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hellomynameisbisexual · 3 years

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Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transexual, queer. While the LGBTQ+ label continues to expand with the increasing awareness of sexual and gender identities, we are not yet seeing this awareness extend to our screens. While we are seeing an uptick in positive, empathetic stories of homosexual characters, those characters whose sexualities are not so neatly black or white (or pink, lavender, and blue), are still depicted as confused, sexually deviant, or greedy – if they are even depicted at all. While a more fluid take on sexuality is trickling into more mainstream media, it is often done so without seeing the need for ‘labels’, ignoring an entire subgroup of the queer community who long to see themselves not only portrayed on screen but portrayed correctly and proudly.

Bisexual Erasure – “A pit stop on the way to homo” – Perpetuating Negative Stereotypes:

The 1990s and 2000s saw a number of new media hit screens that aimed to not only appeal to the queer community but to educate those outside of it as well. Joss Whedon’s landmark show Buffy the Vampire Slayer displayed the first on-screen lesbian kiss, while shows such as Will & Grace and The L Word put gay and lesbian characters to the forefront of serial narratives. While borderline revolutionary for their time, such shows now seem outdated in a time where sexuality is understood to more fluid than simply gay or straight.

Buffy’s Willow Rosenberg came out as gay after her first relationship with a woman, discarding that she had a strong emotional and physical connection to her previous boyfriend, Oz, for two and a half seasons. The 2005 drama Brokeback Mountain is often described as a romance between two gay men, similarly dismissing that both Ennis and Jack are married to women towards whom they display attraction. Katherine Mayfair of Desperate Housewives suffered a similar fate, jumping straight to believing she might be gay after her first sexual experience with another woman despite a lifetime of heterosexual relationships, with bisexuality not proffered, or even mentioned, as an option.

While the words bisexual or pansexual were never mentioned in any of these narratives, others discussed it to their detriment. Will Truman, from the now at times dated Will & Grace, referred to pansexuality as “a pit stop on the way to homo”, contributing to the common myth that bisexual or pansexual people are confused or can’t yet admit to themselves that they are gay. Friends works this line into one of Phoebe Buffay’s songs for a laugh; “And then there are bisexuals, but some just say they’re kidding themselves.”

Sex and the City also contributed to negative bisexual and pansexual myths, with Carrie Bradshaw referring to bisexuality as ‘double-dipping’ and ‘greedy’. This is another common stereotype of the bisexual. Returning to Desperate Housewives, in the episode I Know Things Now, bisexual character Peter McMillan ended up cheating on Bree with her teenage son, Andrew. HBO’s True Blood also contained a number of bisexual characters including Eric Northman and Pamela Swynford De Beaufort, whose homosexual scenes were played as kinky or deviant, saving the romance for the heterosexual couples.

“I like hot people!” – is casual sexuality progress?

A more modern approach has been taken in recent years, showing sexuality as more fluid than the rigid homosexual or heterosexual labels. But is this really a step in the right direction? Piper Chapman from Orange is the New Black is shown having serious relationships with both fiancé Larry Broom and ex-girlfriend Alex Vause, without once describing herself as bisexual. The closest we are given is Piper explaining that “I like hot people!” In The Good Place, Eleanor Shellstrop’s attraction to Tahani, Janet and Simone is made clear, but is used only as a comedic landing-place, with Eleanor’s sexuality going undefined and unexplored. While this take on sexuality as a place without labels is refreshing and a step up from the representation of the bisexual as deviant or confused, it leaves the need bisexual and pansexual people have to see themselves on screen unfulfilled.

Even shows that pride themselves on being progressive in their representation of sexuality can be found complicit in bisexual erasure. Fox’s popular musical drama Glee dedicated much of its screen time to Kirk Hummel’s struggles as an openly gay teenager in Ohio and Santana Lopez’s struggles to accept herself as a lesbian, but bisexual character Brittany S. Pierce is denied this same careful treatment and seemed to come to terms with her sexuality remarkably quickly in comparison.

“Letting my bi flag fly” – getting it right

All this isn’t to say that bisexuals are never represented correctly. Brooklyn Nine Nine’s Rosa Diaz, played by bisexual actress Stephenie Beatriz, is not only given a coming-out story – something bisexual and pansexual characters are often denied – but the struggles of her coming to grips with her sexuality are also displayed in full with understanding and tolerance. The brush off of “You’re gay, so it’s not a big deal,” applied to many members of the queer community who do not fit neatly under a homosexual label, is debunked here. Not only is Rosa given a coming-out story at her workplace, which is fielded by her colleagues with grace and acceptance, but she is also given one to her parents, causing a rift between her and her mother when Rosa insists that she has an equal chance of ending up with a woman as with a man.

The CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend features a total of three bisexual characters over the course of its four-season run, most prominently Darryl Whitefeather. After divorcing his wife after a long-term marriage, Darryl is confused when he becomes attracted to White Josh and begins to question if he’s gay. This journey to discovering his bisexuality culminates in the celebratory musical number Getting Bi, the lyrics of which debunk the myth that bisexuals are confused, indecisive, or sexually deviant. It is important to note that this song is also a coming-out story, which is a refreshing change to the idea that coming to terms with being bi or pan is easy or without confusion.

Pansexual characters are also starting to find a name for themselves in mainstream media. Klaus Hargreeves from The Umbrella Academy is most likely pansexual, although once again this comes without explanation or labels, denying the pansexual community visibility on screen. This is not the case in either Sex Education or Schitt’s Creek. Sex Education, which also sees Adam Groff come to terms with his bisexuality, gives Ola Nyman not only a journey of self-discovery with her sexual identity but a journey that culminates in a neatly worked-in definition of pansexuality. Schitt’s Creek takes a more nuanced but by no means less helpful approach with the now-iconic wine bottle analogy. David Rose, who has long since known he is pansexual, describes his sexuality tidily and succinctly as “I like the wine but not the label.”

We’re making progress. We’re increasingly seeing not only a wider range of sexualities and genders enter our content, but we are also seeing LGBTQIA+ characters be more than victims, stereotypes, or defined only by their labels. While it’s important to have such characters in narratives be more than their sexuality, it is equally important to depict these sexualities correctly and visibly. While films and shows may be getting better at giving us the wine, sometimes we do like the labels to be there as well.

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ghost0loxer · 3 years

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Imagine, a gender fluid teenager like myself has a favourite/feel-good film and that film is “Just One of the Guys,”from the mid 80s.

Picture this: theatre class, we watch “She’s The Man”, a dreamworks film from the 2000s. And yet, the social justice issues within the film are glaringly obvious to today’s society. Don’t get me wrong, it can be a funny film in a group setting - but then there are scenes that are just uncomfortable. Now, we discussed these themes in class, but I just can’t help but think about the film that came before it. Yes, StM (she’s the mans) is a modern day adaption of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” but I was thinking about the modern day adaption before StM, “Just One of the Guys” from the mid 80s.

I love this film. For multiple reasons, which I hope to discuss.

Number one, our main character. Terry Griffith is stubborn. If she thinks something is right, she won’t let anyone say no or get in her way. Now in some cases, this is great. It’s definitely a shift in the usual romantic comedy female lead (especially for the 80s). But it’s one of her biggest flaws. In the beginning, Terry doesn’t win a contest for a part-time job at the Sun Tribune. She believes her article was amazing, but she speaks with her English teacher and he gives it to her straight. “You don’t have what it takes to be a reporter.” Her article is boring; it’s about the nutritional value of the lunch menu in the school cafeteria, of course it’s boring. But the words her teacher tells her has her convinced it’s because she’s a woman. Thus, she leaves school for two weeks and transfers as a buy to another school who are holding the same competition. Once she gives her article, she is told almost the same thing, but this time, she’s given proper feedback to improve it. Of course, there was some irony with this scene between Terry and the teacher. “Just because you’re guy, doesn’t mean you can’t be sensitive or light.” Thing is, she doesn’t give up, she strives to fix it and finds a new angle. I love her determination, I love the way she doesn’t let others push her around. Furthermore, her transition to a man. In StM, Viola as a guy is made to be cringey and comedic, you watch and think, there’s no way a guy would do that. But Terry, having grown up with a younger brother and is actually smart, manages to nail the role. Sure, she has slip-ups, but she stays afloat and she’s not being over the top. She’s chill and convincing, yet you as the audience can tell she’s trying to appear masculine. Her lines are witty and she’s sharp. Someone has something to say, she’ll be able to backtrack and answer with a joke or sarcasm quickly. I like smart characters.

Another point, the way women are written in this film. A lot of women in this film are treated like shit, but it’s probably a realistic depiction of the 80s. Everyone is talking about dating and sex, it seems to be the only topic the women in this film speak about, unless they are Terry. Terry seems to be the only character in this film whose main goal is not romance or sex. She strives to be a reporter, she wants to prove herself, and she rejects the advances upon her frequently. Whether it’s the boys asking her on dates in halls, or her own boyfriend attempting to seduce her when her parents aren’t home, she doesn’t put them above herself, yet she still lets them down easily, unless they become more pushy (case in point, her boyfriend, Kevin, in the beginning). She can stand up for herself, but she’s not the only one. Her best friend, Denise is one of the many women looking for love, nevertheless, she holds standards. I will admit, I didn’t like Denise’s acting in the beginning; she’s not a great character, but even she manages to reject men’s advances constantly. She’s not afraid to say it bluntly and she expresses her true emotions when certain guys try to ask her out. She tells it to them straight, and I respect her for that (despite her lack of empathy for some). Terry’s brother is constantly hitting on Denise, but she stands her ground. She doesn’t hit him or curse him out, she spins words around him and always lead back to the key word “no.”

This is my third, and maybe final point, (because I’m not great at writing but I’m starting to get tired) the way they handle sexual orientation. It seems if you’re going to make a film about a cross-dressing woman who falls in love with a man, you have to discuss sexuality and this film is not afraid to. That was my biggest beef with StM, when Viola confessed her love to Duke, the made it blatantly clear that it was “weird” and “unusual”; the editing and music cuts. It was done for comedic purposes, but in that moment, it just made me cringe. Even when the principal marched onto the field during the big match to expose Sebastian as “the woman he was all along,” he used a big megaphone and said to the whole crowd this man is in fact a girl. If it were to happen in the real world, and this character was a trans male, that would be traumatizing and so so insensitive. I couldn’t help thinking the way they handled the reveal in StM was poor and shitty.

But with JOotG (just one of the guys)? It’s done respectfully. Throughout the film, Buddy, Terry’s younger, sex-obsessed brother (I have thoughts on this character), often refers to Terry as a transvestite or sexually confused. They make references about her dating other women and jokes. It’s not treated like taboo, but just something people normally talk about, and as a questioning kid when I first watched the film, I really needed that. Although it was used for jokes, the fact that it wasn’t treated like a silent topic made me think more of it and discover who I was; it was media like this that made me accept myself.

Even with the reveal. Kevin, Terry’s boyfriend (or ex boyfriend by the end), stomps up to Terry after she’s wrestled with the school bully and was dumped into the waves at prom. Rick, who’s been Terry’s friend (and is the male lead) throughout her time at his high school, immediately questions who Kevin is and he responds with a harsh and sure “Terry’s boyfriend.” Of course, that doesn’t expose Terry as female, but makes Rick assume she’s a homosexual. But instead of calling her weird or replying negatively, he answers Kevin’s question calmly and says he’s just a friend. There is no prejudice, no disgust, Rick is shocked, but that’s expected. Furthermore, this reveal not only does not alienate homosexuality, it puts the center of focus on the main characters rather than have the whole audience/prom witness this exchange. Sure, the rest of the school is watching but the camera never pans over to them, and even then, Terry drags Rick away from the crowds to a secluded area to explain more.

Even once they’re secluded, Rick doesn’t yell at her or is homophobic. He just says “I understand, you’re gay.” As we know, Terry is not in fact gay and she reveals this to him in a similar fashion as StM, at least it’s not flashing a whole crowd. But the thing that hits me, is the fact that it’s not used as a joke or for comedy. Throughout the film, they’ve mentioned homosexuality and being transgender, but it was used as a light-hearted joke (nothing insulting or derogatory). In this moment, it’s not a joke, and it’s the bare minimum for a emotional scene like this, but it always hits me.

Of course, Rick gets justifiably mad that he’s been deceived and he storms off. Terry’s flaw catches up to her here, as she kisses him in front of the prom guests, stubborn to make him realize how much she cares. ( I didn’t agree with this action to be frank, I cringed ). The crowd gasps and it’s the usual reaction to a homosexual kiss and Rick just pulls back, says “It’s alright everyone, he’s got tits,” and leaves with Deborah.

In true romantic comedy fashion, life moves on. Terry gets the job at the Sun-Tribune after writing her article about posing as a guy and everyone who was longing for love in the beginning has found it, except Terry. The ending, however, is Rick coming back for her after a couple (days? Weeks? Idk all I know is it’s summer by the time he comes back, how much space between prom and summer?) and they kiss, go on a date and all is good.

Now after writing this long ass post, I’ve come to realize the main reason I like this film. Sure, Terry is a good character (not morally sometimes, but she’s interesting to watch), the way women are presented also is good, but my main source of affection for this film (in comparison to StM) is the way they handle the switching of genders. I’m gender fluid, I don’t always like being a woman or a man, I switch almost daily and half the time can’t decide if I want to grow out my hair or cut it. Seeing Terry, originally a woman, manage to convince people she was a guy made me wish I could do it too. It made me realize, I don’t always like being a woman. I want to be a guy sometimes, and I want that to be accepted. It was media like this, like Ouran High School Host Club, like Bare: A Pop Opera, that made me understand my gender and sexuality. (Even media that didn’t have any relation to LGBTQ+ helped).

