The Seventeenth Drop-- What Happened to Comedy?

You love comedy films don't you?  Who doesn't like to sit down in front of a screen for an hour or so and get a few cheap laughs?  Well I must say that I, personally, have become disappointed with comedy in recent years.  Films like The Hangover or Superbad just don't deliver the kinds of clever laughs that a good comedy does.  They rely on language and low brow sex and drug jokes and have nearly no clever commentary or anything.  In this post, I'll try to talk about some classic comedic films and the various sub-genres of comedy and perhaps talk about some modern popular comedies.  Here we go.

Comedy can be a lot of things, it can be light hearted, it can have a message, it can have social commentary, it can be combined with almost any other kind of genre and it's one of the oldest genres of film ever.  There are tons of comedy types and I intend to let you know about them.

First is the anarchic comedy, which uses stream-of-consciousness and nonsensical humor that spoofs authority.  A lot of the action of the film focuses on non sequitur and often abandons narrative and plot for absurdity.  It uses a lot of other aspects of comedy like farce and slapstick, however, unlike like slapstick it doesn't necessarily focus on violence.  Some examples of this is Duck Soup, Sherlock, Jr, Monty Python and The Holy Grail, and Ace Ventura.

Next up is farce.  Farce uses unlikely situations and verbal humor like sexual innuendo.  It generally has a happy ending.  Films like this are The Pink Panther, Never Give a Sucker an Even Break and The Love Bug.

One of the most popular sub-genres of comedy, especially early on, is slapstick.  This is a type of comedy that draws humor from over-exaggerated violence and nonsensical activities.  There are five conventions of slapstick, pain without consequence, unrealistic situations due to editing, impossible situations, confusing zooms, and off screen sounds.  Some examples of slapstick films are Shawn of The Dead, MouseHunt, Scary Movie, nearly every Three Stooges film.  Slapstick was largely employed by the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, The Marx Brothers, The Keystone Cops, and can also be seen in cartoons like Tom and Jerry.


Another style that is equally as popular is the "fish out of water" comedy.  This is usually where the main character finds themselves in situations where they don't really fit.  Films like these include Some Like It Hot, Big, "Crocodile" Dundee, Tootsie and most Coen Brothers films like The Big Lebowski.

A less common form is called a comedy of manners.  This is where a social group or class is satirized by a stereotypical character.  This is used a lot in mockumentaries like The Office.

Parody or spoof is another style of comedy, it satirizes, uses stereotypes, and mocks scenes of other movies and uses sarcasm.  More or less it makes fun of other things in culture.  Examples, Young Frankenstein, Scary Movie, Blazing Saddles (in fact nearly every Mel Brooks movie), Dark Star, Monty Python and The Holy Grail, UHF, or Austin Powers.


One of my favorite forms of comedy film are black comedies.  These satirize "taboo" subjects and dark subjects like death, murder, suicide, sexual relations, war, insanity, crime, or drug abuse.  A lot of the Coen Brothers' comedies are like this.  Other films that include black comedy are Arsenic and Old Lace, Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, MASH, or Brazil.

The romantic comedy is about a relationship between a man and a woman (or in very few cases a man and a man/a woman and a woman) and consists of light hearted humor due to sexual tension and general interaction.  Generally the plots end with the couple getting back together after one loses the other.  This is a very common style of comedy and is generally known as a "chick flick" (but I'm sure you know that).  Films like this include Annie Hall, Pretty Woman and Love and Other Drugs.

There's also a style of comedy known as the "gross out" comedy that focuses on vulgarity, profanity, sexual humor or "toilet" humor.  It uses shock value and is generally controversial.  The films in this sub-genre are Pink Flamingos, There's Something About Mary, Animal House, American Pie, or Dumb and Dumber.

Screwball comedy is another form of comedy but is usually combined with nearly all other forms of comedy.  It generally includes quick and witty dialogue, role reversal and happy endings.  One example of this is What's Up, Doc?


