Recently Roman Polanski was arrested on a long outstanding warrant. People from all areas of film have come fourth to demand his immediate release. Woody Allen, Tilda Swinton, Martin Scorsese, Monica Belucci, John Landis, and many others have come fourth in support of Roman Polanski.
As much as I wish I could be, I am not really part of the film industry. I stand outside the real world of film it as a small critic on a mostly unknown blog. All the same I have a voice, and I can't remain silent about this subject.
Roman Polanski drugged and raped a 13 year old girl, when he was in his forties. He admitted he was guilty in court, but then fled before he could serve any punishment. Being a brilliant artist does not give you a license to do whatever you want. Roman Polanski forced himself on a young woman, and it is a completely inexcusable crime. No amount of brilliant and beautiful movies can erase the ugliness of that one act.
In the Declaration of Independence it states that "All Men are created equal". I believe that this statement was never meant to be taken literally, clearly some people are born with more talent then others. At it's core this statement means that all people should be treated and valued equally under the law. If Roman Polanski was an auto mechanic or a school teacher as opposed to a director he already would have served his time in jail. I don't understand why so many in the film industry are apt to absolve a man of his crimes simply because he is a genius director who faced a great deal of personal tragedy.
Here is a very good article on the subject
http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2009/09/28/puzzle-activity-time/#more-16939
And here is a less biased article
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/09/29/polanski.filmmakers.protest/index.html
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Saturday, September 12, 2009
The Vampire Diaries Review
Last Thursday The CW premiered it's newest show The Vampire Diaries.
As the name suggests it involves both vampires and diaries. The Vampire Diaries takes place in a small Virginia Town known as Mystic Falls that seems be suffering from an angst epidemic. The Main Character is a girl names Elena who recently lost her parents in a car crash, is currently dealing with a little brother who is swiftly becoming a drug addict, and is about to be caught in a tragic and dangerous love triangle with vampire brothers. You heard me right vampire Brothers one brother is good the other one is evil, and both are interested in Elena because she looks exactly like a girl they used to know.
The show is based on "The Vampire Diaries" series by LJ Smith. The "Vampire Diaries" series was written at least a good decade before Twilight, but somehow the show comes off looking like a weaker version of Twilight. This is probably due to the fact that the Twilight movie is better written and acted then this show, and yes I too am shocked that I just wrote that sentence. There were many changes made in the story as "The Vampire Diaries" made the transition from book to television, I think most of them were for the better.
In the book Elena is the most popular girl at school who has an army of minions who do her bidding, she is blond, has just returned from a trip of France, seems considerably less upset about her parents, and is obsessed with getting Stefan Salvatore. The TV series made Elena a little more like Bella Swan; a smart, well liked brunette girl, who is often quite awkward. Instead of Elena strongly pursuing Stefan and Stefan resisting her advances like the brooding responsible vampire he is; they meet and get to know each other in a fairly normal way.
The acting in the series is pretty weak but passable. The only characters that really stood out in their performance were Katerina Graham who played Elena's best friend Bonnie, and Ian Somerhalder (Better known as Boone on Lost) who clearly enjoyed playing an over the top villain Damon Salvatore, the rest were very generic in their performance.
The writing in the series isn't particularly strong either, yet I have hopes that it will improve as the series moves along. The first episode had to establish a lot about the series and sometimes things got a bit mixed up. Sometimes it felt like the series ran from one character to the next establishing why each was angsty, as opposed to following the real plot line of love and murder and letting the angst develop in it's own time. Also, the way it was shown on camera it wasn't clear if Damon had the ability to turn into a raven, or if he just sends a random raven around to freak people out. I also found the Dear Diary format to be a bit annoying and overplayed, hopefully this aspect will fade away or be used more effectively as the story progresses. Hopefully the next episode will have a little more action and a little less angst.