When I first heard of “She’s the Man”, I had hoped it would be like these pieces of media. And it wasn’t. It was an alright film, but made me feel disappointed and somewhat let down. And that’s why I just prefer Just One of the Guys. Maybe it wouldn’t float in today’s political climate, maybe I’m wrong for seeing these points as reasons it’s one of my favorites, but its still better than StM and is one of my favourite films.

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nileqt87 · 3 years

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More thoughts on how to resurrect the Indiana Jones franchise post-Harrison Ford

Perhaps a proper, modern television show would be a good way to bring back a younger, but adult Indy (with perhaps flashbacks littered throughout). You can also get away with a lot more content (definitely aim for TV-14) and characters who are allowed to be flawed. Relationship dramas are serialized storytelling's forte in a way that is disappearing more and more from blockbuster films. Complicated characters are better left to television, as the audience expects and allows for it because of the nuance and depth the serialization affords. The complicated, messy story of Abner and Marion is a story best left to being explored only after the characters have some real complexity and development. It also wouldn't be forced to play to the mass audience of under-13s that makes modern PG-13 often meaningless. In comparison, TV-14 actually pushes up harder against its limits regularly--not just violence, but also with innuendo and sexuality minus nudity. The amount of historical-style, pulpy violence, not to mention potentially comically gruesome deaths, in Indy would also necessitate the rating. Indiana Jones might be niche enough at this point with an audience veering towards adults who grew up with it (Gen-X and the older end of Gen-Y), while Gen-Z has little awareness of it, that Disney wouldn't be forced to make it a total kiddie property. It's not the same situation as back in the early '90s with Young Indy being aimed at older kids who had recently seen Last Crusade in the theater. They could reboot it for television with a young adult Indy who potentially could grow into a fully adult version. And I wouldn't try too hard to not step on the trilogy's toes with the timeline. Just let it live in its own developing continuity.

Use of long-running supporting cast (parents, Remy and returning guest stars aside) would also be a big difference from Young Indy. Characters like Belloq (could potentially go from friend to antagonist, akin to how Smallville handled Lex), Sallah, Henry, Brody, Abner, Marion, etc... could actually be around a lot more than just for an adventure here or there. These are all characters Indy had clearly known for years. Actually put the show into a seasonal, serialized format that isn't a new cast every episode. You could also stick around in locations a lot longer this way, which would help with budget.

Another thought I've had since watching an absolute ton of fantasy/sci-fi dramas in the last few years is that the influence of Indiana Jones is actually pretty apparent in a number of pretty famous characters, sometimes overtly and sometimes a bit more subtly. Harrison, Indy or Raiders in general are outright name-checked in quite a few places, often by scrappy action hero types who tend to take hard beatings (the kinds of characters who should've died a hundred times over) while in situations they're way over their heads in or literally impossible odds they can't win. Like Indy, the intended prize isn't won at the end and, outside of a few gruesome baddie deaths, the shady, corrupt or evil barely get a dent. Fox Mulder and Dean Winchester are two characters who name-check the comparison overtly and you can see the writers and actors both having the influence in mind. It's obviously a male fantasy, too. The influence on The X-Files and Supernatural is definitely there. Supernatural is chock full of biblical MacGuffins (not to mention having angels and demons as most of its recurring supporting cast), so it would be a hard comparison to avoid. Raiders came up in the WWII Nazi submarine episode with a piece of the Ark onboard (it's subsequently a show to raid for Indy ideas, because they pretty much mined everything biblical), for example. The X-Files likewise was dealing with shady government officials and pretty blatantly copied the huge warehouse of government secrets loaded with alien relics (and then repeated the Cigarette Smoking Man's warehouse reveal with the tunnel of filing cabinets stretching on forever). Mulder was also very much a one-man army a lot of the time when it came to the alien conspiracy (no offense to Scully). Moments like him climbing/riding the tops of sky rides, trains and escaping the spaceship were total Indy-esque moments. Sam and Dean had literal God-tier levels of plot armor keeping them alive (repeated resurrections included). Angel is another one that, unlike Mulder and the Winchesters being very human, is a supernatural character (subsequently his level of pain tolerance and durability is at the level of regular impalement, defenestration out of skyscrapers and being set on fire), but the comparison still holds because of how often he's getting decimated and fighting forces way beyond his pay grade. Wolfram & Hart, the Shanshu and seeking redemption with the Powers that Be, like the mytharc conspiracy/alien takeover and literal God a.k.a. Chuck, is another endless, unwinnable fight that is so far beyond all the protagonists that there's no win/happily ever after and they'd be lucky just walking away from it with nothing. Angel also name-checks Indy with a blatantly Indy-inspired fantasy dream episode (Awakening in season 4) with Angelus making a crack about the Raiders fantasy. George Lucas actually visited the Angel set back in 2000 and was interested in how they were making mini movies every week and doing some pretty huge stunts on television. David Boreanaz had lunch with Lucas and has talked about it a few times over the many years. I mean, these are all shows starring action-oriented leading men and writing staffs of relatively similar age. Mostly Gen-X males with a few Baby Boomers (more so on the writing staff) with an audience that's primarily Gen-Y but appealing to a pretty broad age range (and probably a lot more female than originally intended!). Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford films in general were very formative to that generation. Harrison Ford is the ultimate leading man action star to a certain generation. Gen-Y got their familiarity with all of that by being the original home video/VHS generation and subsequently a lot more familiar with retro media (including things that were made before they were born or around that time) than Gen-Z. '80s movies have a lot of currency and familiarity still with Gen-Y, even if Baby Boomers were the stars of them and Gen-X were the ones who saw them in theaters. Gen-Y fangirls absolutely dominate the fandoms of many iconic television supernatural/sci-fi franchises (many are admittedly aging franchises). The WB/CW have catered to this group of fans for the last two and a half decades. If you're going to be reviving the character as a mid-20s-to-30s version (if the show lasts long enough, it probably will be stepping on the trilogy's toes timeline-wise by the end), I'd absolutely be aiming for this same audience and their tastes. They're also the audience who would be most receptive to and familiar with the character, IMO. If I were going to reinvent Indiana Jones for the television landscape, I would definitely be looking at those sorts of shows that have influence from the character already in their DNA. I think for the target audience, they'd definitely need to be aiming it at the same fanbases. Young Indy mostly tried to avoid stepping on Raiders' toes (despite Temple of Doom and Mask of Evil already making it ludicrous) by limiting the amount of supernatural elements, but I think a show would have to go all in on it. Indy would have to be transformed a bit in regards to trying to line him up with a character who would still be skeptical after all he's seen. Young Indy ended up forced into being a straight period drama with educational elements, which is very counter to what the audience wanted. There are things to keep from that approach (meeting historical persons, being a WWI veteran and witnessing history could absolutely be mined as backdrops to the stories), but the supernatural elements would have to exist in a revival now to get the audience who I think would be most receptive to it. While I would aim for a serialized drama format that would mean the globetrotting wouldn't have to completely change locations every episode (have it instead in arcs with some bigger MacGuffins and baddies perhaps crossing entire seasons), it's true that there would probably have to be more location filming than good, ol' Vancouver, but Disney is one of the few who could afford it (though Covid certainly would throw a wrench in it and political situations could potentially kill off certain locations). There's only so much green screen that Indy could get away with, though I imagine that a fair amount of it would have to be used for period piece reasons alone. There are a lot of modern intrusions even in historically-intact cities (Eastern Europe comes to mind as having a lot of its architecture intact and is affordable to film in) and around iconic landscapes to paint out. But at its core, it probably would need to bulk up its focus on the relationship dramas. Indy tends to have a girl at every port and to a degree you would introduce some of these love interests, but there's still a lot of relationships of every kind that could be developed and serialized. Certainly throw in a few femme fatales and tragic losses, given the Smallville-esque situation of there being an inevitable Indy/Marion endgame that should be kept--it thus becomes about the journey when it's a set conclusion. Absolutely have a strong recurring cast of Henry and friends new and old. The films actually have a lot of characters that Indy didn't just meet yesterday and could be developed to a huge extent. For a show to work now, there'd have to be a lot more connectivity to how often the recurring cast appear. Young Indy had a lot more of an anthology format with little chance of us getting attached to most of the revolving cast outside of a very tiny few. That's the biggest thing I'd change. You need characters to become regulars beyond just Indy if it were revived for modern cinematic television (the true successor to the film serials of the '30s!) in a way that isn't necessary for film installments.

#indana jones #harrison ford #lucasfilm #indy #young indy

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doomonfilm · 3 years

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Ranking : Spike Lee (1957 - present)

There have been countless directors whose careers have spanned my lifetime, but out of these countless masses, the one whom I can find the most in common ground with (as well as endless inspiration from) is Spike Lee. A New Yorker through and through, Lee went from a series of films that seamlessly blended hip-hop and old school Hollywood aesthetics, to personal films, to his take on the blockbuster, and currently, to the point where his canon has earned him artistic freedom and expression that many of his peers have not been able to achieve. He is the perfect bridge between the director-driven mindset of the 1970s and the cultural boundary-pushing films of the 1990s-forward. Not everything that he directed was a hit or a masterpiece, but this man has more iconic films under his belt that some directors have films to their name. That being said, it’s time to stir the pot and make an attempt at the monumental task that is ranking the films of Spike Lee.

I will only be including theatrically released feature films of Spike Lee that I have seen. His documentary work will be excluded, as well as his films I have missed or have yet to see. Here is a list of these films : Da 5 Bloods, Chi-Raq, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads, 4 Little Girls, The Original Kings of Comedy, When the Levees Broke, A Huey P. Newton Story.

20. Oldboy (2013) Every film that you make can’t be a winner. In the case of Lee’s attempt at remaking Oldboy, there were already two major strikes against it : a superior version of the film already existed, and that version was the middle film of a trilogy. I doubt that even a team of the most talented directors could have made a superior version of Oldboy that surpassed the original, but after 30 years of making films, it’s admirable that Lee would even attempt something so bold and seemingly insurmountable.

19. Red Hook Summer (2012) When your film catalog covers three decades, there’s bound to be some overlap, be it stylistically or narratively. I’ve only seen Red Hook Summer once, but it was impossible for me to look at it subjectively, as it seemed to be a modern day mirror to another one of Lee’s explorations of New York adolescence. While this story is not a direct copy of a Spike Lee film that I will go into more detail on later, it does feel like the update equivalent that focuses on himself rather than the childhood of his sister. While an entertaining film from what I can remember, it sits behind a list of previous impressive achievements.

18. She Hate Me (2004) Humor has been an element present in a number of Spike Lee films, but for my money’s worth, this film is the closest thing to an outright comedy that he ever made. Like a number of films on the back half of his career, he is touching upon important topics (sexuality and toxic masculinity, in this case), but these are topics that he has hit with more nuance and creativity in earlier films. This film did help transition Anthony Mackie into a leading man role, and he certainly took that opportunity and ran with it, so She Hate Me could be heralded for that alone. That being said, it was a great idea that slightly missed the mark, therefore placing it on the backend of the memorable films list for Lee.

17. Miracle at St. Anna (2008) This film had the potential to be a breakout resurgence for Spike Lee. He was coming hot off the heels of Inside Man, a perfect blend of Lee’s style and modern Hollywood fare, so having a period-piece war film seemed like a slam dunk. His cast was strong, while also being filled of relatively unknown young actors on the verge of becoming stars in their own right, but for whatever reason, this film failed to make a connection with the masses. While I do remember mostly enjoying my watch, I also remember feeling a bit underwhelmed by the ending, which in turn left me lacking a reason to revisit it. Maybe it’s a hidden gem that I haven’t seen enough times yet, but at this moment in time, its home is near the bottom of Lee’s impressive list of films.

16. Get on the Bus (1996) Many people’s eyes were opened to racial injustices during the COVID-19 pandemic, as several African-American men and women found themselves on the wrong end of violent acts from the police and other citizens in the midst of a ‘shelter-in-place’ era. Not only have these injustices been going on for my entire lifetime, but they’ve been a generational trauma for many African-Americans in the United States. When the Million Man March was announced in 1996, it was not surprising that Spike Lee took it as an opportunity to both document the march and build a narrative around it in which he could showcase a collection of actors he’d either featured in past films or would work with in future films. To my knowledge, this is one of maybe two or three films about the event, and it was certainly the film released in the closest proximity to it. For an independent, quick shoot, it definitely stands up, but in comparison to Lee’s other works that benefited from full crews and production schedules, it finds itself paling in comparison.

15. BlacKkKlansman (2018) Despite the fact that this is the film that finally got Lee some sort of recognition at the Oscars, BlacKkKlansman was not quite the true return to form that many fans of Spike Lee expected. The film had moments of humor, compelling moments that directly focused on racial injustice and systematic oppression, and it pulled no punches while doing so. Like a handful of Lee’s other films, however, this one falls when compared to his other films that deal with similar subject matter. Adam Driver continued to show fans his expansive range, and Jasper Paakonen deserved INFINITELY more recognition than he got, but ultimately, this film checks all the ‘good’ boxes where it was expected to check the ‘great’ ones.

14. 25th Hour (2002) As the year 2000 approached, Lee seemed to attempt and make a shift from films that specifically spoke on aspects of the African-American experience in favor of occasional films that reached a wider audience. While Summer of Sam would be considered the first foray into that realm, the true mark of this elevated sense of creative duty came in the form of 25th Hour. With the actors in tow, in tandem with the cinematography and skilled directing ability displayed in the film, one would expect a powerhouse movie, but ultimately, the expectations exceeded the narrative of this film. This one is entertaining, don’t get me wrong, but I personally did not find a connection with the story, meaning that the film was, at best, fun to watch.