There are also buddy films, that generally include two characters that either get along or do not and learn to love one another by going through odd happenings.  They also happen on the road at times, two characters that are forced to work together to get somewhere and go through ridiculous circumstances.  Films like Due Date, Road to Singapore (and all of the Road to... films), and Planes, Trains and Automobiles are all examples of this.

Now there are many transitional genres like action comedy, comedy horror, military comedy, sci-fi comedy, western comedy, dramady, and fantasy comedy.  These are all either comedy films that include other genres or other films that have aspects of comedy.

I think it is time to discuss some of the good comedy films. Films that are actually clever and comedic. Where will I get these films you might ask? Well there's this little group called the American Film Institute, they regularly release film based "best of" lists and of course they have one for the top 100 comedies, so I'll go through a few of those and talk about them.

The number one comedy film on AFI's top 100 comedy list is Some Like It Hot. The film stars Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis. The film is a classic in comedy cinema, it's the beginning of the edgy comedy. It was a film that involved violence (from the mob), two men in drag (which was taboo at that time), and the sex symbol of Monroe. It popularized the use of taboos in comedy and was really clever about it, it had a lot of social commentary to it also, it went deeper than a lot of comedic films but still kept it light hearted and brought a lot of star power. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053291/synopsis
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2371683353/

Number three on the list is one of my personal favorites, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb.  This is Stanley Kubrick's wonderfully executed commentary on nuclear warfare.  It features a wonderful performance by Peter Sellers, who plays three different roles in the film, including the zany ex-Nazi Dr. Strangelove.  The film has been called "culturally significant" and it truly is.  It has excellent comedy, one of the finest Peter Sellers performances ever, and a spot on commentary of the absurdity of nuclear warfare.  One of my favorite scenes is at the end, when all of the politicians are hiding in the bomb shelter (but I'll let you see the movie, I won't ruin the ending).
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057012/synopsis
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3114467609/

The fifth film on the list it The Marx Brothers' Duck Soup.  This film is a classic anarchic comedy, it has ridiculous situations, slapstick, fast paced and witty dialogue and commentary on the government, all wrapped up in a neat and humorous film complete with singing and dancing.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023969/plotsummary






Now, because I'm a good ole' chap, I'll give you the AFI's top 100 laughs list (information you could easily get on wikipedia):
1. Some Like It Hot (1959)
2. Tootsie (1982)
3. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb (1964)
4. Annie Hall (1977)
5. Duck Soup (1933)
6. Blazing Saddles (1974)
7. M*A*S*H* (1970)
8. It Happened On Night (1934)
9. The Graduate (1967)
10. Airplane! (1980)
11. The Producers (1968)
12. A Night at The Opera (1935)
13. Young Frankenstein (1974)
14. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
15. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
16. Singin' In The Rain (1952)
17. The Odd Couple (1968)
18. The General (1927)
19. His Girl Friday (1940)
20. The Apartment (1960)
21. A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
22. Adam's Rib (1949)
23. When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
24. Born Yesterday (1950)
25. The Gold Rush (1925)
26. Being There (1979)
27. There's Something About Mary (1998)
28. Ghostbusters (1984)
29. This Is Spinaltap (1984)
30. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
31. Raising Arizona (1987)
32. The Thin Man (1934)
33. Modern Times (1936)
34. Groundhog Day (1993)
35. Harvey (1950)
36. National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
37. The Great Dictator (1940)
38. City Lights (1931)
39. Sullivan's Travels (1941)
40. It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
41. Moonstruck (1987)
42. Big (1988)
43. American Graffiti (1973)
44. My Man Godfrey (1936)
45. Harold and Maude (1971)
46. Manhattan (1979)
47. Shampoo (1975)
48. A Shot In The Dark (1964)
49. To Be or Not To Be (1942)
50. Cat Ballou (1964)
51. The Seven Year Itch (1955)
52. Ninotchka (1939)
53. Arthur (1981)
54. The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944)
55. The Lady Eve (1941)
56. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
57. Diner (1982)
58. It's A Gift (1934)
59. A Day at The Races (1937)
60. Topper (1937)
61. What's Up, Doc? (1972)
62. Sherlock, Jr. (1924)
63. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
64. Broadcast News (1987)
65. Horse Feathers (1932)
66. Take The Money and Run (1969)
67. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
68. The Awful Truth (1937)
69.  Bananas (1971)
70. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
71. Caddyshack (1980)
72. Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)
73. Monkey Business (1931)
74. Nine to Five (1980)
75. She Done Him Wrong (1933)
76. Victor Victoria (1982)
77. The Palm Beach Story (1942)
78. Road to Morocco (1942)
79. The Freshman (1925)
80. Sleeper (1973)
81. The Navigator (1924)
82. Private Benjamin (1980)
83. Father of The Bride (1950)
84. Lost in America (1985)
85. Dinner at Eight (1933)
86. City Slickers (1991)
87. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
88. Beetlejuice (1988)
89. The Jerk (1979)
90. Woman of The Year (1942)
91. The Heartbreak Kid (1972)
92. Ball of Fire (1941)
93. Fargo (1996)
94. Auntie Mame (1958)
95. Silver Streak (1976)
96. Sons of The Desert (1933)
97. Bull Durham (1988)
98. The Court Jester (1956)
99. The Nutty Professor (1963)
100. Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)