I suppose the bottom line is "The Vampire Diaries" is an ok show. It's nothing spectacular but I have decidedly seen worse. Vampires are a very popular genre right now so you can expect this show to hang around till at least the end of the season. Lets hope the acting and writing tighten up a bit by then.
As the name suggests it involves both vampires and diaries. The Vampire Diaries takes place in a small Virginia Town known as Mystic Falls that seems be suffering from an angst epidemic. The Main Character is a girl names Elena who recently lost her parents in a car crash, is currently dealing with a little brother who is swiftly becoming a drug addict, and is about to be caught in a tragic and dangerous love triangle with vampire brothers. You heard me right vampire Brothers one brother is good the other one is evil, and both are interested in Elena because she looks exactly like a girl they used to know.
The show is based on "The Vampire Diaries" series by LJ Smith. The "Vampire Diaries" series was written at least a good decade before Twilight, but somehow the show comes off looking like a weaker version of Twilight. This is probably due to the fact that the Twilight movie is better written and acted then this show, and yes I too am shocked that I just wrote that sentence. There were many changes made in the story as "The Vampire Diaries" made the transition from book to television, I think most of them were for the better.
In the book Elena is the most popular girl at school who has an army of minions who do her bidding, she is blond, has just returned from a trip of France, seems considerably less upset about her parents, and is obsessed with getting Stefan Salvatore. The TV series made Elena a little more like Bella Swan; a smart, well liked brunette girl, who is often quite awkward. Instead of Elena strongly pursuing Stefan and Stefan resisting her advances like the brooding responsible vampire he is; they meet and get to know each other in a fairly normal way.
The acting in the series is pretty weak but passable. The only characters that really stood out in their performance were Katerina Graham who played Elena's best friend Bonnie, and Ian Somerhalder (Better known as Boone on Lost) who clearly enjoyed playing an over the top villain Damon Salvatore, the rest were very generic in their performance.
The writing in the series isn't particularly strong either, yet I have hopes that it will improve as the series moves along. The first episode had to establish a lot about the series and sometimes things got a bit mixed up. Sometimes it felt like the series ran from one character to the next establishing why each was angsty, as opposed to following the real plot line of love and murder and letting the angst develop in it's own time. Also, the way it was shown on camera it wasn't clear if Damon had the ability to turn into a raven, or if he just sends a random raven around to freak people out. I also found the Dear Diary format to be a bit annoying and overplayed, hopefully this aspect will fade away or be used more effectively as the story progresses. Hopefully the next episode will have a little more action and a little less angst.
I suppose the bottom line is "The Vampire Diaries" is an ok show. It's nothing spectacular but I have decidedly seen worse. Vampires are a very popular genre right now so you can expect this show to hang around till at least the end of the season. Lets hope the acting and writing tighten up a bit by then.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Melrose Place: The Next Generation
Melrose Place premiered tonight on the CW. premier
Much like the origional Melrose Place the story centers around a group of young and very attractive people living in LA. The plot follows the various tenants of an apartment as they experience various degrees of scandal and corruption while looking very pretty.
On the Surface everything about Melrose Place is great. The TV show is filled with beautiful people, great wardrobe, beautiful locations, a fun soundtrack, and the cinematography is quite good. Yes, with it's focus on all things pretty it's somewhat understandable that the creators of such a shallow and pointless remake could forget to add some things which give a show depth.
The writing is questionable. It almost seems like the writers came up with a bunch of sexy and or scandelous things for the characters to go through, and put little thought about how or why they made sense. Early in the show a person is found brutally murdered in the swimming pool. Miraculously by the end of the day the cast seems to have completly recovered and not be the least bit shaken up by the murder. Of course it's easy to understand how some people might be a tad distracted by getting engaged, or plotting to steal a priceless work of art, or making the decision to whore themselves out to pay for medical school. I know that soap operas work by throwing improbable scandal over improbable scandal, but couldn't they have showed the characters a bit more upset and perturbed by the murder. I don't mind when shows have crazy amounts of drama, so long as characters react appropriately and it makes sense in terms of plot and character development.
