I've censored the following, in protest of a bill that gives any corporation and the US government the power to censor the internet--a bill that could pass THIS WEEK. To see the uncensored text, and to stop internet censorship, visit:
http://americancensorship.org/posts/2689/uncensor
█████ ███████, ███████ it can end in two ████. ████ us in █████ to ████ ████████ ██████████ Act. Art is ██████████.
P.S. New stuff Coming Soon. Promise.
tiistai 13. joulukuuta 2011
tiistai 14. kesäkuuta 2011
Coming of Age: Part 1 -The Breakfast Club
Once again, I have to excuse myself, because of the week long delay on the Teen movie saga. The reason was that (As you might already know) I'm in the middle of moving and everything has been so hectic that I've had any time to do this, also, I got my internet connection back online only couple of days ago. Although my reasons are relatively good, I still feel that I owe you something, so at the end of all this you should see some kind of compensation.
(Yay! I'm like Sony!!!)
It is Wednesday, June 8th and the time is 1:08 am. Because I clearly can't keep up with my deadlines, I will post these reviews sporadicly within a short period of time, so you might get a double or even a triple feature review (Or analysis through my experiences like my blog synopsis implies. But whatever) so because of the subject that is a lot of sappines for a short period of time, but I hope you don't abandon me because of this. PLLEEAASSEEE GODDAMNIT!!
So, on to the self proclaimed child hood therapy session.
I am going to go through these films chronologically and, because this is MY list, we will start from the 80s.
(I actually really considered taking Animal House in to the list, but then I thought that nobody really grows in that movie. P.S. The film is awesome).
Now, in the 80s section I wanted to keep the presence of John Hughes as small as possible, but it was hard. (Don't you dare to call them Chick Flicks! Chick Flicks are awesome. Many of my favorites are. There, I said it.)
After much consideration, I managed to squeeze the Hughes flicks into two. I guess you can almost guess the next one based on the one I am talking about in this post. Now, enough chitchat, let's dive into the realm of social deviance and impulsive behavior, the world where every social class of youth is tormented by pressuring elements of their every day lifes and there is only one way to break these curses. This summer from the producer of Indiana Jones and Howard the Duck and the Director of the Godfather and the marvelous piece of cinema, Jack, comes the epic of a generation. Vincent Chase in...you know what, fuck this I am not that funny and I don't even where I was going with that! The point is that the film is The Breakfast Club Written and Directed by John Hughes.
(Yay! I'm like Sony!!!)
It is Wednesday, June 8th and the time is 1:08 am. Because I clearly can't keep up with my deadlines, I will post these reviews sporadicly within a short period of time, so you might get a double or even a triple feature review (Or analysis through my experiences like my blog synopsis implies. But whatever) so because of the subject that is a lot of sappines for a short period of time, but I hope you don't abandon me because of this. PLLEEAASSEEE GODDAMNIT!!
So, on to the self proclaimed child hood therapy session.
I am going to go through these films chronologically and, because this is MY list, we will start from the 80s.
(I actually really considered taking Animal House in to the list, but then I thought that nobody really grows in that movie. P.S. The film is awesome).
Now, in the 80s section I wanted to keep the presence of John Hughes as small as possible, but it was hard. (Don't you dare to call them Chick Flicks! Chick Flicks are awesome. Many of my favorites are. There, I said it.)
After much consideration, I managed to squeeze the Hughes flicks into two. I guess you can almost guess the next one based on the one I am talking about in this post. Now, enough chitchat, let's dive into the realm of social deviance and impulsive behavior, the world where every social class of youth is tormented by pressuring elements of their every day lifes and there is only one way to break these curses. This summer from the producer of Indiana Jones and Howard the Duck and the Director of the Godfather and the marvelous piece of cinema, Jack, comes the epic of a generation. Vincent Chase in...you know what, fuck this I am not that funny and I don't even where I was going with that! The point is that the film is The Breakfast Club Written and Directed by John Hughes.