13. Summer of Sam (1999) I’ve been a true-crime junkie since my early teenage years, and even the most casual of true-crime fans is more than likely familiar with David Berkowitz, also known to many as the Son of Sam. While Red Hook Summer did come out after Summer of Sam, it’d be hard to deny the fact that Summer of Sam is the last of Lee’s love letters to New York City. This was the film where Spike Lee stepped out of his comfort zone of the African-American experience, choosing instead to focus on more colloquial aspects of the American experience, and for my money’s worth, it was the start of an important shift for him. Despite being light on the Son of Sam action, the actors this film does focus on (and the story it chooses to tell) is a fresh look at a familiar era, and a crowning achievement that signaled new things for Spike Lee.

12. He Got Game (1998) If you made a Venn diagram of people familiar with Spike Lee, the two biggest circles would be film fans and people who have seen at least one New York Knicks game since the 1990s. Therefore, the only thing that was really and truly surprising about He Got Game was the fact that it took Spike Lee 15 years and 11 films to make a film about basketball. On the outset, that’s exactly what it is : a film about basketball. Viewed with a wider lens, however, this story is a love letter to one of the most popular American inventions, and a story about how it can serve as a common-ground bridge for those from wholly different walks of life. The juxtaposition of Aaron Copland and Public Enemy made the soundtrack provocative, and Ray Allen stood out in his lead role, holding his own against the living legend that is Denzel Washington, who is always good for a stellar performance in a Spike Lee joint. Don’t mistake this film’s place on the list for my feelings about it... this is a stellar film, in my opinion, and one of my favorites to revisit.

11. Crooklyn (1994) After making what many would argue to be the most important film of his career (which we will eventually get to), it’s no surprise that Spike Lee circled his creative wagons and made the focus of his next film inward. Crooklyn covers what seem like many personal bases for Spike Lee : he portrays the New York of the past vividly and beautifully, while spinning a true-to-life tale based on his personal experience, but opting to focus on his sister Joie Lee and his father Bill Lee. Of Lee’s many, many films, this was the one that I felt the most compelled to see at the time of release, it is one of the two I have the most vivid memories and recollections of, and it has a number of stylistic choices that keep me wonderfully perplexed to this day. Despite not cracking the top ten Spike Lee films, this one ranks high on the list of Spike Lee films that hit the bullseye of my heart.

10. Jungle Fever (1991) Interracial romance is one of those things that seemingly will always be a sensitive subject. I’ve heard many people say that Jungle Fever has a dated look on the subject, but I’d argue that the film was very forward thinking, especially in showing that an interracial romance is not the answer to the cultural and societal problems that life presents us. The movie also touches deeply on drug addiction without crossing over into the realm of being preachy or talking down to the viewer. It didn’t hurt that Stevie Wonder also managed to create a soundtrack’s worth of new material that instantly brought the seemingly controversial film directly into the public eye. Maybe it is dated... maybe it is uncomfortable... but what it is, undoubtedly, is an early masterpiece that fell near the end of one of the most stellar introductory runs that any filmmaker has presented us.

9. Clockers (1995) Ever wonder what would happen if a Martin Scorsese film found its way into the hands of Spike Lee? Well, wonder no longer, because Clockers is out there waiting for you to discover it. The amount that this movie gets slept on is an outright tragedy and travesty. The soundtrack is KILLER, the color-timing puts the viewer in an immediate ‘cold-world’ environment, the order of operations presented in this film is brutal and unforgiving, and yet, it manages to be one of the most heartfelt films in the Spike Lee canon. EVERYONE presented in this movie brought their A-game to the table, from the Spike Lee regulars like Isaiah Washington, John Turturro and Harvey Keitel, to the glorified cameos and supporting roles, like Thomas Jefferson Byrd, Sticky Fingaz and Fredro of Onyx, and relative newcomer but promising leading man Makhi Phifer. This film is intense, but it is more than worth your time and attention.

8. Bamboozled (2000) Bamboozled was shocking when it was released, to say the least. The true revelation, however, has been the way that relevance has seemingly caught up to the film... fake wokeness, modern day minstrel shows, low budget/high yield television and behind the scenes scandals have all come to light many years after this film had its initial run. While this film did not transition Savion Glover into the world of superstardom and crossover success, it certainly crystalized his immense talent and charisma in a way that his recordings of stage shows had previously been unable to capture. The imagery of America’s strange fascination with the dehumanization of African-Americans for generation after generation is rich, and every performance is compelling. This was definitely Spike Lee’s first masterpiece of the new millennium, and at the risk of being bittersweet, probably one of his last truly stunning achievements.

7. Girl 6 (1996) Every ranking list has to have the controversial placement, so here’s mine... Girl 6 started as a lingering interest for me. The internet was just about to change the world, but we were still locked into landlines at the time, with cellular being a luxury, so the world of phone sex still had relevance. Upon seeing the film, however, I quickly realized that the phone sex exploration was playing counter to a Hollywood hopeful narrative that was brave enough to explore new ground (per the changing times) while being mindful enough to pay homage to the countless stories of Hollywood hopefuls that came before it. Many of the shifting cinematography looks that made Clockers so gritty were used to make Girl 6 feel dangerously euphoric. The list of cameos and brief supporting roles were not only a who’s who of cultural movers and shakers at the time, but it ran about as long as my arm. I recently revisited the film and expected it to be a bit more on the side of kitsch, but surprisingly, the times had not been as hard on the film as I anticipated. The film shifts quite well between light and dark, and even the ending that initially slightly annoyed me has found a strange sort of charm in my older, more life-experienced years. Add to this the hilarious running joke of Isaiah Washington being a kleptomaniac in nearly every scene he appears in, and there’s a realization that there are sublayers going on right in front of our eyes. This collaboration with Suzan-Lori Parks gives me hope that maybe one day, we’ll get a Spike Lee film adaptation of Topdog/Underdog, but we will see.

6. Inside Man (2006) If you had to pick the most ‘Hollywood’ of the Spike Lee films, my money would be on this film ending up as the chosen one. By this rationale, it makes the film that much more impressive, as it also stands out as one of the most compelling, well-directed and well-acted Spike Lee films. At the time of its release, it was not only a return to form, but it seemed to signal an evolution. Spike Lee was able to use his signature, iconic shots that he was known for, like his camera-turned-to-dolly float, or the push-pull zooms, but he was also able to incorporate familiar Hollywood tropes, including the twist ending, and give them a breath of fresh air via an newly infused sense of style. Lee also stayed true to himself by educating as well as entertaining, bringing to light how atrocities from the past have more than historical connections to modern day benefactors. While I do think there are a handful of better ‘pure’ Spike Lee films, if I had to pick one movie for a curious party that my be skeptical, this would easily be my pick.

5. She's Gotta Have It (1986) Oh, the joy of having your first film be a breakout success, but not to the point of pigeon-holing your career. She’s Gotta Have It was an important introductory step to the masses for Spike Lee : it showed his dedication to putting African-American performers into familiar narratives, it showed an appreciation for the voice of women on film that many first-time directors would likely not want to be the initial association to their style, it introduced the world to Mars Blackmon (who became a cultural icon), and it presented sense of style that switched on the viewer the moment before they could label it pretentious. Having characters address the camera made it feel like a play or a novel, but when the film shifted into movie mode, the camera moved with the energy and grace of a performance artist or dancer, which in turn fed into the character development and narrative it presented. As a bonus, the property found new life nearly 40 years later as a Netflix original series, introducing new generations to a modern day classic statement of feminism, and how it does not excuse bad behavior.

4. Mo' Better Blues (1990) Those familiar with Spike Lee’s family know that he was raised by jazz bassist Bill Lee, who scored some of Spike’s early films. By this rationale, it comes as no surprise that Lee could make such a rich, nuanced and heartfelt film about jazz music that serves as an allegory for the hurdles that beset those driven purely by passion. The conversations about race, musical integrity and commercialism also work on both direct and symbolic levels, giving Mo’ Better Blues some of the highest repeat viewing value of any film in the Spike Lee canon. The film also marked the first collaboration of Spike Lee and Denzel Washington, a combination that yielded artistic, career, creative, commercial and critical success, led to a multitude of classic performances, and ultimately led to a generational collaborative changing of the guard in the form of John David Washington. The only negative I can give this film is that it did not lead to future films that explored genres of music like hip-hop and soul. While She’s Gotta Have It did focus heavily on relationships and intimacy, it could be argued that Mo’ Better Blues was Spike Lee’s first adult contemporary film, and his first look at modern romance in the more ‘traditional’ sense.

3. School Daze (1988) The African-American college experience, specifically that of HBCUs (Historically Black College and Universitys), is one that has often been neglected in the annals of film history. As a graduate of Clark Atlanta University, it makes total sense that Spike Lee’s second commercial film would focus on that specifically overlooked culture, as it became a fitting vehicle for establishing Lee’s sense of duty and responsibility for education, sharing the African-American experience to the masses, and exposing systematic injustices and hypocrisies that kep the disadvantaged in a disadvantaged position. The real genius of this film, however, comes in the juxtaposition of presentations it jumps between... for the majority of the film, it is an unflinching look at the coming of age process that teenagers must traverse on their way to adulthood, including the hurdles of romance, forming your identity and expanding your view of the world around you. At key moments, however, the film switches into musical numbers, song performances and school dances that not only expand on the inner feelings, emotions and desires of characters, but heighten the reality of the story to a dizzying pace. In all the ways that She’s Gotta Have It put the world on notice that a unique voice was present in the industry, School Daze signaled the continuation of a run that would last another handful of films, and it firmly established Spike Lee as a generational talent.

2. Do the Right Thing (1989) I would guess that over the course of a career, a director secretly hopes that at least one of their works comes close to making an impact culturally. In the case of Spike Lee, however, we have a man who released two cultural-shifting films, and did so in a span of less than 5 years. They say the third time is a charm, and that’s exactly what Do the Right Thing was for Spike Lee. The vivid colors, stylistic earmarks, historical and cultural sense of urgency and focus on telling minority stories all expanded greatly with this film, which acted as both a parable of how past injustices can come back to haunt you, and a harbinger of how the reactions to these continued injustices would only amplify if not addressed. The fact that Spike Lee not only directed this film, but played the lead actor as well, is a monumental achievement, especially considering how few flaws the film has, if any. Several established actors played some of their most iconic roles in this film, and a breadth of newer, younger faces exploded onto the scene, almost all of whom either continued to work with Lee or found themselves evolving their careers in the wake of Do the Right Thing. The film is also directly responsible for perhaps the most iconic hip-hop song of all time, Public Enemy’s classic protest anthem Fight The Power. Any fan of film would be foolish to skip the Spike Lee catalog, but regardless of whether you’re interested in his work or not, this film is one of two he made that should flatly be considered required viewing across the board. The other one, being...

1. Malcolm X (1992) For everything that Do the Right Thing did for Spike Lee and those involved in the production, the monumentally powerful biopic Malcolm X did all of that while also managing to humanize, canonize and create and icon out of a man that America tried its best to demonize. The masterful hand that Lee used to direct this film shows, as this film is the most ‘every frame a painting’ in his canon. Everything from the period costuming to the locations to the dance numbers to the cinematography absolutely leaps off of the screen. The editing is kinetic, the performances are full of life and depth, and the narrative does just enough going forwards and backwards to make proper connections without beating it over the head of the viewer. The respect shown to Malcolm X is massive, so much so that almost seemingly overnight, Malcolm X went from being a feared and often heavily criticized sign of aggressive blackness to a commercial commodity and household name, with the famous X suddenly adorning t-shirts, baseball caps and necklaces of all American youth, not just minorities. The impact of this film was so immediate that many schools held field trips for viewings, which further cemented the immediate and historical value of the film. Often, the connotation of saying someone ‘peaked’ for a film so early in their career would be negative, but the heights to which Malcolm X achieved on all fronts meant that even if the rest of Lee’s career was a steady decline (which it certainly wasn’t), he more than likely still would have ended up in a pantheon far above that of the average director.

With projects reportedly in the early stages of development, it doesn’t look like Spike Lee has any plans on stopping anytime soon. I certainly owe it to myself to see the handful of his films and documentaries that I’ve not seen yet... who knows, perhaps I may even go back one day and add the documentaries into the list, or find a surprise gem in one of his more recent movies I’ve yet to see.

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Why Jack Bauer Is America’s James Bond

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Despite what Marvel might have you believe, not all film franchises are perfectly serialized.

Take, for example, another kind of cinematic superhero: James Bond a.k.a. 007. The MI6 spy created by Ian Fleming and brought to screen by Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli is timeless in the most literal sense of the world. Since Sean Connery passed the role of James Bond to Roger Moore for good in 1973’s Live and Let Die (Connery previously gave way to George Lazenby in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service before returning in Diamonds Are Forever), James Bond has become unstuck in time.

As played in subsequent films over several decades by actors like Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig, Bond remains the same while the world around him changes. Some fans like to theorize that “Agent 007” and “James Bond” are aliases used by different MI6 spies throughout the years. But within the context of the series, there is only one Bond…James Bond. Bond is always middle-aged, looks good in a tux, enjoys stiff drinks and beautiful women.

