THOUGHT BYTES FOR 2005
The Great Hype Machine
In the closing months of 2004, two movies were on everyone's lips as "Must See" cinema, THE GRUDGE and RAY.
I made it a point to rent both this past Tuesday and was shocked. Not by the greatness of each, but that so many were impressed by them. It's not that they were bad movies, they just aren’t what they were made out to be, hallmarks of cinema in their respective genres.
THE GRUDGE was good, but "plain" is the only word to aptly describe it. The story revolved around a house and how anyone who went through the front door was cannon fodder for the ghosts within. I did enjoy the non-linear approach to the film, bouncing back and forth so the audience learns the house's past just as connecting events occurred in the present. And Japanese horror sensibilities are new and enjoyable. Where we've become accustomed to being superior to our monsters, here are creatures that are stronger than us. But these differences only point out the obvious questions even more, like "Why do they continue going into the house?"
You especially ask the question when the detective character explains to Sara Michelle Gellar the legend that is the foundation of the movie, and how three of his colleagues were already killed after being in that house. It's Western belief, if not actually true, that the Japanese have a culture more in touch with the supernatural. If a violent murder occurred in someone's home, I would imagine they would have the place cleansed of something before selling it. But the biggest problem with the movie is there's no ample character development, so you care nothing for the victims or our heroine. Resulting in a series of moments that surprise you, but aren't frightening (a problem running rampant in horror films lately, people mistake shock for fear and they’re not always the same).
I watched both dvd versions of RAY (the dvd offers an extended edition with cut scenes that are added into the film in a choppy manner that totally breaks your concentration) and while I won't take anything away from Jamie Foxx's performance, it wasn't as great as I was lead to believe, and definitely not worthy of two Oscar nominations (just one, for COLLATERAL, would have been fine). The best thing I can say is it was educational. I had no idea Ray Charles was such an asshole until I saw this movie. I thought, probably like most people, that he was a happy-go-lucky blind Negro who sang his songs and made his money. Leave it to Hollywood to tarnish the memory of a black man six months after his passing. Ray Charles was a legend, and part of the reason was his determination to triumph despite the adversity set before him. But you'd never know it to see this movie. 75% of the film was spent ramming his drug problem down your throat. In some areas, I felt I was being lead to the conclusion that drugs helped him to write the timeless songs he's known for today. And in others, I couldn't tell if his drive for success came from a love of music or his lust for fortune and glory. And what was he like after he beat his drug addiction? Fuck if I know, because the movie was over by then. After two and a half hours, I knew nothing of how he learned piano, why he loved music, or how a clean and sober Ray Charles lived. Twenty minutes into the film, he was high on weed and about thirty minutes after that he was shooting junk. I wasn't watching the life of a great musician, but a junky who got lucky. I don't even know the how's and why's of losing his eyesight. It just happened. I would think the filmmakers would want us leaving the film feeling a fondness and admiration for the man. But I'd prefer to forget what I saw and return to my ignorant "happy-go-lucky negro" imagery. As for Jamie, the man can act his ass off. We saw it in ANY GIVEN SUNDAY, ALI, and again in COLLATERAL. But I didn't see anything deserving of an Oscar. He did an impression, that's all. He sung like Ray because he can sing. He acted like Ray because he can act and is a talented impressionist. But was he Ray? No more than Denzel Washington was Malcolm X in 1992 or Stephen Biko in CRY FREEDOM from 1987.
We are all slaves to the Hollywood hype machine to the point that word of mouth means nothing anymore. Used to be when someone told you to check something out, it was good and you liked it. Now, a person's opinion is so based on media hype, they've decided to like something before they've experienced it. I was listening to the 97.1FM, the "Talk Station", where they're giving commercials for MILLION DOLLAR BABY more time than their shock jocks. And the narrator says this movie will "grab hold of your soul". What? It's a fucking movie, not the bible! But sure enough, people are blabbing about this movie that I never even knew about until the Golden Globes. Now, everyone wants to see it. It's the same kind of peer pressure that leads teens to drugs and alcohol, but for adults it's a lot less dangerous. It's our political beliefs, our taste in movies, our religion or the cars we drive.
THE GRUDGE was a plain movie and RAY was a good movie, no more or less. Are they worthy of so much praise? Not by any means. If you want to see a horror flick, stick to the classics that have frightened people for over a decade. And if you want to honor Ray Charles, praise the man, not the actor and…
STOP PLAYING HIS CD’S ALL THE GODDAMN TIME! YOU DIDN’T DO IT WHILE HE WAS ALIVE! DON’T START NOW THAT HE’S DEAD!