Now, these are are only the top American comedies, it doesn't take into account the foreign comedies that are also classics.

I haven't been a fan of the current popular comedy films of the past few years.  I think they're all poorly done, don't supply NEARLY enough laughs and rely too heavily on gimmicks and "toilet" humor or sex humor.  Now, don't get me wrong, I like saying "fuck" and hearing dick jokes as much as the next guy, but comedy films today are becoming WAY too low brow, there's no depth to the comedies, they're all too straight forward.  Films like The Hangover, Knocked Up, Superbad, all rely too much on this.  They don't even do it cleverly like Kevin Smith does in his films.  Overall, modern comedies are disappointing, mindless laughs to fill seats, but hey, it works right?

Anyway, I'm done with this post, if you have a comment or disagreement, let me know.  Goodbye!

The Sixteen Step-- Shit! That's A Load Of Awesome Shit!

That's right, my title is a reference to Radiohead (and I know it's a number off too!).  ANYWHO... I think I'm just going to go and see where my mind takes me on this post, so enjoy!

How are all of YOU? Are you good? How's your grandmother? How's the new job treating you? Thinking about retirement? How's school going? Did you ever get that package I sent you?

Enough of that...  As a man of film, I must say that I love watching movies (way to state the obvious jackass!) but one thing that I find really cool is this distribution company called The Criterion Collection.  Basically, this company sells some of the most important and beloved films from all over the world... and makes sure they get to places that they may not get to normally.  I think this is awesome, they remaster and distribute hundreds of films, some of the most important films ever.  The company was founded in 1984 and started a lot of standards for DVDs, like commentary and bonus features (so thank them for what we know of DVDs).  The company is awesome and I love what they are doing, their films are a bit more pricey, usually ranging from $30-40 as opposed to $15-20, this is the one pitfall, BUT you CAN find some films with Criterion that you can't find otherwise (I still can find Harold and Maude OR Citizen Kane anywhere *sad face*).  Here's the official website though... http://www.criterion.com/, it includes a list of their over 500 films (I'm sorry Chris but Antichrist is one of their films).

I recently purchased a Criterion Collection film, Richard Linklater's Slacker, I haven't watched it yet, but I shall let you know if it is any good.  Here's a trailer...  http://www.criterion.com/films/408-slacker
What you may or may not know is that it's one of the films that inspired Kevin Smith to make Clerks, so I'm interested in seeing it.

In keeping with the whole Criterion Collection theme, they generally change their cover art, I personally like what they do with the art, however, I suppose it can get a bit pretentious and "artsy" and often doesn't do much to explain the film, but most of it looks totally awesome and a lot more like a collector's item then just another movie, it looks like something you'd wanna show off in a collection.  I actually just got distracted by the website haha.  This post will probably take me longer than I expected.  Now, I'm going to go curl up next to the girl of my dreams, I'll start again tomorrow.