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James Bond Movies Streaming Guide: Where to Watch 007 Online

By Don Kaye

The Cold War ended in the ‘90s and yet Bond, perhap the ultimate cinematic representative of its aesthetic, just kept calm and carried on as usual. Save for a handful of Craig’s latter year depictions, James Bond rarely learns any new tricks. He doesn’t develop. He is what he is – a hero of espionage and action. In that regard, the James Bond series is a surprisingly honest exploration of the occasional propagandistic aims of major blockbuster filmmaking. Bond isn’t a character in a story. He’s the United Kingdom’s idealized version of itself writ large on a canvas widescreen: a suave spy who is welcomed into every country to get laid and save the world.

But what about the United States’ idealized version of itself? How has the Cold War’s lone surviving superpower let itself go without a similarly iconic (and occasionally nakedly jingoistic) cinematic creation? The answer is that America already does have an outsized action icon…he was just on television.

Jack Bauer of early 2000s Fox thriller series 24 is American James Bond whether we want him to be or not. Just as Bond is the idealized Englishman, with his martini lunches and quick wit, Bauer is the America’s warped ideal of itself: angry, merciless, focused, and unfailingly effective.

As portrayed by Kiefer Sutherland (who won an Emmy for the role), Jack Bauer started off as a fairly three-dimensional character in 24’s first season. That season picked up with Jack as a family man and a glorified pencil pusher at the fictional Counter Terrorist Unit’s Los Angeles office. Over the span of the first season’s 24 hours (24’s hook, of course, is that each season takes place over the span of a 24-hour day in real time), Jack slowly lost grip of his humanity, culminating with his friend Nina Myers turning out to be a mole and murdering his wife Teri.

The death of Teri fundamentally changed Jack. For eight subsequent seasons and a movie, Jack became an Uncle Sam-style cartoon character obsessed with protecting his country from terrorists all over the globe, because his family was already taken away from him. Elisha Cuthbert as Jack’s daughter Kim was a prominent character for a few seasons, but as she was phased out so too was Jack’s grip on reality.

Unlike the James Bond series, 24 was particularly devoted to its chronology, with the very premise of the show meaning it had to have a close relationship with time. Jack Bauer would in theory grow as a character from season to season. But rather than developing, he mostly devolved into the most base version of himself.

It’s in this way that Bauer actually became more like James Bond than one might initially expect. Regardless of who is playing him or what time period a particular film is set in, Bond’s characteristics remain static. By the end of 24’s run in 2014, Jack was similarly a Bond-ian relic of the past. Though the country was still feeling the effects of it, “The War on Terror” seemed as dramatically quaint for 24 as the Cold War did for James Bond. And yet here was this rugged American in the miniseries 24: Live Another Day, gripping the life out of a pistol and barking at perceived London terrorists in a gravely timber like a psycho.

24: Live Another Day was the last appearance for Jack Bauer and rightfully so at the time. The character had become a bit too anachronistic and his show, quite frankly, was frequently xenophobic. Still, as the continued success of Craig’s Bond films indicate (with No Time to Die finally set to arrive this October) perhaps there is still room for walking anachronisms in the entertainment world, as long as they’re approached correctly.

Fox has repeatedly attempted to rejuvenate the 24 brand. In 2017, the network greenlit a spinoff starring Corey Hawkins called 24: Legacy. Like its forefather, 24: Legacy, utilized a real-time format, only condensing 24 hours into 12 episodes like Live Another Day did. The spinoff was not successful and was quickly canceled following the conclusion of its first season.

Ultimately, Fox (now owned by Disney) hasn’t made any subsequent reboot attempts work yet because it has misidentified the appeal of 24 as a franchise. While the ticking clock aspect of telling a story in real time is novel and interesting, it wasn’t the reason the original series lasted for nine seasons. The real reason for 24’s success was Jack Bauer. Viewers are typically attracted to characters, not concepts. In Jack Bauer, many an American viewer likely found the embodiment of a paranoid nation they recognized.

There’s an undercurrent of anger and indignance in the American psyche. Exactly why is a question best left for sociologists. Perhaps it’s misplaced guilt over displacing a society to create a new one, or maybe it’s just the disappointment of being promised a Manifest Destiny and getting Wyoming. But whatever the reason, Jack Bauer is as apt a cartoonish American avatar as James Bond is a British one.

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So why then doesn’t 20th Television (again, now owned by Disney) just formalize the comparison and make Jack Bauer literally American James Bond? Just as Connery once handed off the baton to Lazenby and Moore, have Sutherland hand the role off to someone else. That actor would preferably represent the American physicality that Sutherland brought to the role (despite Sutherland being a Canadian, which is somewhat fitting given that the Scottish Connery was the first to play Her Majesty’s favorite spy). The new Jack Bauer would be played by someone who is short, stubbly, and angry rather than Bond’s tall, dark, and handsome. Throw the new Jack back into the field in a modern day ticking time bomb plot without bothering to explain why he is still middle-aged after 20 years.

The answer to why Disney wouldn’t want to do such a thing is almost certainly all that aforementioned racism and torture. That is admittedly a, uh…roadblock. It really can’t be overstated just how xenophoci 24 was at times and how cruel it could be to characters and actors of Middle Eastern descent. Jack Bauer’s reliance on torture wasn’t just a dramatic crutch, 24 co-creator Joel Surnow genuinely believed in the value of torture as a foreign policy tactic.

Suffice it to say, the series has not aged well. Then again, however, neither have many of the earlier Bond films. To a certain extent that’s the point of the Bond franchise. It understands that making movies is making myths. James Bond is every bit the mythical figure that Captain America or Iron Man are. The fact that Bond is so obviously an exaggerated character now has helped soften some of his more problematic edges.

Bauer, on the other hand, comes from an era where Americans were both terrified of the looming threat of terrorism and were starting to invest in television as a more “serious” art form. As such, not everyone of the time was prepared to accept Jack Bauer as American James Bond, that is to say a cheesy cultural figure, not a vital supersoldier of freedom.

In The Atlantic’s 2007 article “Whatever It Takes” about the politics of 24, U.S. Army Brigadier General Patrick Finnegan, the dean of the United States Military Academy at West Point, recounts Jack Bauer’s effect on enlistees.

“The kids see it, and say, ‘If torture is wrong, what about 24?’ The disturbing thing is that although torture may cause Jack Bauer some angst, it is always the patriotic thing to do.”

The world has changed since then, obviously. But even now, it feels like it hasn’t fully set in that Jack Bauer is the American James Bond and should be treated with the same amount of reverence, which is none at all. Perhaps the only responsible move left is, in fact, to continue the increasingly ridiculous stories of the character with new actors.

In the right hands, Jack Bauer could be put to use as a blockbuster magnet and an appropriate critique of American foreign policy. In the end, icons don’t matter so much as what you do with them.

The post Why Jack Bauer Is America’s James Bond appeared first on Den of Geek.

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portable-rock · 5 years

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i watched Daisies again last night and this time i was so severely disappointed by the film. i understood why i liked it last time—it was fun, exhilarating, unlike any film i had never seen, visually inventive—but now i realised it was quite flat. i went through my notes and saw that i said it was 'the sort of film that a lot of liberal feminist artists aspired to create in their works with the ‘female gaze’ but failed to do so'. but now i think it actually takes the concept to its logical conclusion and inadvertently reveals the flaws of such an approach. the result of the chaos on display here is ultimately nothing, this is a film that exists purely out of spite, it feels empty and nihilistic, it is rebellion that fails to acknowledge the causes of the problems around them.

the scholars who have attempted to contextualise it within a modern feminist lens always point to how authority is masculine and thus being 'messy or chaotic' is feminine. but i think this isn't true. in fact being chaotic is not an inherent part of being a woman, it is the result of class oppression. the characters in the film are no more liberated by choosing to cause chaos, in fact (as the ending perhaps suggests and gets ignored) they suffer either way.

but there is a larger question also of why this film in particular was the one that made Věra Chytilová well-known or became a symbol of the Czechoslovak New Wave. almost every article i read dives into how people are shocked a film like this could come out of a Communist country when in fact Czechoslovakia at the time was undergoing a massive period of liberalisation, which is why the films of Czechoslovak New Wave were allowed to exist in the first place. (also the claims that she was not allowed to make a film after this are also wrong because she made Fruit of Paradise right after which came out a year after Prague Spring). actually, i think it's fine Věra Chytilová made such a film, she did so as a response to the society she lived in, but to take these films outside of this context, especially to lionise it as an act of punk cinema, is a mistake:

An interesting question arises as to what extent Chytilová’s anti-consumerist criticism also addressed Western societies. While Czechoslovak filmmakers of the second half of the twentieth century did have some idea about social and cultural developments in the West, they primarily reacted to the political and social reality of their own societies. In this day and age, in the era of the internet and global social networks, it is perhaps difficult to realize how isolated the Eastern European societies were from the outside world, and not just linguistically. In the first half of the 1960s, it was almost impossible for Czechoslovak citizens to travel even to East Germany, and in the 1970s and 1980s it was extremely difficult for Czechoslovaks to obtain permission to travel, even for short periods of time, to the West. Thus, it must be emphasized that Chytilová primarily reacted to the situation in her own country, acting as a responsible citizen, always trying to improve the status quo, or at least to start a debate.¹

in fact, after her eight-year ban which ended when she pleaded to the West to pressure the president into allowing her to make films again, Věra Chytilová had actually made several films. she made on average about one every two years until her death, they are all from my understanding satires about society. in one of her later films, she criticises Czechoslovak society again, this time she suggests people should be working together more rather than being focused on themselves:

In Emergency (Kalamita, 1981) Chytilová continues criticizing greed, selfishness and cynicism of Czechoslovak society of the 1970s and 1980s. The film is a story of a young man who leaves university without graduating because he feels he wants to achieve something meaningful in “real life”. He becomes a train engine driver on a branch line in the mountains, but he cannot really achieve anything due to the extreme levels of self-obsession and selfishness of all the people around him. His final train drive ends in a calamity when the train is buried in an avalanche. This is a metaphorical warning by Chytilová who argues that when people in a society are obsessed with their own individual needs, they lose their ability to act together to mitigate the impact of shared problems – the result is a catastrophe.¹

even more, to claim that she's some sort of hero against 'the suppression of free speech under communism' is wrong too, because after Czechoslovakia split (the ‘Velvet Divorce’) and Czechia became capitalist, she and other New Wave filmmakers vocally criticised the privitisation of the film industry:

State-owned Czechoslovak cinema was privatized after the fall of communism, despite protests by many famous Czech filmmakers of the 1960s, including Chytilová herself. Political oppression was gone, but commercial pressures immediately arose. What is more, Chytilová remained a highly critical commentator with regard to what was happening in the post-communist era and this did not go down particularly well, especially in the first years after the collapse of communism when everyone was expected to applaud the new “capitalist” regime.¹

her post-Czechoslovak films, which criticise the transition to capitalism, are largely ignored outside of Czechia. she even made a film called The Inheritance or Fuckoffguysgoodday (which i think is meant to be more like 'Fuckyoubye') about life after the transition and the objectification of women:

The film’s main character, Bohumil Stejskal, is a lazy country bumpkin who suddenly inherits several valuable properties thanks to the post-communist restitution laws. The film is a study of the childish, yet good-natured uncouthness of a loudmouth, an analysis of a human being who cannot come to terms with his sudden freedom and wealth, which has come upon him unexpectedly. Like several other post-communist films, this one is also a reminder that the fall of communism and the general spread of pornography and sex for money have made it possible for some men to realize their most chauvinistic ideas about using women. Chytilová’s Inheritance is dealing with the haphazard, unjust and chaotic nature of life after the fall of communism. It analyzes truly demotic processes and notes the sudden degradation in mores which was brought about by the unexpected arrival of freedom.¹

to be honest, i don't think she's a great figure to worship anyway. i think her views often contradict each other, they are cynical and misanthropic. to me, she is largely inconsistent and simply responds to and rebels against her surroundings without really digging deeper into why things are the case. despite the message of Emergency above, she is quite like every other self-professed provocateur who still calls herself an individualist and says her worldview just comes from disdain for other people:

Her steam rising, she explains that she does not believe in feminism per se, but in individualism. "If there's something you don't like, don't keep to the rules - break them. I'm an enemy of stupidity and simple-mindedness in both men and women and I have rid my living space of these traits."²

she considers other people weak and insufferable and enjoys being compared to figures like Margaret Thatcher—she makes it clear she doesn't share her politics, just her contempt for everyday people:

Her abrasive manner has earned her the moniker the Margaret Thatcher of Czech film, and she appears quite flattered by the comparison - though she swiftly adds that they have nothing in common politically. "People are generally weak, cautious and frightened of being embarrassed, whereas I'm merciless and impertinent."²

also she's proud of abusing her workers, apparently:

Film-making with Chytilova is by all accounts a harrowing experience. She shouts and screams, and gleefully admits to beating up her cameramen when they prove unwilling to try out new ideas.²

in fact, with all of this in mind, it becomes very clear why bourgeois/individualist feminists love a figure like her so much. by simply watching Daisies and ignoring the rest of her filmography and simply skimming some of her biography, and by buying into the anti-Communist mythology that comes with it, she is of course compatible with the sort of 'boss-bitch' ideology of bourgeois feminism, she appears to fully embody it.