Of course maybe I shouldn't blame this all on the writers. Maybe the script called for the actors to be acing a bit more scared, on edge, or pensive on the state of their own mortality; but the actors just didn't deliver. I sincerely doubt that the cast of Melrose Place could collectively act their way out of a paper bag. Ashlee Simpson-Wentz should quit trying to be an actress, the ability to lip-sync and the ability to read lines are very different things. In fairness to Ashlee most of the cast was pretty terrible.
I see few if any redeeming qualities about this show. Watching Melrose Place is like looking into the eyes of Paris Hilton, sure she is beautiful and stylish but there is something missing in her cold vacant stare that tells you she has no soul.
History tells me that many people enjoy the shallow mindless fun of a soap opera. If you don't mind bad acting and improbable plots, so long as it leads to sexy scandals; then by all means do watch this show. It's airs on The CW Tuesday nights at 9.
Honestly I'd recommend holding out for a different guilty pleasure show to come around this fall.
Much like the origional Melrose Place the story centers around a group of young and very attractive people living in LA. The plot follows the various tenants of an apartment as they experience various degrees of scandal and corruption while looking very pretty.
On the Surface everything about Melrose Place is great. The TV show is filled with beautiful people, great wardrobe, beautiful locations, a fun soundtrack, and the cinematography is quite good. Yes, with it's focus on all things pretty it's somewhat understandable that the creators of such a shallow and pointless remake could forget to add some things which give a show depth.
The writing is questionable. It almost seems like the writers came up with a bunch of sexy and or scandelous things for the characters to go through, and put little thought about how or why they made sense. Early in the show a person is found brutally murdered in the swimming pool. Miraculously by the end of the day the cast seems to have completly recovered and not be the least bit shaken up by the murder. Of course it's easy to understand how some people might be a tad distracted by getting engaged, or plotting to steal a priceless work of art, or making the decision to whore themselves out to pay for medical school. I know that soap operas work by throwing improbable scandal over improbable scandal, but couldn't they have showed the characters a bit more upset and perturbed by the murder. I don't mind when shows have crazy amounts of drama, so long as characters react appropriately and it makes sense in terms of plot and character development.
Of course maybe I shouldn't blame this all on the writers. Maybe the script called for the actors to be acing a bit more scared, on edge, or pensive on the state of their own mortality; but the actors just didn't deliver. I sincerely doubt that the cast of Melrose Place could collectively act their way out of a paper bag. Ashlee Simpson-Wentz should quit trying to be an actress, the ability to lip-sync and the ability to read lines are very different things. In fairness to Ashlee most of the cast was pretty terrible.
I see few if any redeeming qualities about this show. Watching Melrose Place is like looking into the eyes of Paris Hilton, sure she is beautiful and stylish but there is something missing in her cold vacant stare that tells you she has no soul.
History tells me that many people enjoy the shallow mindless fun of a soap opera. If you don't mind bad acting and improbable plots, so long as it leads to sexy scandals; then by all means do watch this show. It's airs on The CW Tuesday nights at 9.
Honestly I'd recommend holding out for a different guilty pleasure show to come around this fall.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Boondock Saints 2 Trailer
OMG after years of rumors it appears as if Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day is actually coming out.
The trailer usually shows us the very best moments of a movie, and I have to say judging by the trailer it looks like this movie won't be as good. Yet I still want to see it.
The trailer usually shows us the very best moments of a movie, and I have to say judging by the trailer it looks like this movie won't be as good. Yet I still want to see it.
Glee Review
The Fox network is a strange a fickle mistress.
On the one this network created some groundbreaking shows yet has tied to a very conservative news network. Fox created Family guy only to destroy it, and then bring it back once more. It has offered some of the trashiest reality shows known to man, but at the same time it has created some high quality programs like Arrested Development and Firefly.