Yet another day of blogging.  I'm actually quite disappointed with my most recent posts, they don't really meet my standards and I doubt they meet yours either.  I feel like I had much more to say when I started this blog for some reason.  Maybe it was because it was new, maybe I'm running out of subjects I know a lot about, but that's the whole goal, for myself to learn along with maybe teaching you all something also.  My last post on HUAC could have been much longer and more in depth too, with that one I felt like I was running out of time though.  I'll attempt to return to a high standard with my posts in the future.  If I can't deliver then feel free to abandon my blog, you don't deserve to settle for less.

You may or may not know that I love a good story. The top things that make a movie for me aren't action and sex, but acting and plot. A movie could have not action whatsoever, but as long as it has a good story and is acted well, it's still a good film in my book.  With this, I'm going to talk about one of my favorite writers, Charlie Kaufman.  Kaufman is a writer, director and producer, his films span many genres like drama, fantasy, biography, but generally stays in the realms of comedy.  I love Kaufman's writing, I think he's very clever and intriguing.  His writing has depth and generally gets complex.  One of my favorite Kaufman films is Synecdoche, New York, I COULD explain the film, but it's something that you should see, explain it on your own.  I WILL say though that the story follows a playwright named Caden Cotard (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman), who's life is coming apart.  He eventually starts to cast and direct a play of his life that grows so big that it includes all of New York and a play adaptation of the play.  Plot Synopsis!  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0383028/plotsummary  That's his style, he does these films that go extremely in depth and moves the story around a lot, but, unlike SOME writers, it all makes sense in the end.  I respect that, I hope I can do stories like that some day.  Stories that have some meaning, that go in depth and focus on psychological manners, but do it in a good way.  A way that makes sense.  This little viral trailer shows some of the things that Kaufman has written, gives a look at his style... http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3579511321/  then, just for shits and giggs, here's the theatrical trailer too... http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2617835545/

Kaufman started writing for television in 1991 after writing for comedy magazines like National Lampoon.  His first film, Being John Malkovich, won him an Oscar nomination and the BAFTA award and really gave him some mainstream notice.  Kaufman is from New York City and attended NYU Film School and currently lives in Pasadena, California.  There are many reoccurring themes in Kaufman's movies and a lot of references to his favorite writers.

As much as I love Kaufman's writing, I must say that there was one thing that I didn't like about Kaufman's second film Adaptation., and that is the fact that the ending becomes an action film of sorts, complete with a chase scene through a swamp.  It would have been an excellent movie, had it not been for that scene.  Here's a synopsis for that film too though...  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0268126/plotsummary

Here's Kaufman's filmography:
Being John Malkovich (1999, writer, producer) (directed by Spike Jonze)
Human Nature (2001, writer, producer) (directed by Michael Gondry)
Adaptation. (2002, writer, producer) (directed by Spike Jonze)
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002, writer) (directed by George Clooney)
Eternal Sunshine on the Spotless Mind (2004, writer, producer) (directed by Michael Gondry)
Synecdoche, New York (2008, writer, director, producer)

I think that's all I have for you this time and it only took me 2-3 days haha.  Anyway, today is a special day (I love you Samantha) and I hope you all have a good day too.  Peace.

The Fifteenth Pair of Pants-- The Cold War and HUAC

Let me start off by saying that if you like film and you don't check out www.imdb.com, you should.  The story updates they have on there is pretty interesting.  I get updates and little news stories from the site that intrigue me.  http://www.imdb.com/news/ni9866427/, for some reason I find this interesting... apparently James Franco is loaded with degrees and is now going to go get his second Ph.D.  I can respect that, he's an award winning actor and has a stable career and still goes off to school and gain his degrees.  That's something I would wanna do, even if I had a career, never stop my studying, as much as I hate going to school, I love learning, and I'd love to teach too (thus is by backup career path), but enough about me...