Smallville
I watched SMALLVILLE last night, another great episode. I especially liked how the writers pretty much solved the age old question, "How could Louis be an intelligent reporter and not know Clark was Superman?"
Answer: She did know, but waited for him to tell her. Can't get any simpler than that.
I wasn't always a fan of the show. Like others, I thought it spat on the icon. Especially since it premiered when DAWSON'S CREEK and BUFFY were at their peeks on the same network. I thought they were just injecting Supe's mythos with needless teen angst and weird shit. But then I started watching the second season and fell in love with it. The best compliment I could pay the show and it's writers is it makes you forget it's about Superman. You get so involved with the characters as they are that you have no desire to see them grow up. The biggest hook has to be the relationship between Clark and Lex. Again, you know what's coming, where they're going, but you're fascinated by the fragile friendship they have on the show. You're more interested in Lex as a man slowly being corrupted, than the villain in the comics. It's when I thought about this, that I realized why they wouldn't want to use Tom Welling in the movie. It would kill something in the show, like jumping to the end of a good book when you're only five chapters away. What would be the point of finishing it?
I saw a pattern in the hour long syndicated dramas when Highlander was on the air. Ever notice how the first season of any syndicated program sucks? It's always the second season that really gets the show on it's feet and either hits or misses. The first season of HIGHLANDER sucked so bad, I dumped it despite being a big fan of the movies. That they totally omitted the first movie angered and confused me. But in the second season, when they went to Europe, the show took on a totally different feel and I was into it. Unfortunately, not all shows make it that far. MORTAL KOMBAT was going somewhere, but never got there. Neither did HIGHLANDER: THE RAVEN. I only hope BATTLESTAR GALACTICA keeps racking up the ratings to bring us a second season that should be way better than this one, and this one is pretty good.
The State of the Union
I watched the State of the Union address last night for the first time ever.
I'll say this for Bush Jr., he makes people who never gave a shit about politics get involved.
Watching him literally hurts me, to know that such an "evil" man is one of the most powerful leaders in the world. And to know we put him there kills me. It’s not like we have no idea who or what he is, we all know he's evil. The information was leaked and it's old news. But we just don't care. Clinton almost gets fired because of a blowjob and real estate scandal. Bush Jr. does business with the men responsible for harboring a murderer and we don't do shit. We all say we support the troops, and yet we re-elect the man responsible for sending them to die for his own agenda. And why not, it's not like we'll ever join the military and have to risk our lives, right? I remember there was a lot of talk about a draft, and I wonder if that's when Bush's approval rating plummeted, only to rise again when he said there wouldn't be one.
I though it amusing how he went on and on about Iraq and how they feel about what's gone on. It was all second hand information. How do we know those comments and conversations happened at all? Last time I saw an Iraqi, he was screaming for us to get the fuck out of his country, and that was a block away from my job.
I kept asking myself, what if someone did that here, to us? What if Bush was some hard ass dictator and another country invaded America, forcing its ideals on me? How would I feel? Coincidentally, last night I also watched MULAN 2 with my daughter, and in the middle was this big musical number where three princesses, arranged to marry the emperor, were singing about "being like other girls", which meant forgoing all their cultural traditions. It hit me that Disney was putting out the message that American ideas on marriage and relationships are right and traditional Chinese ideology were wrong. And they're programming my daughter with that shit. No wonder mixed children or those whose parents weren’t born here have such a hard time. Media telling them their cultures are inferior compared to the American way of life surrounds them.
Our country's biggest fault is hubris. We think we're so goddamn special and perfect, that we force our ways and ideas on others. Why? Because we're free? What has our freedom brought us, but murder, death, inhumanity and a moral vacuum the size of the Grand Canyon? A lot of people will ask me if I'd rather live in a country where I wasn't free, and the answer is, if it keeps me from having my head shot off at an ATM machine, then yes, FUCK FREEDOM!
Most people don't even realize that they aren't free, and that's where a lot of problems start. We have LIMITED freedom, not complete freedom because that would lead to chaos. And the mess we've done, even with those limitations, makes me wonder if we deserve any freedoms at all. We take so many things for granted, has anyone ever asked if we deserve to be free? We're like children being allowed to run amok because our parents are pussies, too afraid to spank our asses, and punishing doesn't do anything when we can just crawl out our windows, run to another country and go crazy there.
America is due for a spanking. I'm just wondering which country's gonna do it. I wouldn't mind speaking another language; hardly anyone speaks English anymore anyway.
Adios.