This year Fox subjected us to a cruel and unusual treatment. They created a good show, and wouldn't alow us to see it. Glee centers around a high school Glee Club. It's a comedic musical, that ends up looking like High School musicals more intelligent, talented, and well put together cousin that stars people who can actually act and sing. The dialogue is current and funny, the music is fantastic, and the characters and setting are just quirky enough to make the show genuinely lovable.
Glee originally premiered on May 19th 2009, just after most of the big shows had their season finales and networks drifted off into dreary reruns and reality television. The show was great, loved by critics and average viewers alike. Yet there was a problem, only one episode was aired. Yes, Fox in a rather cruel gesture showed us a great pilot for a very promising TV show and then told us we wouldn't be able to watch it till September. To make matters worse Fox taunted us with constant commercials for Glee, taunting us with the promise of a good show during a season where almost nothing is on TV. I must admit this tactic was quite effective in building up excitement for the show, but it was kind of mean of them.
Tonight Fox aired the a Directors Cut version of the Pilot episode for Glee, and Next Wednesday at 9 the first new episode of Glee will finally air. I have to say I have high hopes for the series, and I hope it doesn't get canceled like some of Foxes other brilliant shows.
If you have yet to see Glee the first episode is available for free on the fox website http://www.fox.com/glee/
On the one this network created some groundbreaking shows yet has tied to a very conservative news network. Fox created Family guy only to destroy it, and then bring it back once more. It has offered some of the trashiest reality shows known to man, but at the same time it has created some high quality programs like Arrested Development and Firefly.
This year Fox subjected us to a cruel and unusual treatment. They created a good show, and wouldn't alow us to see it. Glee centers around a high school Glee Club. It's a comedic musical, that ends up looking like High School musicals more intelligent, talented, and well put together cousin that stars people who can actually act and sing. The dialogue is current and funny, the music is fantastic, and the characters and setting are just quirky enough to make the show genuinely lovable.
Glee originally premiered on May 19th 2009, just after most of the big shows had their season finales and networks drifted off into dreary reruns and reality television. The show was great, loved by critics and average viewers alike. Yet there was a problem, only one episode was aired. Yes, Fox in a rather cruel gesture showed us a great pilot for a very promising TV show and then told us we wouldn't be able to watch it till September. To make matters worse Fox taunted us with constant commercials for Glee, taunting us with the promise of a good show during a season where almost nothing is on TV. I must admit this tactic was quite effective in building up excitement for the show, but it was kind of mean of them.
Tonight Fox aired the a Directors Cut version of the Pilot episode for Glee, and Next Wednesday at 9 the first new episode of Glee will finally air. I have to say I have high hopes for the series, and I hope it doesn't get canceled like some of Foxes other brilliant shows.
If you have yet to see Glee the first episode is available for free on the fox website http://www.fox.com/glee/
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Inglourious Basterds Review
I saw "Inglourious Basterds" opening night and have been avoiding writing this review ever since. Don't get me wrong the movie was good, I just not sure I can write this and keep from giving into my Quentin Tarentino fangirl tendencies.
Ad you may have heard, "Inglourious Basterds" is a very messed up fairy tale set in World War II. The movie is not a historic look at what happened during World War II, but rather a fantastical alternative history that would have been so much more dramatic and rewarding way to end World War II.
As is typical of Quentin Tarentino the story is not told in an entirely linear fashion. There are separate intertwining stories, and they are not necessarily shown in exact chronological order. As the title suggests one story centers around The Basterds, a group of Jewish soldiers led by Lt Aldo Raine (played by Brad Pitt) who go about Germany brutally killing and scalping Nazi's. Another story centers around Shosanna, a Jewish woman who is hiding her heritage and running a movie theater in France. The third story is all about spying and intrigue, and it is the binding element for the above mentioned stories.
This movie gave me a lot of what I was expecting lots of dead Nazi's, violence, and brilliant dialogue. Yet the movie held a few surprises for me as well, I had no idea that the majority of the movie would be in subtitles (not that it's a bad thing) or that the quality of acting would be so fantastic.