¹ https://eefb.org/retrospectives/The-Films-of-Vera-Chytilova

² https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/aug/11/culture.features2

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film-masochisme · 5 years

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Pain & Gain (2013)

Directed by Michael Bay

Doomsy’s Rating: 38/100

To say this is Michael Bay's best film since Pearl Harbor is kind of damning with faint praise because almost every single thing he has made since that film has been some of the worst cinema I have ever sat through. Now, when I was in film school, I didn't learn a whole lot about film criticism (especially because it's not exactly something they would teach), but I did learn this: one of the key things about being a critic is that you do have to see everything. If you only see films you're interested in, you're not doing yourself any favors. I have sat through every single Transformers film, despite how painful it was or no matter how much I wanted to stop. The point is this, film should never have to be a masochistic thing. Unfortunately, when you start taking criticism seriously, you do realize a lot of things about the world and about entertainment you previously took for granted and realize unfortunately the abhorrently cynical Hollywood mindset regarding marketing of blockbusters, especially after 9/11.

One of the things I realized about Michael Bay was the direction his career went after Pearl Harbor, and specifically after he stopped working with Jerry Bruckheimer. Now, this is something many people might not know about Jerry Bruckheimer, but he has been outspoken about his distaste for anything that isn't maximalist cinema. He's quoted as saying "If I made films for the critics, or for someone else, I'd probably be living in some small Hollywood studio apartment" in regards to the films he produces. Jerry Bruckheimer has been responsible for, among his many films, white savior narratives like Remember the Titans and conservative war-mongering indoctrination films like Top Gun, Black Hawk Down, and so on. Bruckheimer's history of neoconservative politics and capitalistic approach to the economy of mass-marketing his products is what helped shape the modern blockbusters for ages to come. The same could be said of someone like the Weinsteins in terms of marketing independent films during the 90s as well. It was a lucrative business model that allowed for two ends of a spectrum to function simultaneously. The Weinsteins cared about the critics for their model, Bruckhemier cared about the market for his model. (Not defending the Weinsteins here, let me be clear, they were just as power-hungry as everyone else in the upper echelon of Hollywood during this time).

Now, what does this have to do with Michael Bay? Well, I'll explain. Two of Bruckheimer's most frequent directors were Bay and Tony Scott. In the 1990s, the way blockbuster films largely came about was through the then-lucrative spec-script market, where a single concept could get a film made. This worked across genres, creating all manner of unique and entertaining genre fare. I'd argue the high-water mark of the high concept from this period is The Matrix (which proved that complex plots and ideas could sell huge and not lose their ideas-heavy narratives) or even Face/Off, which started from a single idea. Bruckheimer was the king of the spec market. If he got his hands on your script, it was getting made. He would either give it to Tony Scott or Michael Bay. That being said, after Cameron came back with Titanic and won 11 Oscars, Bruckhemier was not going to be outdone. This is where Pearl Harbor comes in.

Pearl Harbor was effectively one of those old John Wayne films where he goes to Iwo Jima and shoots the Japanese and waves the American flag. Except it was three hours long and featured some of the worst writing and dialogue of that time period. Even the dogfights, which Bay held out for, felt unbelievably dull and tiresome compared to the ones even in old jingoistic claptraps like Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. Pearl Harbor is a very important movie in his career because after it was so badly received (his previous films were never overtly maligned quite so heavily) it would be the last time he would ever try to appeal to more than a single demographic (and excepting Bad Boys 2, would be the last time he would partner with Jerry Bruckhemier).

After Bruckheimer and Bay's relationship ceased and the spec market was no longer a truly viable option in the wake of franchise films becoming the new commodity, Michael Bay tried to do one last high concept movie, and made The Island, which was a plagiarized-from-start-to-finish rip-off of the 70s sci-fi film Parts: The Clonus Horror. It wasn't terrible, it just felt terribly boring, drawn out, and in typical Bay Fashion, heartless. After that, he then moved on to Transformers, where the worst of his cinematic tendencies came about.

Transformers, and all of its subsequent installments, were made by Bay, and largely without a producer like Bruckhemier. The reason being is this, Transformers always has a market. It's a critic-proof franchise that kids (BOYS) love, which is exactly how we have Star Wars, Marvel, DC, and other massive box office guarantees. Part of the reason is that the market for those with disposable incomes is so high, that it will sell no matter how bad or interfered or incompetent the filmmaking is (look at Suicide Squad as a recent example of this kind of critic-proof market).

Now, I will give Bay this. He is one of the 5% of people smart-enough (read: cynical enough) to understand how to sell something. You have to appeal to the very worst of culture. Early 21st century American pop culture was decadent, appalling, misogynist, materialist, and consumerist to the point of insanity, and this was very closely tied in with post-9/11 depression, the rise of George Bush, and the Iraq War. Now, all of these things feature prominently in Bay's Transformers films. They feature in the ways that like all of the top selling pop culture of this time, was morally bankrupt and vacuous but appealed to an America that felt vulnerable, it felt totally unsafe. In effect, the America-first, material-heavy blockbuster was helping to restore the notion of capitalism not being an evil concept, that women were sex objects for men to oogle at, and also the notion that the military were a just and righteous cause, despite all the atrocities being committed in Guantanamo, Abu Gharib, and Bagram (which were conveniently kept out of the public stratosphere for a long time). All of this, by the way, is masterfully taken down piece by piece by Richard Kelly in Southland Tales (the real underrated gem of the 2000s).

All of this tells me, and I think tells a lot of people, that Michael Bay, once a perfectly functional Hollywood "Put Tab A into Slot B to sell our product" director, who I never really had any issues with as long as he had a producer like Bruckheimer, represents the worst parts of American Culture because he does not have a heart or soul beyond what a producer tells him to do. In fact, the way he pushes his leery, sickeningly misogynist, war-mongering nonsense on an impressionable audience of boys aged 8-15 is perhaps the definition of moral bankruptcy.

I needed to get this out of the way before moving on to Pain and Gain, because I need to paint some backstory as to Bay's history with Bruckheimer and American culture to illustrate part of why this film is ultimately a failure.

Now, on to Pain and Gain...

I want to be very clear upfront about this, it's not as bad as the Transformers films (nor could many things be that bad). In fact, I actually admire Bay's intentions to a small extent. I imagine he was thinking a lot after the Megan Fox situation, and the flack he received after the horrifically shameless objectification of Rosie Huntington-Whitely in Transformers Dark of the Moon, a film in which he literally cast a supermodel because his previous object called him out for being a pig (and then brilliantly got back at all her critics with Jennifer's Body). I think Bay actually, even for one second, had a moral crisis where he wondered if Megan Fox and his critics were right about him. I think Pain and Gain did prove something about Michael Bay being on his own, and that is that his idea of humanity is deeply rooted in cynicism.

Does he realize that he treats women so bad? Does he realize how flagrantly loathsome his portrayal of America is? On the surface, Pain and Gain seems to be Bay coming to terms with this. It looks like he's saying, "Yes, I have been an exponent of this mentality, and these are the people I've sold out to". I will give the screenwriters some credit too, as it takes a lot to make characters so extremely reprehensible, so disturbingly atrocious and actually manage to build an entire film around it. It's quite impressive to watch how these screenwriters have created a menagerie of the most heinous aspects of America and made them into caricatured versions of bodybuilders.

The first thing I want to say for the record, in regards to Bay's formalism (which he is both lauded and attacked for) is that I personally don't mind it in the context of this film. I think in the presentation, it's fine. It's not amazing, but it's definitely functional. Off the formalism, which is something to address in every Bay film, let's get into the content itself. I think what Bay wants to do with this film is show he is self-aware, has a heart, and isn't the miserably leery cynical capitalist the Transformers films paint him as. Here's the thing. I don't think this film is nearly as clever as it's creators thing it is, and honestly, despite his best efforts (at least I think they are) to convince me otherwise, the film firmly supplants many of my issues with him as a director.

First off, the framing device of continually interrupting the narrative to say the story is true (which looks suspiciously like Fargo) is hackneyed and after a certain point becomes cheesy and unnecessary. And it really doesn't do the film any favors aside to draw the film more comparisons to Fargo (something I think Bay is very influenced by). The film's opening moments of Marky Mark speaking about Fitness and how much he believes in it is actually promising stuff, reminding me to some extent of the ways in which Mark Wahlberg has been self-aware in the past (in films like Fear, and to some extent in Boogie Nights) of his tough guy real-life persona.

The Rock's presence immediately made me think of Southland Tales (sorry to keep mentioning it, but it is basically what this film could be if it was directed by someone else) and how brilliantly self-aware the Rock was, which is good. Then, the narrative kicked in, and then it just hit me: this is not funny. None of this is funny. What at first became laughter of discomfort soon became grimaces and annoyance over how out there Bay was going to parody his overblown chauvinism in order to say not much more than "The American Dream sucks". That message in itself is not problematic, but it is very troubling and quite hypocritical coming from someone like Michael Bay, who made a living feeding off the corporatization of the Hollywood Elite, being their hatchet man for a long time, pumping out their meat-headed behemoths in order to tick boxes in their accounting books.

So, that being said, I think that Bay's attempts to push forward satire aren't funny because they are entirely surface level attempts at deconstruction and subversion. The ham-fisted and bluntness and revisionism of his past as essentially one of these three characters (not quite so caricatured as them obviously) just comes off as lazy and opportunistic. Throughout this film, we are treated to an endless parade of characters that represent massive egos, overcome by their pathetically narcissistic outside, broiled over by patent immodesty. At the same time, the ludicrously pervasive misogyny overcomes the characters, even going so far as to have an upskirt shot of a dismembered woman. Now, I don't know about you girls, but I find stuff like that unnecessary, exploitative and childish.

Not even minding the incredibly bawdy and forced attempts at comedy that are supposed to be garnered from people behaving so selfishly and so foolishly, there are so many more contradictions from top down. In a really juvenile way, Bay and the screenwriters are constantly ranting about how brainwashed the culture is. As I said earlier, coming from Bay this is as self-aware as I'd like him to be. But as the film repeatedly demonstrates, that self-parody only extends the length of a coin as when this film also fails to win him new critical fans, he goes right back to the greed is good atrocity that was the next Transformers film, in which the idea of humor in a "family" film is a cheap and sick gag about the Romeo and Juliet Clause.

Now, judging the film on its own merits, ignoring that after this, Bay went back on seemingly every bit of self-criticism he attempted to illustrate with this film (very poorly and hypocritically), it is entirely possible to watch a film like this and pick something of note out of it. Partly because for all the problems and things I hate about it, it's at least attempting to do something different and it's also not part of the horrific brand of culture that came out of blockbusters produced during the Bush Era which tried so hard to restore American faith in their conservative, militaristic superpower status.

For one thing, I think Ed Harris's character is the best thing in the film, because he provides something resembling a focal point, an ineffective and boorish counterpoint to the leads, showing that even in the film's abysmal screenwriting and blatantly pastiched riffs on Fargo and other films where stupid people try to get rich off the American Dream (which is quite a large genre now), there is at least an attempt at something human. That being said, Pain and Gain just fails to convince me of Bay or the writers' intentions and their over-reliance on excess creates contradictions and irritation, as opposed to substantial thematics beyond the appearance of them. I also think that if Richard Kelly directed this, it would have been edgier, more dark, and more rightfully frustrated, and perfectly capture everything wrong with the cynical and shameful world that we live in. Long review short, Michael Bay is a hypocrite and even his attempts to show he has a heart reveals only a deeper hole.

Also, him and his misogyny, homophobia, capitalism, etc. can eat my fuck.

#film #filmreview #pain & gain #mark wahlberg #the rock #dwayne johnson #anthony mackie #tony shalhoub #ed harris #god i cant believe people think michael bay is uniroinically good like wtf #cant remember the last time i watched such a hateful movie smh #movies #cinema #this is such a terrible piece of shit and i want bay apologists to just go away

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more--than--music · 5 years

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2018 Albums of the Year

Here’s my albums of the year. 2018 has been a brilliant year for music, and so I thought I’d lay out my favourite albums, and the reasons why they’re my favourites.

10: Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Sex and Food

Kicking the list off at ten, we have the fourth full-length project from the New Zealand lo-fi psychedelic group Unknown Mortal Orchestra. An album that calls to mind at various points dusty late 70s grooves, 80s synth work and yet very modern production sensibilities, Sex and Food bounces between deeply introspective balladry, and funky danceable beats. A sure step forward for a band that only looks to become more experimental as time goes on.

9: Ben Howard – Noonday Dream

The Devon based singer-songwriter gives a compelling vision of the future of indie-folk with this transient and supremely accomplished set of songs. Taking a further stride away from the straightforward acoustic sound of 2011’s Every Kingdom, Noonday Dream shows an artist unafraid to utilise aspects of electronic and ambient music into his soundscapes, resulting in a transcendent, elegant, and above all beautiful set of tracks. The opening duo of Nica Libres At Dusk and Towing The Line are a particular high point.

8: Thom Yorke – Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film)

Surprisingly his first ever venture into soundtrack work, Thom Yorke’s masterful score for the Luca Guadagnino film of the same name could be in this list simply on the strength of its lead track; Suspirium is an otherworldly waltz, a spartan piano line presided over by Thom’s instantly recognisable vocals. But it is the deeper cuts for which this album earns its place; Open Again begins with a fingerpicked guitar progression that grows into a monolithic walk to the gallows and then fades out once more. A master at the height of his powers.

7: Sports Team – Winter Nets

Undoubtedly the least well-known name on this list, the debut EP from the London-based indie-pop outfit Sports Team has been one of my most played records yet this year. A cerebral mix of Jarvis Cocker-style lyricism preoccupied with the minutiae of suburban life, and pitch perfect indie rock arrangements teetering on the edge of chaos, this shows talent beyond their years; the only EP on this list, these five tracks managed to catch my attention early on, and have stayed with me through the year. Ones to watch.