JPG.
In the closing months of 2004, two movies were on everyone's lips as "Must See" cinema, THE GRUDGE and RAY.
I made it a point to rent both this past Tuesday and was shocked. Not by the greatness of each, but that so many were impressed by them. It's not that they were bad movies, they just aren’t what they were made out to be, hallmarks of cinema in their respective genres.
THE GRUDGE was good, but "plain" is the only word to aptly describe it. The story revolved around a house and how anyone who went through the front door was cannon fodder for the ghosts within. I did enjoy the non-linear approach to the film, bouncing back and forth so the audience learns the house's past just as connecting events occurred in the present. And Japanese horror sensibilities are new and enjoyable. Where we've become accustomed to being superior to our monsters, here are creatures that are stronger than us. But these differences only point out the obvious questions even more, like "Why do they continue going into the house?"
You especially ask the question when the detective character explains to Sara Michelle Gellar the legend that is the foundation of the movie, and how three of his colleagues were already killed after being in that house. It's Western belief, if not actually true, that the Japanese have a culture more in touch with the supernatural. If a violent murder occurred in someone's home, I would imagine they would have the place cleansed of something before selling it. But the biggest problem with the movie is there's no ample character development, so you care nothing for the victims or our heroine. Resulting in a series of moments that surprise you, but aren't frightening (a problem running rampant in horror films lately, people mistake shock for fear and they’re not always the same).
I watched both dvd versions of RAY (the dvd offers an extended edition with cut scenes that are added into the film in a choppy manner that totally breaks your concentration) and while I won't take anything away from Jamie Foxx's performance, it wasn't as great as I was lead to believe, and definitely not worthy of two Oscar nominations (just one, for COLLATERAL, would have been fine). The best thing I can say is it was educational. I had no idea Ray Charles was such an asshole until I saw this movie. I thought, probably like most people, that he was a happy-go-lucky blind Negro who sang his songs and made his money. Leave it to Hollywood to tarnish the memory of a black man six months after his passing. Ray Charles was a legend, and part of the reason was his determination to triumph despite the adversity set before him. But you'd never know it to see this movie. 75% of the film was spent ramming his drug problem down your throat. In some areas, I felt I was being lead to the conclusion that drugs helped him to write the timeless songs he's known for today. And in others, I couldn't tell if his drive for success came from a love of music or his lust for fortune and glory. And what was he like after he beat his drug addiction? Fuck if I know, because the movie was over by then. After two and a half hours, I knew nothing of how he learned piano, why he loved music, or how a clean and sober Ray Charles lived. Twenty minutes into the film, he was high on weed and about thirty minutes after that he was shooting junk. I wasn't watching the life of a great musician, but a junky who got lucky. I don't even know the how's and why's of losing his eyesight. It just happened. I would think the filmmakers would want us leaving the film feeling a fondness and admiration for the man. But I'd prefer to forget what I saw and return to my ignorant "happy-go-lucky negro" imagery. As for Jamie, the man can act his ass off. We saw it in ANY GIVEN SUNDAY, ALI, and again in COLLATERAL. But I didn't see anything deserving of an Oscar. He did an impression, that's all. He sung like Ray because he can sing. He acted like Ray because he can act and is a talented impressionist. But was he Ray? No more than Denzel Washington was Malcolm X in 1992 or Stephen Biko in CRY FREEDOM from 1987.
We are all slaves to the Hollywood hype machine to the point that word of mouth means nothing anymore. Used to be when someone told you to check something out, it was good and you liked it. Now, a person's opinion is so based on media hype, they've decided to like something before they've experienced it. I was listening to the 97.1FM, the "Talk Station", where they're giving commercials for MILLION DOLLAR BABY more time than their shock jocks. And the narrator says this movie will "grab hold of your soul". What? It's a fucking movie, not the bible! But sure enough, people are blabbing about this movie that I never even knew about until the Golden Globes. Now, everyone wants to see it. It's the same kind of peer pressure that leads teens to drugs and alcohol, but for adults it's a lot less dangerous. It's our political beliefs, our taste in movies, our religion or the cars we drive.
THE GRUDGE was a plain movie and RAY was a good movie, no more or less. Are they worthy of so much praise? Not by any means. If you want to see a horror flick, stick to the classics that have frightened people for over a decade. And if you want to honor Ray Charles, praise the man, not the actor and…
STOP PLAYING HIS CD’S ALL THE GODDAMN TIME! YOU DIDN’T DO IT WHILE HE WAS ALIVE! DON’T START NOW THAT HE’S DEAD!