As I have said before I am a raging Quentin Tarentino fangirl. I like all of his movies, but If I had to rank them 1 being the best the list would go as follows.
1. "Pulp Fiction"
2. "Kill Bill" (I count both volumes as one movie)
3. "Inglourious Basterds"
4. "Resevoir Dogs"
5. "Death Proof" (P.S. a great movie to watch if your a woman who just had a bad breakup)
6. "Jackie Brown"
Granted everyone is going to have their own opinion, sometimes you just connect to one movie more then another. Yet I think most people would agree that "Inglourious Basterds" is one of Quentin Tartentino's better movies. Certainly I would say that "Inglourious Basterds", despite all of it's violence shows more maturity and emotional depth then his other films. If you notice in past films most characters are not shown in a sympathetic way, in this film Shosanna has a very emotional role and is in some ways more human then a lot of previous Quentin Tarentino's characters.
When you see a Quentin Tarentino film you expect a lot of style and some great dialogue, and certainly this movie had all of that, yet the best part of this movie was the acting.
Brad Pitt is a tremendous actor whose talent is often overshadowed by his good looks. Brad Pitt plays the character of Aldo Raine to perfection and completely steals every scene he is in, he is lovable and hilarious despite doing some rather gruesome things. You know someone has done a tremendous job when you think about the role and honestly can't imagine anyone else being able to play the part as well. I still crack up a bit when I think about Aldo speech about "The Bear Jew".
The other Actor who managed to steal every scene he was in Christoph Waltz, who plays the flamboyant Col. Hans Landa better known as "The Jew Hunter." He manages to be completely menacing while still being rather humorous and charming. You can't take your eyes off of him when he is on screen.
Another fantastic performance comes from Mélanie Laurent who has an emotionally demanding role. Micheal Fassbender also shines in his performance as a British officer. Til Schweiger also shines in a small part as one of the Bastards. Really every actor did a great job in terms of acting.
Ok so I have gone through the good, now lets get to the bad.
There were parts of this movie that seemed to lag, and a few things that could have done with a bit more editing. I know that the intention was to build suspense, but in particular the scene where the Donny Donowitz aka "The Bear Jew" was about to make his entrance the camera has a close up on an empty cave entrance for longer then a minute was a bit much. The parts of this movie that were good were so good that you forgive the parts where it lagged.
I have heard that there were more detailed back stories for The Basterds that got left out of the film, and personally I would have loved to see them. The Bastard known as "The Bear Jew" is known for beating Nazi's to death with a baseball bat. What they don't show you in the film is that he had all of the Jews from his neighborhood sign the bat before he left for war. I think little things like that add a lot to the movie, and I wish it would have been left in.
One of the most frequent criticisms that I have seen from other critics is that the movie has no real point, in some ways it is a valid argument. However I don't think a movie needs to have a point or definite message. "Inglourious Basterds" is an extremely entertaining movie and a clear work of fantasy, why spoil it by trying to shove morality down your throat. We know the Nazi's were very bad, we know they did evil things, your not going to be teaching us anything new on this subject. This is a revenge film fulfilling a need for justice that was never truly experienced here in the real world.
I think "Inglourious Basterds" is a great movie, and it seems like the type of film that only gets better each time you watch it. Yes it's violent, yet it's a complete work of fiction, yea it doesn't have a moral; but it's a damn good movie not despite these attributes but also because of them.
Ad you may have heard, "Inglourious Basterds" is a very messed up fairy tale set in World War II. The movie is not a historic look at what happened during World War II, but rather a fantastical alternative history that would have been so much more dramatic and rewarding way to end World War II.