I remember seeing The Breakfast Club for the first time when I was 11 years old. I remember that it came as a matinée film from the television. I remember it was Thursday and it was a spring afternoon. Maybe? This is getting a bit hypothetical, but I remember that I just had came back from school and my dad was watching it and when I sat down to see this joint of nostalgia (?) the scene where they smoke weed and screw up everything started. That's when I realized that I was born to be an adult. (Am I disappointed now that I am, I'm not yet fully prepared for confess.) After that, I never saw it again, but it left me quite an impact, because it gave me a perspective to the social deviance inside modern youth and though the film was made 1985 the concept of the film is so timeless that I would argue that it has stood the test of time better than pretty much any film of this genre and from the 80s. With some hitches of course. Maybe I should explain the plot for those who haven't yet seen this and feel a bit orphan with this introduction. My humble apologies to all of you. Let's have a quite moment.........Okay fuck it and let's move on!!
The Story is simple. Five High School students who have nothing in common have to go together to a detention for nine hours one Saturday morning. Their principal of the High School (Paul Gleason), whom also works as a watchmen through the detention period, gives them the rules of the period: Speaking and moving from the seats isn't allowed and you also can't leave and every violation is met with another Detention Saturday, however they aren't. Each student represents some kind of student clique.
There is a Princess named Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald),
a Nerd named Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall),
a Basket Case named Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy),
a Jock named Andrew Clark (Emilio Estevez)
and a Criminal named John Bender (Judd Nelson).
At the Beginning of the day, they don't talk to each other and only presumptions they have of each other are just very two dimensional stereotypes, like a Nerd doesn't know what pressure feels, Princess has the happiest and easiest trust fund baby life and a Rebel is only an obnoxious show off, but as the story progresses, they start to bend the rules a little at a time and as the rules get broken more and more, the characters start open up about their personal lives and as the character s come realization that these characters have personalties beyond their cliques, we as audience come to this realization too.
What I really love about the film is that it has the sense of comedy that you will see a lot in this Coming of Age Saga. the kind of comedy that isn't really set up, but it elevates itself from the quirks of the characters.
(This isn't really any form of intelligent analytic realization. Let me step it up a bit. I'll take a break for a minute. Time is now 15:48 and no, I haven't written this in one streak. Time is now 16:00. Okay, let's try again.)
The sense of comedy mirrors the overall nature of the film. It doesn't really have any dominant colors besides grey and the characters are very reserved. (I'm getting to it. Don't give up.) While the film does try to hammer these aspects down your throat, it is still a John Hughes film and if you have seen Sixteen Candles, you know that this film can't be so down to earth and and quiet all the time and it isn't. When the film feels that it's getting a bit too heavy, even with all the quirkiness, the film puts on the fifth gear and it turns into really sweet and exciting...almost an action film.
After the loud mouth antics, when the characters open up, it is some of the best written drama I have seen, because it relentless and none of the characters get it easy. There is a lot of talks about friends and hobbies and especially parents and how every character in the film has some sort of domestic problems ranging from ridiculous pressures to money and zero responsibilities as terms of raising. There is a lot of shouting and almost humiliation in the air and they finally come to the realization that they have bonded really tightly, but the tough question is that will they continue their friendship after the day or will they retreat back in their own cliques and forget everything that has happened. I wont spoil what happens in the end, but it is satisfying and very uplifting.
We also spent some time with the principal who occasionally checks on the characters. principal symbolizes the parents and overall the strict old school people whom frown upon the modern youth and especially in this case the rebellious John Bender. The chemistry between these two gives us a piece of genuine tension every now and then and you can feel how this person of power is starting to crumble in front of these youngsters whom, he thinks will destroy everything he has worked on. The film is all about inequality of individuals that is based on the lack of communication. Older generation dismiss younger people leaving them on their own and this growing pressure radiates towards them and people in same age group. What the film ultimately tries to say is that we are pretty much floating in the same pond, but we have forgotten that and the dangers of this is that people will be left alone with their issues and even a bit of social connection may help a person these kind of problems.
Throughout Junior High when the clique phenomenon came more and more evident, I always came back to this film. Although, I never told about it to anyone, it was always cracking the back of my skull. Junior High can be extremely cruel period in growing up and same goes to High School which is pretty much a grown up version of the Junior High. The social recession of youth is at that point pretty much as high as it gets in terms of cliques. I am personally really lucky, because I have double degree studies, so I have a very tight class, therefore cliques won't form. But in High School I have watched different people and their perceptions of one another are sometimes REALLY offensive and shallow. It is pretty depressing and you really can't be surprised when you hear that the mental well being of youth is at risk nowadays. I would argue that at the field of youth, equality matters are more WAY more screwed up than, for example in the gender field.