6: MGMT – Little Dark Age

A name I would not have expected to see on this list at the start of the year, the comeback from the early 2000s electro-pop group is unexpectedly brilliant. Far from the runaway chart success of singles such as Electric Feel, Little Dark Age is full of tracks that could have been pulled from the dusty archives of pretty much any 80s synth bands, but combined with so many left-field production choices, and lyrics that belie a dark sensibility beneath the bright instrumentation, this album becomes a very mature release indeed. The single, Little Dark Age, is just magic. I can’t wait to see what comes next.

5: Car Seat Headrest – Twin Fantasy

Bringing us into the second half of this list is Will Toledo’s project Car Seat Headrest, with a rerecorded, remastered version of his 2011 breakout album Twin Fantasy. Toledo’s DIY ethos calls to mind contemporary Kevin Parker, of Tame Impala, although the two go about their self-imposed individualism rather differently. Toledo’s recordings retain the lo-fi teen emotion of the original Twin Fantasy, while adding the production sensibilities of Toledo’s later Car Seat Headrest ventures, resulting in such a dizzying barrage of pitch perfect indie ballads that display mature, incisive and insightful lyricism. The peaks of the album slip off the rails in the most glorious way, and culminate in simple, honest, and resounding emotional resolutions. Few albums so perfectly capture the teenage experience... a brilliant achievement.

4: Father John Misty – God’s Favorite Customer

It will come to no surprise to those of you who know me that Josh Tillman has made his way into this list; I have been following Father John Misty since last year’s existential crisis of an album, Pure Comedy. But God’s Favorite Customer is an entirely different beast- aside from the single, Mr Tillman, the typical luscious arrangements of a usual Father John Misty album are conspicuously missing here. Gone are the chamber pop orchestras and parlour ballads; here is FJM with an acoustic guitar, a month’s stay in a hotel room, and some utterly shattering songwriting. Tillman has abandoned his lofty perch overseeing the human condition in favour of personal, painful lyrics that dissect a failing relationship in real time. Many of these songs are addressed to, or from the perspective of, Josh’s wife, Emma, and the narratives are as autobiographical as ever. But the key here is that Tillman has ceased to be just an observer of the phenomena he comments on; in God’s Favorite Customer he has no choice but to experience them from the inside, and it makes for devastating listening in places. However, Misty has not abandoned all hope; closer We're Only People (And There's Not Much Anyone Can Do About That) ends the album with a remarkably beautiful and optimistic look at humanity, and leaves you ready to emerge from the hotel room, blinking against the sunlight, into the outside world.

3: Blood Orange – Negro Swan

London born producer, multi-instrumentalist, and general prodigy Devont Hynes, has outdone himself on his fourth project under the moniker Blood Orange; Negro Swan represents exactly the kind of progressive song writing Hynes is so sought after in the pop world for, and brings together a beautiful collage of sounds and textures to produce an album that is so of the moment, it feels like a time capsule of today. Swan embraces diversity, revelling in a celebration of sexuality and identity that feels almost carnival-like in its embrace of so many aspects of modern R&B and Hip-Hop. On what other album can you find Puff Daddy monologuing about his own fear of being loved? This whole project is filled with moments such as this, with trans black activist Janet Mock providing a loose narrative thread tying the album together. But for me, the true highlight of this album is Hynes himself; a young black artist showcasing a striking talent that simply refuses to obey the laws of genre or society. The musical prowess on show is undeniable; in particular, Hynes’ guitar work is so accomplished, tracks such as Charcoal Baby are sheer joy to listen to because of it. The vocals on this record are equally impressive; comparisons will undoubtedly be drawn to Prince, although personally I see Hynes as akin to Frank Ocean, both showcasing a new vision for R&B in the 21st century, and Swan feels in many ways a sibling to Ocean’s 2016 album Blonde, in its transient nature and almost soundscape-like mixture of sounds and feelings. Negro Swan is a glorious celebration in which all expression is embraced, and no identity is off-limits. This is what all modern R&B should aspire to.

2: Arctic Monkeys – Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino

Those monkeys, eh? Four years after their last studio effort, with each member having done something entirely different (and accomplished, see Alex Turner with The Last Shadow Puppets, and Matt Helders on the latest Iggy Pop record) with their sabbatical, no one quite knew what shape their return would take. Recorded in London, Paris and Los Angeles, the sixth album from the band synonymous with early 00s indie could have taken quite a number of directions; furthering the slick arena rock of AM, delving deeper into the baroque pop offering the Last Shadow Puppets pursue, or perhaps even a return to their raucous indie rock roots. Naturally, they did none of the above. The first sign of their step in a different direction was a video they posted in mid-April, announcing a return with an eerie synth line and a fuzzy guitar lick; in hindsight it was the perfect segue into the TBH&C era, both a nod to the leather-clad rock of AM, and yet the space-age synths and fictional space resorts of Tranquility Base. And when the album did come? Oh boy. I’m not sure a release in 2018 divided fans quite like the Monkeys’ did. I’ve heard it variously described as “sheer genius”, “derivative retro nothing” and “f*cking lift music”. It really was that polarising. I’m sure that from its spot on this list you can guess which camp I fall into. From the go, the surreal lyricism of Alex Turner is front and centre, and the record is all the better for it. From surreal references to Kubrick film techniques, and obsession with sci-fi jargon, to ridiculous pastiches of Hollywood clichés, critics weren’t short of liner notes to unpick. But the key for me was the way that the album, as all great sci-fi does, comments on modern life through the lens of futurism, while also keeping you scratching your head the whole time. Furthermore, the actual songwriting is as good as ever, with Turner making a tune about a less than perfect review for a taquiera on the moon into the rhythmic centrepiece of the album. I do have to confess, I am slightly biased; I’m a lifelong AM fan, and I did see this performed live, which only deepened my admiration of it but truthfully- listen to this album. Then listen some more. And then some more again. Because when it clicks, you won’t experience anything else even remotely like it all year.

Bonus Round

These are albums that I discovered in 2018, but weren’t released this year… they deserved recognition along with the rest of these projects.

5: Frank Ocean – Endless

Frank Ocean is one of, if not the, best and most innovative artists working in modern R&B. That much is undisputed. But until 2018, despite being a huge Frank Ocean fan, I had neglected his 2016 visual album, Endless. Perhaps this was due to laziness, not having Apple Music, or perhaps it was because for me it was vastly overshadowed by the release of the seminal Blonde a few days later. Or maybe I simply thought a visual album wasn’t worth my time. Whatever the reason, I was a fool to overlook it. Endless is an ethereal journey through Ocean’s psyche, with a vast soundscape of beautiful, flowing synths and guitars. Furthermore, Endless features some of Ocean’s best rap work since Channel Orange. A truly beautiful project, and Higgs is, for me, Ocean’s most devastatingly sad track… further evidence that Frank doesn’t put a foot wrong.

4: Leonard Cohen: Songs Of Leonard Cohen

In 2016, the music world lost one of its most treasured talents, in the form of Leonard Cohen. However, although I have always been aware of Cohen’s work (Hallelujah, his inspiration of Nick Cave, The Last Shadow Puppets’ Is This What You Wanted cover), I had never taken the time to sit down and immerse myself in his work. Well, I was very much missing out. His cinematic, confessional storytelling, and his instantly recognisable voice and manner, mean that his songs are almost exactly the type of ballads I love, and Songs is his finest work. From start to end, you see the world through Cohen’s eyes. A poet.

3: King Krule: The OOZ

King Krule (real name: Archy Marshall) is a divisive artist; many see him as a visionary, however he is also, to many (including my dad) just “the one with the awful voice”. To me, Krule is a fantastic lyricist and producer, with an instantly recognisable sound. From the moment you enter The OOZ, you are in Marshall’s world, a London of grimy concrete and eerie loneliness. However, there are moments of beauty among the sluggish, smog-filled music; Slush Puppy, despite descending into madness near the end, is a really quite endearingly desperate performance. Cadet Limbo also shows off Krule’s more jazzy influences, and is all the better for it. A view into the future of singer-songwriting.

2: Father John Misty: I Love You, Honeybear

Josh Tillman has already featured on this list once, and it’s no secret I think he’s one of the best artists working today. However, until this year, I had never given his 2015 romantic opus, Honeybear, a proper listen. I was turned on to Misty by his 2017 work Pure Comedy, and after an existentialist view on all of Humanity, a romance album seemed like a step back, so I didn’t give it the time it deserved. How wrong I was. Honeybear is a beautiful, tender, and being an FJM record, deeply satirical and funny, look at love, relationships, and society. It features lush, beautiful arrangements, and gorgeous melodies, all delivered with Misty’s characteristic tongue-in-cheek smirk. Not one track on the album is dead space, and there are several high points, right from the start. Favourite for me is I Went To The Store One Day, which is a simple, yet incredibly beautiful and moving ballad to close the album. Stunning stuff indeed.

1: Everything Everything – A Fever Dream

I’ve known of Everything Everything for quite a while now, but in early 2017 I was gifted tickets to see them on their A Fever Dream tour, and it absolutely blew my mind. EE have crafted brilliant electronic indie music in the past, with catchy melodies and odd, skittering rhythms. However, A Fever Dream builds on this in the best possible way, building on their electronic sound and adding an even more fiercely of-the-moment view on songwriting. One of the highlights for me was Jonathan Higgs’ vocals, which electrified the music with a fierce intellect, and sparkling melodies. An ecstatic blend of so many musical styles, which results in a fantastic album. A masterpiece for today.

Okay, finally the main event. My album of the year 2018 is…

1: IDLES – Joy as an Act of Resistance.

Here we are then. Number one spot. And again, if you know me, you know there could never really have been any other album here. I first discovered IDLES earlier in the year, riding off the success of their breakout debut album Brutalism, an unstoppable punk locomotive of an album, with guitar and bass lines that are so, well, brutal, that they break down the door and hold you at gunpoint until you sit up and pay attention. This band is the perfect voice for austerity Britain, more mature than Slaves, more relevant than Sleaford Mods, and yet they walk an incredibly fine line. It’s almost impossible to define until you hear a band that possess it, but they simply make. So. Much. Sense. Joe Talbot talks with such a fiery intensity that it’s impossible not to listen, and an eloquence that is so often missing from punk. He’s so likeable, and oddly enough for punk, easy to listen to. However, don’t mistake that for the album lacking brutal riffs. Because it has those in spades. From the opening bass rumble of Colossus, JAAAOR picks you up by the scruff off your neck, and doesn’t put you down until the last manic notes of Rottweiler fade away. This is a rock record that defies rock, a punk record that doesn’t define itself as punk, and a political statement that bases its politics on the phrase “Love yourself.” This provides an infectious alternative to the toxic masculinity of so much mainstream rock, and a uniquely vulnerable take on an incredible variety of issues. Beginning with an immediate left-footing with Colossus, the album the catches its witty and caustic stride with Never Fight A Man With A Perm, going from strength to strength the whole time. I’ve never quite identified with a track lyrically as much as I’m Scum, a rallying call for liberals everywhere: “I'll sing at fascists 'til my head comes off, I am Dennis Skinner's Molotov / I'm lefty, I'm soft, I'm minimum wage job”and erupting into the chant of “this snowflake’s an avalanche”. It goes on to postulate about not caring about the next James Bond, as “we don’t need another murderous toff”. The next track is the joyous Danny Nedelko, an ode to Talbot’s friend, and frontman of Heavy Lungs, Danny Nedelko. It’s a quite magnificent celebration of immigration and diversity, and embodies the sentiment of the album as a whole quite simply with a roar of “Unity!”. Potent stuff. The next highlight (or rather lowlight) for me is the one-two punch of June and Samaritans. June is a singularly moving ode to Talbot’s stillborn daughter, building all the time to a non-existent crescendo, and repeating the six-word mantra “Baby shoes, for sale. Never worn.” Incredibly painful, raw and poignant; you feel as if you’re witnessing a moment that you really shouldn’t be, a would-be father grieving at the bedside. It then transitions into Samaritans, an anti-toxic masculinity manifesto, furious in its denial of male stereotypes: “Man up, sit down, chin up, pipe down”, and building relentlessly to sheer ecstasy of the decree: “I kissed a boy and I liked it”. Powerful, powerful stuff. Track eight, Television, is pinned down by a juddering riff complimented by the incredibly able drumming of Jon Beavis (a very much unsung hero of the group), and a wonderful self-love mantra. Moving on, Great is an anti-Brexit track than manages to reveal the hypocrisy of nationalism without ever moving into preachy politicism, which is Talbot’s greatest strength; he can make any point sound like the simplest and most honest declaration ever. Gram Rock and Cry To Me are witty, and the least overtly political tracks of the album; but even these apparent low points aren’t by any means stale, quite the opposite. Every moment of this record fizzes with energy. Finally, Joy rounds off with the magnificent Rottweiler, a searing discrediting of the UK media, ending in the wheels coming off as the tension built throughout the 42 minutes comes to a chaotic end, with Joe yelping “Unity!”over and over. I have one final thing to say about Joy; it’s production is pristine throughout, with clarity in even its most chaotic moments. This is my record of the year, because I feel no other record held my attention so completely, and was so representative of the sentiment of this year. Pure joy.

Well then, thanks for sticking with me. 2018’s been a belter of a year for music, and I can’t wait to see what 2019 brings.

#2018 #albums of the year #unknown mortal orchestra #ben howard #thom yorke #sports team #mgmt #car seat headrest #father john misty #blood orange #arctic monkeys #idles

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jdiggins · 3 years

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final blog project

Lloyd Kaufman is an American film director, producer, actor, and documentarian who has been in the business for many decades. Along with Michael Herz, he is well known as the co-founder of the Film Studio, Troma Entertainment. Before he got into the film industry, Kaufman was born to a Jewish family in New York City on December 30th, 1945.

