuse together with the characters.

I have become Jim Morrison

I have become Janis Joplin

I have become Andy Warhol

I have become Miss Pamela DeBarres

Each film I watch, I connect with at least one character.

Their predicaments become mine

Their environments become mine as well

In the Royal Tenenbaums, I am all the characters

I am in love with myself

Divorcing myself

Stabbing myself

Cheating on myself

Committing suicide to my own soul.

One day I will become stuck in this alter character reality

One day I will not be myself, but a completely fabricated character from a film or novel."