The Breakfast Club bodies these issues really well, but it also has a very uplifting feel to it. The film tells that these boundaries can be broken and if they don't get, you can always tell yourself that you are equal with everyone else and you are from the same wood as everybody else. You are a Jock, a Criminal, a Princess, a Basket Case and a Nerd.
You are a part of The Breakfast Club.
-Arttu "is for some reason burning his shorts" Hypén
P.S. I'm in love with Ally Sheedy in this film. Do you have the time to listen to me wine......
The Story is simple. Five High School students who have nothing in common have to go together to a detention for nine hours one Saturday morning. Their principal of the High School (Paul Gleason), whom also works as a watchmen through the detention period, gives them the rules of the period: Speaking and moving from the seats isn't allowed and you also can't leave and every violation is met with another Detention Saturday, however they aren't. Each student represents some kind of student clique.
There is a Princess named Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald),
a Nerd named Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall),
a Basket Case named Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy),
a Jock named Andrew Clark (Emilio Estevez)
and a Criminal named John Bender (Judd Nelson).
At the Beginning of the day, they don't talk to each other and only presumptions they have of each other are just very two dimensional stereotypes, like a Nerd doesn't know what pressure feels, Princess has the happiest and easiest trust fund baby life and a Rebel is only an obnoxious show off, but as the story progresses, they start to bend the rules a little at a time and as the rules get broken more and more, the characters start open up about their personal lives and as the character s come realization that these characters have personalties beyond their cliques, we as audience come to this realization too.
What I really love about the film is that it has the sense of comedy that you will see a lot in this Coming of Age Saga. the kind of comedy that isn't really set up, but it elevates itself from the quirks of the characters.
(This isn't really any form of intelligent analytic realization. Let me step it up a bit. I'll take a break for a minute. Time is now 15:48 and no, I haven't written this in one streak. Time is now 16:00. Okay, let's try again.)
The sense of comedy mirrors the overall nature of the film. It doesn't really have any dominant colors besides grey and the characters are very reserved. (I'm getting to it. Don't give up.) While the film does try to hammer these aspects down your throat, it is still a John Hughes film and if you have seen Sixteen Candles, you know that this film can't be so down to earth and and quiet all the time and it isn't. When the film feels that it's getting a bit too heavy, even with all the quirkiness, the film puts on the fifth gear and it turns into really sweet and exciting...almost an action film.
After the loud mouth antics, when the characters open up, it is some of the best written drama I have seen, because it relentless and none of the characters get it easy. There is a lot of talks about friends and hobbies and especially parents and how every character in the film has some sort of domestic problems ranging from ridiculous pressures to money and zero responsibilities as terms of raising. There is a lot of shouting and almost humiliation in the air and they finally come to the realization that they have bonded really tightly, but the tough question is that will they continue their friendship after the day or will they retreat back in their own cliques and forget everything that has happened. I wont spoil what happens in the end, but it is satisfying and very uplifting.
We also spent some time with the principal who occasionally checks on the characters. principal symbolizes the parents and overall the strict old school people whom frown upon the modern youth and especially in this case the rebellious John Bender. The chemistry between these two gives us a piece of genuine tension every now and then and you can feel how this person of power is starting to crumble in front of these youngsters whom, he thinks will destroy everything he has worked on. The film is all about inequality of individuals that is based on the lack of communication. Older generation dismiss younger people leaving them on their own and this growing pressure radiates towards them and people in same age group. What the film ultimately tries to say is that we are pretty much floating in the same pond, but we have forgotten that and the dangers of this is that people will be left alone with their issues and even a bit of social connection may help a person these kind of problems.