Kaufman attended Yale University and graduated as part of the class of 1968. While at Yale, Kaufman majored in Chinese Studies. He was not originally planning to become a filmmaker. However, Kaufman was assigned to a dorm with two roommates who were big film fanatics. These roommates helped Kaufman realize that he loved films and he wanted to be a filmmaker.

Some of the filmmakers Kaufman gained an appreciation for include John Ford, Franklin Schaffner and a few others. In fact, Kaufman actually scored an interview with Schaffner in 1969 for Films in Review.

He got his first taste of filmmaking while he was still at Yale. He was the producer for Robert Edelstein’s film, Rappacini*. Edelstein was one of those friends who helped Kaufman become interested in film and filmmaking. Also at Yale, Kaufman would make his directorial debut with The Girl Who Returned in 1969.

The premise of The Girl Who Returned is that the entire world is comprised of two countries. Luxembourg and Mongolia. All the inhabitants of Luxembourg are women, and all the inhabitants of Mongolia are men. The two countries have an Olympics competition between the two to determine who controls the world.

Kaufman made The Girl Who Returned on a budget of just $2,000. Today, that looks like a ridiculously small number. $2,000 is pennies for most modern films. In his 1998 autobiography, All I Need to Know about Filmmaking I Learned from the Toxic Avenger, Kaufman talks about his experience making this first movie of his. It is here that we learn he made The Girl Who Returned using a Bolex camera which lacked a sound sync and could only film for forty seconds at a time.

Kaufman also said in his autobiography that he really does not like The Girl Who Returned. He thinks it’s a boring movie. The film was only ever screened at Yale and a few other colleges and did not do very well in terms of reviews. Regardless, Kaufman stuck with filmmaking as a career.

The Girl Who Returned may not have been a very good film but it was important for two reasons. First, it was Kaufman’s directorial debut. Secondly, it had a cameo of Michael Herz, who would later partner with Kaufman to create Troma Entertainment.

After he graduated from Yale, Kaufman worked with the now defunct Cannon Films for a few years. It was here that he actually collaborated on a few films with John G. Avildsen who would later go on to direct The Karate Kid and Rocky.

Kaufman even had a brief cameo in Rocky as a homeless guy outside the bar (Dodero 2012).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSkcA-Q32Xw&ab_channel=CineJeur

In 1971, Kaufman directed, wrote, and starred in his first film outside of school with The Battle of Love’s Return. It’s arguable whether this one is actually that good of a movie. However, it seems that at the time it was well-reviewed. Howard Thompson’s review of it in the New York Times was pretty good.

The Battle of Love’s Return might also be notable for giving Oliver Stone an acting role very early in his career. Stone of course might be well known and controversial today for directing JFK (1991).

Remember Michael Herz? Well, in 1974, Kaufman and Herz teamed up to create Troma Entertainment as a new production and distribution company. Kaufman and Herz had actually first met as students at Yale University. Although they did not like each other that much at first, they got along after hanging out together enough. Kaufman has said that the only reason he got together with Herz is because Herz had a pinball machine and Kaufman had a television.

Herz had been wanting to get into filmmaking as well, so he partnered up with Kaufman to create Troma. Seeing as how Troma is still around to this day, it would seem that this was a good partnership and a good decision.

So… how can Troma films best be described? They basically specialize in low-budget horror films. Not to mention, after all these years, Troma still is independent. In fact, it would seem that Troma sort of prides itself on being an independent.

Kaufman has described Troma as the “herpes of American cinema’ because he believes its not going anywhere and he seems to be right.

He has also said that Troma puts out movies that are so low budget and grotesque that no movie theater will ever take his movies. In addition, the low budget means they have no money to market the movie. Kaufman believes that the difference between him and big-time directors like Quentin Tarantino and Peter Jackson and others is the millions of dollars they can dedicate to marketing their movies (Ziems 2016).

Troma started out putting out a bunch of sex comedies such as Squeeze Play! in 1979.

However, Troma’s biggest successes would come in the 1980s. Mainly, 1985’s The Toxic Avenger. This is by far the most successful Troma film. Directed by both Kaufman and Herz, it was Troma’s first film in the horror genre.

The movie is about Melvin Ferd (Mark Torgi) who is a rather pathetic 98 lb. nerd working as a janitor at a health club in the fictional town of Tromaville, New Jersey.

He is frequently harassed by the customers of the health club. In one of their tricks, the customers Melvin to wear a pink tutu and kiss a sheep. He gets chased around the health club until he goes through a window and falls into a barrel of toxic waste.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ODV02AYTw0&ab_channel=Agust%C3%ADnCordes

Melvin catches fire and then gets out and runs around. He runs home to get in his bathtub where the flames get put out. However, the damage has already been done. Melvin has been turned into a deformed freak by the toxic waste. However, he is also given superhuman strength. This is where he becomes the Toxic Avenger.

Despite getting kicked out of his mother’s house, Toxic Avenger or Toxie uses his powers to enact a form a justice. Toxie fights drug dealers, pimps dealing with underage prostitutes, murderers, and other nasty people. He even goes back and gets revenge on the people who harassed him at the health club.

The Toxic Avenger was a huge success for Troma. It basically created an entire media franchise. There were three sequels, even if they were less successful. The Toxic Avenger was been adapted into a musical. There was a video game and even a children’s cartoon based off The Toxic Avenger.

Although the 1991 cartoon was called Toxic Crusaders and was much less gruesome than the original movie. It featured Toxie and bunch of other heroes going around fighting pollution. The video game for the NES was based on this TV show (Winfrey 2016).

Another impressive aspect of The Toxic Avenger is how it managed to be a pretty good movie with a much lower budget. Its budget was only $500,000. Even for the 1980s, this was a small budget. In comparison, each of the original Star Wars trilogy movies had budgets of at least ten million dollars. It turns out movies have always been really expensive to make. However, it is still impressive that Troma can put out good movies on much lower budgets.

Following the success of The Toxic Avenger in 1985, Troma continued to put out other successful works. Herz and Kaufman worked with Richard W. Haines to direct Class of Nuke ‘Em High which released in 1986.

Class of Nuke ‘Em High takes place at the Tromaville High School (the same Tromaville in The Toxic Avenger --- a lot of Troma films take place here) where the nuclear power plant next door has just had an accident. The owner of the plant, Mr. Paley covers up the accident to prevent his plant from being shut down. The toxic material kills one student and the runoff poisons others turning them violent and causing a lot of problems. It spawned two sequels that were not directed by Kaufman or Herz.

After Class of Nuke ‘Em High came Troma’s War in 1988. This was probably one of the most ambitious projects for Troma and Kaufman at this point with a budget of 3 million dollars. It’s about a group of Americans who crash land on a island. Meanwhile, terrorists are about to attack America with a new biological weapon. This one was apparently more of a commentary on Reagan-era militarism. It looks like a good movie. Although, it apparently did not do so well financially and gave Troma a lot of financial problems. It may even be partly why Troma remained a independent film producer and distributor rather than becoming way bigger.

However, Troma has managed to stay around to this day and they still seem to be going strong and Lloyd Kaufman seems to be a major part of that success.

Some notable movies since then would probably be Tromeo and Juliet or Terror Firmer.

They even made a fourth Toxic Avenger movie in 2000. He even worked on some of these films with stars in their early careers such as James Gunn who went on to direct the Guardians of the Galaxy movies.

To this day, Troma and Kaufman still seem to have a pretty loyal fanbase. They also relish in being independent. Since 1999, they have been holding a TromaDance Film Festival. Until 2009, it was held in Salt Lake City at the same time as Sundance. Then it was moved to New Jersey. Kaufman felt that Sundance was basically “too Hollywood”. TromaDance does not even have an entry fee or anything. It seems that just about anyone can submit any movie to get into the festival.

Outside of filmmaking, it seems that Kaufman has taken an interest in promoting the art to others. Kaufman has taught classes on filmmaking at his old school, Yale. He has books and movies on how to get into filmmaking such as Make Your Own Damn Movie!.

Overall, Kaufman and his Troma creation are still going strong even after over 40 years. It seems like they’ll be here for a while. Who knows what they’ll come up with next? Perhaps a Toxic Avengers reboot?

Sources:

Kaufman, L. (1969, August). The Early Franklin J. Schaffner. Films in Review. https://pota.goatley.com/magazines/films-in-review-1969-08.pdf

Lloyd Kaufman – Curriculum Vitae. Lloyd Kaufman. https://www.lloydkaufman.com/biography/

Kaufman, L. & Gunn, J. (1998) All I Need to Know about Filmmaking I Learned from the Toxic Avenger. Berkley Boulevard.

Ziems, M. (2016, January 20). Lloyd Kaufman – The Toxic Avenger of Independent Cinema. The 8 Percent. https://the8percent.com/lloyd-kaufman-the-toxic-avenger-of-independent-cinema/

Dodero, C. (2012 July 10). Q&A: Rocky Director John Avildsen on Working with Lloyd Kaufman. The Village Voice. https://www.villagevoice.com/2012/07/10/qa-rocky-director-john-avildsen-on-working-with-lloyd-kaufman/

Thompson, H. (1971 December 1). Screen: Love’s Return. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1971/12/01/archives/screen-loves-return.html

Winfrey, G. (2016 July 29). Troma Lives! Inside the Wacky, Repulsive, and Weirdly Meaningful World of a B-Movie Legend. https://www.indiewire.com/2016/07/tromaville-indie-film-legend-lloyd-kaufman-troma-entertainment-toxic-avenger-1201710070/

That Shelf Staff. (2014 March 17). Interview: Lloyd Kaufman. That Shelf. https://thatshelf.com/interview-lloyd-kaufman/

(2005). The 6th Annual TromaDance Film Festival. https://web.archive.org/web/20081011131259/http://news.tromadance.com/archives/2004/10/18/press-release/

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marcmyworks · 6 years

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Ranking the Scream franchise.

In the aftermath of Scream franchise director Wes Craven’s death, the scandal surrounding producer Harvey Weinstein and the unpopularity of the Scream TV show, I fear we will never see a Scream 5. In this event I would like to say this is a groundbreaking film series that truly deserves to be watched, despite some of the horror sequel setbacks.

Now, for your enjoyment, here is the ranking of all four Scream films.

**SPOILERS**

4. Scream 3 (2000)

Scream 3 was disappointing in comparison to its early installments. The studio was under pressure to kill the film as the previous year slasher films had been the inspiration for several school shootings. Because of this Wes Craven had to cut down on the violence and gore. On top of this writer Kevin Williamson, who helmed the first two, was suddenly a hot ticket item in Hollywood, and as his time was limited he only could produce a rough draft script for the film. Dimension Films felt Williamson’s vision of setting the film back in the original small town of the original was too small and discarded his notes and hired newly famous writer, Erhen Kruger to take over the duties. Kruger set the film in Hollywood, during the production of a film called “Stab 3″, the fictitious sequel to the events of the first two Scream films.

Unfortunately due to the time constraints, the studio interference and the schedule of each of the actors, the script would sometimes be written the night before, with rewrites happening on set. Kruger’s initial script had two killers, one of which was main character, Sidney Prescott’s brother and the other an actress obsessed with being Sidney, both with making their own real life version of the original film only to kill each other in the final scene. The studio changed this ending for whatever reason and decided to have a multitude of red herrings leading the audience to believe there were multiple killers. The big reveal was mundane when there turned out to be only be one.

Without focusing on the scares, gore or character development, Scream 3 was not as successful critically or financially as the previous two installments. I now wonder, how it would have fared had they stuck to Williamson’s original notes.

Scream 3 = 5.5 = D

3. Scream 4 (2011)

A common theme in the Scream universe is the studio interference with the films, Scream 4 is no exception. Both the return of Craven and Williamson was a stroke of genius, but soon after production started the Weinstein’s demanded massive changes to the script, this lead to Williamson quitting during the start of production and bringing back Kruger as a (excuse the pun) ghost writer. Several actors quit during principle filming due to their roles being reduced and had to be quickly replaced. This included Ashley Greene dropping out of the role of Jill, Sidney’s cousin and Lauren Graham dropping out of the role of Jill’s Mother.

The plot of Scream 4 revolves around Sidney coming back to Woodsboro 15 years after the original Scream took place, she is promoting a book about her survival and is a media darling. The ideas are mostly developed; how youth culture is now not about pop culture but about being pop culture and how horror films are so saturated with gore and characters that audiences have become bored and complacent. Unfortunately the film becomes what it is criticizing, being too saturated with characters, gore and less about plot and tension, it becomes complacent.

On the positive side, the intro is a work of meta-horror art and the killer’s motivation is the most original of any modern slasher flick, it’s just the rest of the film that needed quite a bit of tweaking.

Scream 4 = 6.25 = C-

2. Scream 2 (1997)

Scream 2 is an almost perfect sequel and somehow, like the first, is funny and terrifying at the same time. I remember being 15 and seeing this in almost empty theater on my own and being too scared to use a bathroom stall (see the opening scene). Sequels generally suffer from either a convoluted plot, recycled ideas, far too many characters or all of the above, this film has none of these problems and does not fall into the typical horror movie tropes. Set two years after the original film, Sidney, a sophomore in college, and her friends are being stalked by a copycat killer.

Williamson wrote a treatment for Scream 2 while he wrote the first film and it was to his benefit. Though he initially envisioned the franchise to be a trilogy his first draft, called Scream Again had Sidney and suspect/ex-con Cotton Weary stabbing each other to death at the end of the film, with the intention of leaving the audience in utter horror that no one survived.