For those of us who weren't around for The Cold War, the communist scare of the 1950s through the 80s is slightly ridiculous.  Why America took the idea of "commies" as seriously as they did is a bit hard to understand, primarily due to the fact that our biggest threat now is terrorists (and in my opinion radical religious fundamentalists are a bit more frightening than a political ideal) and not communists.  I mean, there are only a few communist countries left and our biggest rival, The Soviet Union, has fallen (although China is suddenly becoming more of a threat).  The Cold War and the "communist scare" affected everyone back then, even Hollywood and one of it's biggest opponents was known as HUAC or The House Un-American Activities Committee, whose sole job was to investigate people's relation to communism.

HUAC had a chance to investigate the Ku Klux Klan but decided not due to the the fact that the KKK is an American institution and instead looked for communists in America.  Due to this, HUAC started to blacklist Hollywood, claiming that communist propaganda has infiltrated Hollywood.  The Committee asked questions of Hollywood "hot shots" and convicted them with contempt of Congress after they refuse to answer the questions.  These writers, producers and directors were known as "The Hollywood Ten" and were the first to be blacklisted by HUAC.



The "Hollywood Ten" are...
Alvah Bessie
Herbert Biberman
Lester Cole
Edward Dymtryk
Ring Lardner Jr.
John Howard Lawson
Albert Maltz
Samuel Ornitz
Adrian Scott
Dalton Trumbo

After some time, over 300 members of the entertainment industry were blacklisted and forced out of jobs due to claims of their association with communism.  HUAC didn't go unchallenged, John Huston, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, and Danny Kaye started the Committee for the First Amendment to attempt to protect themselves and their fellow artists.  They tried to prove that HUAC was unconstitutional (and they were since being a part of the American Communist Party isn't and never has been illegal).  Some of you may be asking, 'why does this matter?" well, tons of people would never be hired again as soon as they were accused of communist (that's right, the country's hatred was that strong... similar to terrorists and generic arab people now).

In 1950, a film was made called The Hollywood Ten, the film consisted of each of the blacklisted members giving a speech about McCarthyism and HUAC and blacklisting.  Unfortunately, the director of the film, John Berry, was blacklisted after making the film.



"Red Channels" was a pamphlet released in 1950 that listed all of the "supposed" communists in the broadcasting and entertainment industry.   Some of the well known names on this pamphlet were Orson Welles, Burgess Meredith,  Arthur Miller and Edward G. Robinson, among many others. Walt Disney, agitated the communist concerns by declaring in a magazine that communism was the reason for a cartoonist strike (yet another reason to hate Disney).  As HUAC kept going through the 50s, many other names were blacklisted and not allowed work in the US, names like Luis Bañuel.  In order to keep working, many members of the entertainment industry would flee the country or work under assumed names.  The Writer's Guild are still, to this day, trying to correct false screen credits.

HUAC did horrible things to Hollywood in the 50s and early 60s.  Yet great movies were still made (most foreign).  If you're interested, please look up more information.  The Cold War in Hollywood is a very interesting subject and I was intrigued when learning about it in my high school english class for the first time.  There's a start for you though, have a nice day.

The Fourteenth Commandment-- The Clerks Guy (revised)

So, this is probably going to be a short post, mainly I'm only going to talk about a few things. I've spent the last few days watching Sold Out: A Threevening with Kevin Smith, and I kinda want to discuss the man (by the way, that DVD is actually hilarious and I'd recommend watching it). I also have a few other things to say, but let's get on with it shall we?

Okay... I assume you know who Kevin Smith is. If you don't then he is a classic comedy director of such hits as Clerks, Mallrats, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and others. He is very iconic and his films generally have the same feel to them (he even has his own production company called View Askew Productions). I think Kevin Smith is a funny guy, I relate to him. He's an overweight comic book/film nerd who basically does what I want to do for a living. So I like Kevin Smith,  and his movies. I thought Mallrats was pretty funny and Zak and Miri Make A Porno was decent, Clerks was excellent, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Dogma were a bit iffy but still pretty good. Now he's doing a horror film called Red State that look interesting.  On top of that, his stand up is hilarious and informational about film making and I'd suggest watching it.

Kevin Smith is from New Jersey and studied film at The Vancouver Film School but dropped out half way through and took partial tuition reimbursement to fund the making of Clerks. I think that's pretty cool, he made it big with a deep and well recorded first film and did it all without completing film school. I mean, he got lucky that his first movie was so well recieved, but that's still pretty awesome to me (but maybe I'm just lame).