Throughout Junior High when the clique phenomenon came more and more evident, I always came back to this film. Although, I never told about it to anyone, it was always cracking the back of my skull. Junior High can be extremely cruel period in growing up and same goes to High School which is pretty much a grown up version of the Junior High. The social recession of youth is at that point pretty much as high as it gets in terms of cliques. I am personally really lucky, because I have double degree studies, so I have a very tight class, therefore cliques won't form. But in High School I have watched different people and their perceptions of one another are sometimes REALLY offensive and shallow. It is pretty depressing and you really can't be surprised when you hear that the mental well being of youth is at risk nowadays. I would argue that at the field of youth, equality matters are more WAY more screwed up than, for example in the gender field.
The Breakfast Club bodies these issues really well, but it also has a very uplifting feel to it. The film tells that these boundaries can be broken and if they don't get, you can always tell yourself that you are equal with everyone else and you are from the same wood as everybody else. You are a Jock, a Criminal, a Princess, a Basket Case and a Nerd.
You are a part of The Breakfast Club.
-Arttu "is for some reason burning his shorts" Hypén
P.S. I'm in love with Ally Sheedy in this film. Do you have the time to listen to me wine......
perjantai 20. toukokuuta 2011
Compensation
I've been such a slacker lately as far as the blog has been concerned. There has been so much buzz for the last couple of weeks that I found out that there is not enough hours in a day. Because of this INSOLENCE, I felt that I have to compensate at least a little bit. So, I made this TV spot from one of my favorite films. Hope you like it.
P.S. Next blog post will come up soon.
P.S. Next blog post will come up soon.
maanantai 2. toukokuuta 2011
April 21. 2011. Limitless and movie theater paranoia.
So it happened. I’m going to be 18 in a couple of weeks and I still couldn’t prepare for it. I am talking about moving. I have lived in my current home with my family for six years, so it’s no wonder that you grow attached to the place, talking about real estate love. I found out about the selling four hours after, so I thought that the protest would be futile.
Shock death was fortunately avoided with humanity’s greatest vice, vanity…or maybe it was gluttony..well at least it was self-indulgent. Thank God for freebies. As a bonus for selling our house, we got several goodies, for example cucumbers and……movie tickets. Oh nice, everything is okay now. I should move more often. I am not personally cheap in any form, so I felt that I had to take the benefit of these tickets as soon as possible.
The local movie theatre in the small town of Kajaani, located in Finland, is just a snot spit away, so the possibilities of arriving in time were on my side.
BTW the theatre is named BioRex. Okay now they owe me some form of check….Im serious…WHO’S PAYING!!!
I decided which movie I was going to see 15 minutes before the beginning and I left to see the movie 8 minutes before the beginning. I have seen dozens and dozens of films in that theatre and I still can’t figure out that I won’t make it in that time!! Well, I didn’t and…I didn’t learn anything afterwards, because..I made it to the movie…..or I didn’t…..this blog is confused.
I made it to ticket counter two minutes before the beginning and they said that I still have time. Well, I was naturally relieved and after I bought the ticket I stumbled through stairs, so I could get to second store. I fell once (That was literal. I suck at stairs L). I sat down to sofa waiting for the checker and I was surprised how there were no more than dozen people there with me. I mean, come on! The movie I was going to see, I thought, deserved more recognition. After this surge of surprise and frustration, the confusion kicked in. I realized that I had been sitting there for four minutes and I wondered that should the movie start. Then I realized (I’m a genius) that the movie has already started. I missed the start, because I was failing on the stairs. I have NEVER missed a film that I really paid for (actually I didn’t for this either. I guess nothing has changed)!! I stormed into the hall where the movie was already three minutes in and….there were only six people. Fuck…this. After the confusion wore off, paranoia kicked in. I was sure that the guys in the projector room noticed me and started to plan something against me. I really wants to seem like a good guy and I went to my place, but the place was right below the projector room. Throughout the film I was thinking that some kind of theatre Gestapo would show up and take me to small room where I would be held for three weeks, because I would be accused of being an anarchist that is trying to steal profit from a humble and sincere Hollywood system. After a while, I calmed town and started focusing on the film, which BTW, the movie was named Limitless.
The plot is about Eddie Morra (Bradley cooper) who is a writer with the dreaded writer’s block. After having another lousy morning when his girlfriend leaves him, his former brother-in law Vernon (From just ludicrous marriage I might add.) stumbles across him and after some awkwardly friendish (?) chatting, Vernon (Who is by the way played by Johnny Whitworth), gives Eddie a mysterious, eye contact looking pill, which will solve all his creative problems. Who? Well, scientifically people only access 20 % of their brain, but with this pill, you can access the full 100 %.