Smallville
I watched SMALLVILLE last night, another great episode. I especially liked how the writers pretty much solved the age old question, "How could Louis be an intelligent reporter and not know Clark was Superman?"
Answer: She did know, but waited for him to tell her. Can't get any simpler than that.
I wasn't always a fan of the show. Like others, I thought it spat on the icon. Especially since it premiered when DAWSON'S CREEK and BUFFY were at their peeks on the same network. I thought they were just injecting Supe's mythos with needless teen angst and weird shit. But then I started watching the second season and fell in love with it. The best compliment I could pay the show and it's writers is it makes you forget it's about Superman. You get so involved with the characters as they are that you have no desire to see them grow up. The biggest hook has to be the relationship between Clark and Lex. Again, you know what's coming, where they're going, but you're fascinated by the fragile friendship they have on the show. You're more interested in Lex as a man slowly being corrupted, than the villain in the comics. It's when I thought about this, that I realized why they wouldn't want to use Tom Welling in the movie. It would kill something in the show, like jumping to the end of a good book when you're only five chapters away. What would be the point of finishing it?
I saw a pattern in the hour long syndicated dramas when Highlander was on the air. Ever notice how the first season of any syndicated program sucks? It's always the second season that really gets the show on it's feet and either hits or misses. The first season of HIGHLANDER sucked so bad, I dumped it despite being a big fan of the movies. That they totally omitted the first movie angered and confused me. But in the second season, when they went to Europe, the show took on a totally different feel and I was into it. Unfortunately, not all shows make it that far. MORTAL KOMBAT was going somewhere, but never got there. Neither did HIGHLANDER: THE RAVEN. I only hope BATTLESTAR GALACTICA keeps racking up the ratings to bring us a second season that should be way better than this one, and this one is pretty good.
The State of the Union
I watched the State of the Union address last night for the first time ever.
I'll say this for Bush Jr., he makes people who never gave a shit about politics get involved.
Watching him literally hurts me, to know that such an "evil" man is one of the most powerful leaders in the world. And to know we put him there kills me. It’s not like we have no idea who or what he is, we all know he's evil. The information was leaked and it's old news. But we just don't care. Clinton almost gets fired because of a blowjob and real estate scandal. Bush Jr. does business with the men responsible for harboring a murderer and we don't do shit. We all say we support the troops, and yet we re-elect the man responsible for sending them to die for his own agenda. And why not, it's not like we'll ever join the military and have to risk our lives, right? I remember there was a lot of talk about a draft, and I wonder if that's when Bush's approval rating plummeted, only to rise again when he said there wouldn't be one.
I though it amusing how he went on and on about Iraq and how they feel about what's gone on. It was all second hand information. How do we know those comments and conversations happened at all? Last time I saw an Iraqi, he was screaming for us to get the fuck out of his country, and that was a block away from my job.
I kept asking myself, what if someone did that here, to us? What if Bush was some hard ass dictator and another country invaded America, forcing its ideals on me? How would I feel? Coincidentally, last night I also watched MULAN 2 with my daughter, and in the middle was this big musical number where three princesses, arranged to marry the emperor, were singing about "being like other girls", which meant forgoing all their cultural traditions. It hit me that Disney was putting out the message that American ideas on marriage and relationships are right and traditional Chinese ideology were wrong. And they're programming my daughter with that shit. No wonder mixed children or those whose parents weren’t born here have such a hard time. Media telling them their cultures are inferior compared to the American way of life surrounds them.
Our country's biggest fault is hubris. We think we're so goddamn special and perfect, that we force our ways and ideas on others. Why? Because we're free? What has our freedom brought us, but murder, death, inhumanity and a moral vacuum the size of the Grand Canyon? A lot of people will ask me if I'd rather live in a country where I wasn't free, and the answer is, if it keeps me from having my head shot off at an ATM machine, then yes, FUCK FREEDOM!
Most people don't even realize that they aren't free, and that's where a lot of problems start. We have LIMITED freedom, not complete freedom because that would lead to chaos. And the mess we've done, even with those limitations, makes me wonder if we deserve any freedoms at all. We take so many things for granted, has anyone ever asked if we deserve to be free? We're like children being allowed to run amok because our parents are pussies, too afraid to spank our asses, and punishing doesn't do anything when we can just crawl out our windows, run to another country and go crazy there.
America is due for a spanking. I'm just wondering which country's gonna do it. I wouldn't mind speaking another language; hardly anyone speaks English anymore anyway.
Adios.
JPG.
posted by QABBAL at 1:51 PM
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