Clerks seems like a simple film at first but there is so much depth in it.  There is so much attention to detail, so much philosophy found in pop culture references, subtle and dry humor and outrageous discussions.  This movie has so much and, as someone who wants to do film, it's a very interesting film to watch.  Make sure to see it if you like Kevin Smith (but if you do, you've probably already seen it) or just because it's a great comedy.

Well, that's pretty much all I have to say about Mr. Smith. I've been thinking about my own short film that I will attempt soon, the pieces are coming together but there are still holes. Hopefully I'll have something for all of you soon (if you're interested in what I have to do). I'm feeling like a failure of sorts with my crazy amount of school work and everything, but I'm hoping doing this will help me (and I'll have something to show for college). That's all for now, good bye y'all!

The Thirteenth Friday-- I'll Bet You 5 You're Not Alive if You Don't Know His Name

So, I've been wanting to do this post for a really long time, pretty much since I started this blog, I've just been waiting for the right time to do it and now seems like a perfect time... I don't know how long it will take me to finish but I hope that it is up to the standard that I want it to be (and the standard you all deserve). Finally I'll be discussing what is probably the most important American film ever made (disagree with me if you would like), Citizen Kane. (I've actually been wanting to talk about this film since my film class).

If you have not seen Citizen Kane, stop reading now. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to ruin the ending of the film in order to talk about the importance of Rosebud. Now, we all know Citizen Kane, whether you've seen it or not. It's generally rated the top American movie of all time (The White Stripes even have a song called, The Union Forever, and all of the lyrics are lines from this film). Anyway... If you have not seen the beauty that is Citizen Kane, you need to stop right now and either buy or rent it, but mainly just watch it!! NOW... Seriously!! I will hunt you all down if I have to (he'll do it!! he's crazy!!)

Anyway, for the rest of you that know the story (because I'm positive that the rest of you 'x'ed out of this blog when I told you to), we know that the mysterious and infamous Rosebud was Kane's childhood sled. Now why would Kane, a powerful and successful man, beloved by some, despised by others, call out the name of a sled as his final earthly words? Well Rosebud is a very important "character" in the film. I'm sure if you like to analyze film and plot like me, you may have your own ideas (either the same as mine or different), and if you do, I'd absolutely LOVE to hear them so post them up!

Rosebud stands for everything Kane wanted but could never be. Everything that was taken from him when his parents gave him up. Rosebud was Kane's only wish in life, he had everything, power, success, fame, anything money could buy... Yet all he really wanted was Rosebud and the simplicity it symbolized. Of course, during Kane's life he lost sight of what he was truly after and Rosebud was lost in his mountains of possessions, this symbolizes that the world had gotten to Kane and buried what he truly wanted. It wasn't until the end of his life that he finally remembered what was important to him and what he really wanted. This is also symbolized in the breaking snow globe, that resembled his childhood home. It's just another way of saying that everything he wanted in life shattered when his destiny was altered. Throughout the film a reporter tries to find out the identity of Rosebud, and goes around to the people who were closest to Kane to get information, no one knows who Rosebud is. This further shows the distance and separation between what Kane has and what Kane wants. He separated his ideal life from the life he ended up with by burying his childhood and not telling anyone about his favorite toy. This also shows Kane's relationship with people, he doesn't let anyone too close to him and certainly would tell no one about his childhood. He's alienated and it's a result of what he lost so young. A great line in the movie that pretty much sums up Kane's entire character is when Mr. Thatcher asks Kane what he would have liked to have been and Kane responds, "everything you hate." This pretty much sums up his feelings toward the man who took him away from his parents, his life and his feelings toward mist everyone who attempts to get close to him. What I love about the character is the fact that by the en of the film, you're not sure if Kane is a great man or if you hate him. I think that's an important character archetype in cinema. Kane is a good man who can't get close to people, and who does many appalling things. I could go on and do many more analysies of Rosebud, BUT... there are still other things I want to talk about concerning this movie (but like I said, if you guys have any analysies of your own, please post it).