(Yeah! Because you can trust someone named Vernon! I know this is a bit name racist (?), but that’s one of my issues. For example, I have problems to root anyone in Harry Potter, because the names are so suspicious. I wouldn’t have been surprised if at the end of Potter, everyone would have turned out to be the bad guy. WHAT A TWIST!)
Well, Eddie does take the pill and it works. For a couple of hours he becomes a prodigy of God. He finishes his book in a day and manages to get laid just by being a hyper active coke monkey. Then the drug wears off and like every other just-about-to-be-junkie guys think, he stops liking his normal self. So, he wants more. However, when he meets Vernon again, he gets a hint that these pills have fairly questionable origin and throw some macabre situations, Vernon ends up killed violently in his living room. Eddie, while in shock, decides to find the pills and he does find them. Eddie the goes to a success streak, he writes another book and decides to take on stock market and becomes the industry prodigy, which draws attention from the business legend Carl Van Loon (Robert DeNiro). While everything is going great, the side-effects start to show up, everybody wants a cut and faces the fact that drug will, some way or another, kill him eventually, but does he want to stop the winning streak and does he want to return to life where he went nowhere. In short, does he want to feel his limits.
Throughout the film, I was feeling very mixed emotions about the film and the characters and looking back at it now, I think it is better now than it was when I saw it. The thing that I found a bit anti-climactic was that the film sets up this sense of paranoia and you feel that there is a bigger thing behind all this and, while the film does tease you with this idea, it never truly uses it. There aren’t really characters to be revealed, or ridiculous dangers to overcome. First I thought that that was frustrating, but after a while, I realized that this is not the point of the film.
This is the story of power and how it dictates the person that consumes it. Every time, when Eddie takes the pill, he becomes the unstoppable wrecking ball of intelligence and confidence, but it’s all in expense of your safety and well being. I feel that the character of Eddie Morra is a villain of the modern film. He belongs on the list with Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver, Jack from Fight Club and especially Craig Schwartz from Being John Malkovich. He isn’t a villain in a traditional sense. These characters, while do things that are questionable in an ideal sense, are from the viewers point of view very rational and relatable. For example, Travis wants to be breath, Jack wants substance in his life and Craig wants to be loved.
Therefore, Eddie is a relatable person whom somewhat bodies humanities primal longing for success and prestige, but the success leads into problems like, double crossing, usage of criminal sources, covering of a horrible crime, which he might be guilty at and it all culminates into fact that he ultimately doesn’t deserve the powers he has. The audience knows the fact that the character doesn’t really deserve anything, but we can’t really blame him, because we would have done the same and all these feelings that this movie provokes gives us a new and enhanced view of this world dog is going to eat another dog and where success is a new kind of vice and the comedic tragedy of it is that most of us would take that vice completely aware of its dangers.
If you think about the film in a distant manner, there are some problems. You see, I have never taken a bathroom break and while I was watching the film, I was always considering it, but I always felt that the slow parts are just about over and every time I was going to go, the film did something interesting. However, it was always so sporadic that I was stuck.
I really liked the visual style of the film and while it is not unique or original, it gives a very solid idea of great intelligence and it fuels the urge to root for the character, because you know how great it is.
The acting was very solid and I was pleased to see Robert DeNiro doing actual work with a GOOD script for once. Bradley Cooper is great, because he has energy and excitement burned in his face.
(Possibly, when he was born, his mother said “I wanna HAPPY BABBEE!!”!!! So, the doctors just made some surgical adjustments and bandages stayed on for 10 years for a full effect.)
You just love the guy and want to be him (Only inferior for Travis Bickle of course J.)
After the film, I just had to have a bathroom break, but I still watched the end credits, because that is a good time to sum up the film in your mind. I felt that this was a perfect film for the point in time I am in right now. Age of 18 means a lot in Finland and in that age, you are legally an adult. You feel the opportunities and the energy to take on all of them. You feel that you have just started living, you see the world differently, you feel independent, you feel important, you feel unstoppable, you feel…………..Limitless.
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