As is typical of Quentin Tarentino the story is not told in an entirely linear fashion. There are separate intertwining stories, and they are not necessarily shown in exact chronological order. As the title suggests one story centers around The Basterds, a group of Jewish soldiers led by Lt Aldo Raine (played by Brad Pitt) who go about Germany brutally killing and scalping Nazi's. Another story centers around Shosanna, a Jewish woman who is hiding her heritage and running a movie theater in France. The third story is all about spying and intrigue, and it is the binding element for the above mentioned stories.
This movie gave me a lot of what I was expecting lots of dead Nazi's, violence, and brilliant dialogue. Yet the movie held a few surprises for me as well, I had no idea that the majority of the movie would be in subtitles (not that it's a bad thing) or that the quality of acting would be so fantastic.
As I have said before I am a raging Quentin Tarentino fangirl. I like all of his movies, but If I had to rank them 1 being the best the list would go as follows.
1. "Pulp Fiction"
2. "Kill Bill" (I count both volumes as one movie)
3. "Inglourious Basterds"
4. "Resevoir Dogs"
5. "Death Proof" (P.S. a great movie to watch if your a woman who just had a bad breakup)
6. "Jackie Brown"
Granted everyone is going to have their own opinion, sometimes you just connect to one movie more then another. Yet I think most people would agree that "Inglourious Basterds" is one of Quentin Tartentino's better movies. Certainly I would say that "Inglourious Basterds", despite all of it's violence shows more maturity and emotional depth then his other films. If you notice in past films most characters are not shown in a sympathetic way, in this film Shosanna has a very emotional role and is in some ways more human then a lot of previous Quentin Tarentino's characters.
When you see a Quentin Tarentino film you expect a lot of style and some great dialogue, and certainly this movie had all of that, yet the best part of this movie was the acting.
Brad Pitt is a tremendous actor whose talent is often overshadowed by his good looks. Brad Pitt plays the character of Aldo Raine to perfection and completely steals every scene he is in, he is lovable and hilarious despite doing some rather gruesome things. You know someone has done a tremendous job when you think about the role and honestly can't imagine anyone else being able to play the part as well. I still crack up a bit when I think about Aldo speech about "The Bear Jew".
The other Actor who managed to steal every scene he was in Christoph Waltz, who plays the flamboyant Col. Hans Landa better known as "The Jew Hunter." He manages to be completely menacing while still being rather humorous and charming. You can't take your eyes off of him when he is on screen.
Another fantastic performance comes from Mélanie Laurent who has an emotionally demanding role. Micheal Fassbender also shines in his performance as a British officer. Til Schweiger also shines in a small part as one of the Bastards. Really every actor did a great job in terms of acting.
Ok so I have gone through the good, now lets get to the bad.
There were parts of this movie that seemed to lag, and a few things that could have done with a bit more editing. I know that the intention was to build suspense, but in particular the scene where the Donny Donowitz aka "The Bear Jew" was about to make his entrance the camera has a close up on an empty cave entrance for longer then a minute was a bit much. The parts of this movie that were good were so good that you forgive the parts where it lagged.
I have heard that there were more detailed back stories for The Basterds that got left out of the film, and personally I would have loved to see them. The Bastard known as "The Bear Jew" is known for beating Nazi's to death with a baseball bat. What they don't show you in the film is that he had all of the Jews from his neighborhood sign the bat before he left for war. I think little things like that add a lot to the movie, and I wish it would have been left in.
One of the most frequent criticisms that I have seen from other critics is that the movie has no real point, in some ways it is a valid argument. However I don't think a movie needs to have a point or definite message. "Inglourious Basterds" is an extremely entertaining movie and a clear work of fantasy, why spoil it by trying to shove morality down your throat. We know the Nazi's were very bad, we know they did evil things, your not going to be teaching us anything new on this subject. This is a revenge film fulfilling a need for justice that was never truly experienced here in the real world.
I think "Inglourious Basterds" is a great movie, and it seems like the type of film that only gets better each time you watch it. Yes it's violent, yet it's a complete work of fiction, yea it doesn't have a moral; but it's a damn good movie not despite these attributes but also because of them.
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