Again, the film had many rewrites. This was due to the original script leaking online, there being too many killers (in the original script there were four) and worrying about the MPAA rating the film an NC-17, which in North America equals box office suicide. Again some scenes were being written and improvised on set but somehow the final product was a masterpiece and managed to have even more critical praise than the original.

Scream 2 = 8.5 = A

1. Scream (1996)

In my humble opinion the original is best film in the series. The genius behind this film was taking a chance by killing off the film’s biggest star, Drew Barrymore, at the beginning of the film. The idea was actually the actresses. She was hired to play Sidney, but she had concerns about being type cast in horror/sci-fi films, as she was when she a child-star. Her career was also starting to flourish again which caused her schedule to become quite busy. She instead opted for a smaller part using her stature to attract other actors and even director Wes Craven to sign on. Horror films were a gamble in the mid-90s and to see a star of her caliber join made others intrigued.

It was popular at the time to cast actors in their 20s as high schoolers, and each character perfectly portrayed intuitive and analytical teens. The level of humour, intelligence and tension was perfectly written and executed and Scream became an overnight sleeper hit.

The only actor who chose not to be credited in the film was Henry Winkler who excellently played Principal Himbry. At the time he did not want his name attached to the film as he felt it would take away interest from the films young stars. Himbry’s death scene wasn’t in the original script and was added during filming. There were for two reasons for this; first to break up the almost 45 minutes in which no deaths had occurred and secondly to be the main reason most of the kids left the party at the end of the film, leaving Sidney and her friends to be hunted down by the killer.

Overall the main reason this movie is so iconic is because it influenced a new influx of horror movie, none of which could match Scream’s success, but still tried damn hard.

Scream = 9 = A+

And there you have it, the Scream films in a nutshell. I would like to say to the Weinstein’s or whoever is taking ownership over these films. please make a Scream 5, and make it more gutsy, edgy and brutal than any of the originals. Perhaps it’s finally Dewey’s time to meet the reaper. (Update: Scream 5 will be released January 2022, and will be added to this list)

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just-ateenage-dirtbag · 6 years

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TVPaint Introduces A Free Android Version And Looks Ahead To An Exciting 2018

We chat with TVPaint Développement CEO, Fabrice Debarge, who highlights the upcoming endeavors for the French company and its ingenious 2D animation software TVPaint Animation, and also introduces the software’s highly-anticipated Android version.

Cartoon Brew: It’s been official for several weeks: at the next Annie Awards, taking place February 3 in Los Angeles, TVPaint Développement will be presented the Ub Iwerks Award, an honor that recognizes “technical advancement that has made a significant impact on the art and industry of animation.” It’s actually the first time ever that a French company is receiving this recognition. How do you feel about that ?

Fabrice Debarge: When we received the letter from ASIFA Hollywood executive director Frank Gladstone, we went through a variety of emotions. We have never lobbied for prizes or awards, so we could barely believe it! Now we know it is for real and we feel ecstatic: it’s a true honor for my team and I to be awarded, especially by ASIFA Hollywood! In Europe, there are no events to reward technologies that have been developed for the industry of animation, cinema, and vfx.

Our team has always done its best to provide an incredible software for traditional animators who want the natural feeling of animating on paper with all the power of modern digital tools. This award confirms we’ve been doing well, and we will continue to do our best to meet our users’ expectations.

Would you like to thank anyone in particular?

Fabrice Debarge: It is tough – there are so many people who’ve been part of our success. Obviously, I would like to thank the original creator of TVPaint technology, Hervé Adam, and the whole TVPaint team. I would like to thank our beta testers, who are a fistful of great international artists with a vast range of experience in animation. I would like to thank all the people who’ve been using TVPaint technology, whether it’s been for decades or just a few weeks, especially the ones who take the time to send feedbacks through emails, our online forum, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Also, a very special thanks to the jury of the ASIFA Hollywood. And last but not least: let’s not forget our friends and families, because they have to deal with our hectic schedules, our stress, and our numerous trips across the world!

Is it stressful to work at TVPaint Développement?

Fabrice Debarge: Well, it’s a humble-size company. We’re only 20 people who manage the software AND support the whole planet. It’s quite complicated to manage several time zones from an office located in France. Opening an office in Japan last year has been very helpful to provide the best services to Japanese animators and their specific needs, but we still have to find a solution for North America. That’s why we are also planning to create an office, either in Canada or in the United States. I can’t say anything more at the moment because it’s still being discussed. But anyone interested in working with us is welcome: feel free to send me your resumes.

TVPaint Animation was named Mirage before. This software was really successful back in the 2000s. Did TVPaint Développement purchase Mirage technology?

Fabrice Debarge: Absolutely not – TVPaint technology has been ALWAYS developed in northeastern France, since 1991! The history is a little bit messy because TVPaint technology has gone by a few different names over the years – TVPaint from 1991-1997, Aura from 1998-2003, and Mirage from 2003-2005 – because it was sold by different distributors.

TVPaint Développement has been fully independent since 2006, after our company was unfairly sued for two years by its very last distributor. It was the worst period for the company, but fighting was worth it. When I look back, I realize how amazing the company’s resilience has been despite some terrible moments. It all began from a program on Amiga with only three drawing tools and a single layer. Now TVPaint Animation is an all-in-one versatile software that works on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. The next challenge to come? Adapting our technology for iOS!

Ok, you mentioned the Android version, so let’s talk more about this exciting development…

Fabrice Debarge: Of course! The Android version was developed for the first time in 2012. Actually, it was a challenge for Hervé because Android tablets had became pressure sensitive, and Samsung had just released the Galaxy Note phone with a stylus. Not so long after, Wacom released the Cintiq Hybrid using Android, and for us, it was time to adapt TVPaint Animation (version 10 at the time) for this great device.

Unfortunately, the Cintiq Hybrid was not a real success (in comparison with the Windows version), probably because there was a lack of professional solutions, with TVPaint Animation being the only one for Android tablets. So, the Android version of TVPaint Animation was put aside for a few years.

So this Android version is not available anymore?

Fabrice Debarge: Au contraire! We have created a new Android version as an adaptation of TVPaint Animation 11 Professional Edition and it has the same features (including CTG layers).

The philosophy is quite simple: people want to use Android phones and tablets either to sketch storyboards and animation when they are away from their desktop, or to show you what they animated recently. This is why you will be able to save and load only TVPaint .tvpp files with the Android version.

The best news? It is free! Whether you already have a TVPaint license or not, you just have to create an account on the TVPaint website, then download the .apk installer and enjoy TVPaint Animation anytime, anywhere. This became available on December 25.

Any other projects to come?

Fabrice Debarge: I cannot tell you much details, but TVPaint Développement will co-produce another short film to be released next year. Stay tuned!

The post TVPaint Introduces A Free Android Version And Looks Ahead To An Exciting 2018 appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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PlayStation 5’s Launch Can’t Be Worse Than the PS2’s

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Expectations are high for the upcoming launch of the PlayStation 5, but the truth of the matter has always been that a console’s launch is typically a poor indicator of its future success. Historically speaking, there’s no greater proof of that argument than the launch of the PS2.

The PlayStation 2 may be the best-selling console ever made, but its infamous launch was hindered by shortages, disappointing games, and explosive rumors. It was a rocky debut for a console that millions of gamers consider to be the greatest ever made, but twenty years removed from the horrors of simply trying to buy a PS2, the console’s infamous launch makes for a great story.

So as we celebrate the anniversary of the PS2 and prepare for the release of the PS5, let’s look back on the many ways the PS5 will (hopefully) improve upon the launch of the most popular PlayStation ever.

The Historic PlayStation 2 Shortages (And Inflated Prices)

The PlayStation 2 wasn’t the first console that failed to meet demand at launch, but there are a few reasons why it is infamously associated with the very idea of console shortages.

The first has to do with the rumors surrounding the PS2 shortage. Before we found out that the PS2’s limited launch quantities could be attributed to manufacturing issues and shipping logistics, the rumor mill spun convincing alternate reasons why you wouldn’t be able to get a new console by Christmas. Among them were very unofficial reports regarding theories such as a shortage of memory cards, frustrated developers struggling to work with the console, and even the widespread belief that Sony had intentionally shipped half as many consoles as intended in order to increase demand.

That was the other thing that was unique about the PS2’s launch shortage. More and more people had access to the internet in the year 2000, which also meant that more and more people were browsing eBay and other online third-party retailers and seriously considering spending thousands of dollars on a PS2 just to get one before the end of the year. The PS2’s launch didn’t invent the idea of scalpers and resellers, but it did alert millions to how those factors will impact the launch of any console in the modern era.

Production issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the ever-present impact of resellers means that the PS5 may also endure a launch shortage, but it remains to be seen if it will be quite as impactful as the one that infamously hindered the PS2’s sales during its debut year.

The Awful PlayStation 2 Launch Lineup

Honestly, the PS2’s launch lineup may not even make a top-five list of the worst console launch lineups ever. SSX, Timesplitters, and Ridge Racer 5 were all pretty good early PS2 exclusives, and ports such as Dead or Alive 2 filled out the console’s early library rather nicely.

That said, the PS2’s diverse launch lineup remains something of a historical curiosity due to its arguable lack of a traditional high-profile system selling game and the presence of some truly awful exclusives that initially hindered the console’s reputation somewhat. Don’t just take our word on it. Here’s what former Sony PR manager Jonathan Fargher had to say about the PS2’s launch games in an interview with Eurogamer:

“We got away with a hell of a lot. At E3 we’d promised the world, basically. We’d promised games that would look like Toy Story. The games we delivered at launch, as with any platform… Not so much.”

Fortunately, the PS5’s launch lineup is shaping up to be fairly solid, despite the aforementioned impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Demon’s Souls, and Godfall all figure to be worthwhile day one experiences.

The Matrix DVD Was the PlayStation 2’s Early Killer App

So if the PS2 was a little short on next-gen killer apps, what were people playing on their new consoles? Well, according to former Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios President, Shuhei Yoshida, a lot of Japanese gamers were using the PS2 to watch The Matrix.

“It was really a success from the start, the PS2 sold like crazy,” Yoshida said. “But when it launched in Japan, the best-selling software was actually The Matrix DVD.”

Now, we love The Matrix as much as anyone (I’ve even got a soft spot for a particular Matrix video game), but it’s always been somewhat funny to think that the best-selling console of all time’s success can partially be attributed to its early status as an affordable DVD player that doubled as a next-gen gaming device. Even Yoshida admits that the PS2’s DVD player helped Sony overcome a painful growing process.

“Because of the fast transition between PS1 and PS2, we had no idea how the industry manages these things,” Yoshida said. “We were awfully unprepared.”

We don’t suspect that The Matrix DVD will become the PS5’s biggest system seller (especially since one of the console’s launch models can’t even play DVDs), which also means that this glorious DVD menu won’t be the first thing most modern gamers see when they test out their new console:

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The Wild PlayStation 2 “Bomb” Rumors

If you were a young gamer in 2000 just trying to get their hands on a PS2, you almost certainly remember one of the strangest rumors in video game history: “The PlayStation 2 is actually a bomb.”

It sounds crazy now, but in the early internet era, the rumor that the PS2 was actually a high-tech threat spread like wildfire. There were even reports that the PS2’s shortage was partially caused by Saddam Hussein ordering thousands of PS2s in the hopes of eventually weaponizing them.

What’s really crazy about this rumor is that there is an element of truth to it. Japan’s Trade Ministry did initially request that Sony apply for a special permit in order to ship PS2s abroad. Why? Well, it was determined that the PS2’s Emotion Engine and its vector-processing chips potentially be used as the basis of a missile guidance system. Of course, we should note that we’re talking about a hypothetical scenario that would require quite a few PS2s and a lot of significantly more dangerous components. In any case, Sony’s fulfilled the application requirements and were simply prevented them from initially being able to ship PlayStation 2s to Libya, Iran, Iraq, and North Korea.

Interestingly, the U.S. Air Force did eventually link 1,760 PS3s together in order to create one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world (at that time). We haven’t heard any reports regarding the PS5 being a threat to anything but your wallet and your free time, but we’ll be sure to keep you updated if a source more credible than our relatives’ Facebook feeds happens to drop a pre-launch bombshell.

That Bizarre David Lynch PlayStation 2 Commercial

Video game commercials aren’t quite as big of a deal these days, but there was a time when they were one of the best ways to promote a console or game to a mainstream market that was becoming increasingly interested in gaming.

So imagine you’re a casual gamer in the year 2000 thinking of buying a PS2 and you happen to see this commercial:

We hate to put words in anyone’s mouth, but we strongly suspect that the most popular reaction to that commercial went something like this:

We actually know what the hell that was. It seems that Sony executives decided to be cute and (reportedly somewhat jokingly) ask David Lynch if he’d like to direct a PlayStation 2 TV spot. Lynch remarkably accepted the offer and had quite the time filming what has to be the strangest video game promo spot in the history of the business. Actually, here’s some behind-the-scenes footage of Lynch directing the commercial that showcases his childlike joy:

You know, we spent a lot of time talking about the PS2’s launch failures in this retrospective, but if Sony really wants to prove that the PS5 is ready to win the upcoming console war, they’d convince David Lynch to make a new PlayStation commercial that makes Twin Peaks Season 3 look downright sane by comparison. If we could be so bold as to make a suggestion to Mr. Lynch, maybe one based on Bugsnax?

The post PlayStation 5’s Launch Can’t Be Worse Than the PS2’s appeared first on Den of Geek.

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