Now, for those of you sneaky monkeys who stayed on this post without watching the movie and are probably like, "well I kinda get it but I wish I knew the plot" here's a plot summary... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033467/synopsis.

Now, as I've mentioned, Citizen Kane is a very important and innovative film.  It's usually voted the greatest American film of all time and largely due do it's innovations (you may wonder why I specify "American" film... that's because a lot of European films were using a lot of these techniques already... The More You Know!)

Now, one interesting shot in the film is at the end, a scene of a warehouse filled with crates with Kane's possessions.  This shot was redone later at the end of Raiders of The Lost Arc, just one out of many iconic scenes from this delightful piece of cinema.  ANYWAY, let me get on to the actual technical innovations (and stop wasting your precious time, you could be out riding a bike or playing some kind of organized sport after all).  Deep Focus is the name of one of the inventive techniques Orson Welles used on Citizen Kane.  This is where everything, foreground, middle, and background is in sharp focus.  This was all done with the manipulations of light and lenses.  When this couldn't be done, they would often film a scene with the background in focus and then roll the tape back and double it with the foreground in focus also, or use of a machine called an optical printer, or in-camera effects.  One technique that wasn't used much in American film up until that point was low angle shots.  Where the camera was set down and looking up at the actors, one reason for this was the fact that everything at the time was done on a soundstage and no set had roofs.  To remedy this, they used a opaque piece of cloth to make it look like the room had a roof, they also dug a ditch in the floor to get the big bulky camera down lower.  In terms of storytelling in Citizen Kane,  the entire story is told as a flashback as the reporter questions people close to Kane.  This, of course, is very common in film today, but at the time it wasn't done so often.  Another thing that Welles did was change narrators throughout the film.  Each person interviewed takes over as a new narrator and one way of transition that was uncommon at the time was have one character pick up a word or phrase from where the character before them left off.  This wasn't really done before this film and neither was the idea of starting a new scene visually before the old scene's dialogue ended.  The use of curtain wipes and miniatures (namely for Kane's Xanadu) were pioneered in American film with this movie.  The makeup effects to change Orson Welles from a dashing young man to a horrible old man were revolutionary.  Even the soundtrack was unique and new in this film.  So much about this movie was so innovative and started a new and experimental wave in cinema.  Welles, more or less, took multiple styles of film making and mashed them all together to make something new.  You know your favorite movie? well, a lot of experimental techniques used in it came about or where started in Citizen Kane.  I pretty much can not tell enough good or awesome things about this film, it's one of my favorites, and you should watch it posthaste!! (seriously, do it!)

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi568630553/

In other news, I read the comic X'ed Out by Charles Burns, I believe it'll be part of a series, I would definitely recommend it, I wanna read the next section and find out what happens in the main character's drug induced fantasy world.  One thing I don't like much about it though, is the fact that a lot of the character's facial expressions just kinda look like they're sneezing.  Other than that it's pretty cool, I'd like to write a comic someday also (oh, dreams *sigh*).

There you go though, everything you need (for now), look up more if you're interested and feel free to shoot me a comment if you'd like.  I always wanna hear from whoever wants to talk.  Catch you cats later.

All apologies,

D James (sorry about the spoof)

The Twelfth Place-- There And Back Again

Alright, I'm going to kick off this post with something a tad off topic. I love beatboxing, I'm fascinated by it, I dabble in it a bit (I'm no good though) and I'm totally amazed by people who can do it well... So... My girlfriend Samantha and I found this website that's pretty cool,  http://www.beatboxbattle.com/ (and I'm sorry if your computer isn't like mine and can translate it from German), but there's a guy on there named Skiller who is very good and if you enjoy beatboxing I'd say look it up, but anyway, on with the post...



Now if there's any one movie that I will be looking forward to in the next few years it's the two part film adaptation of The Hobbit, I'm a huge Lord of the Rings fan (although, admittedly, Star Wars was always my primary nerd obsession of choice, but that's beside the point).  I loved The Lord of The Rings, I read the books, watched the movies, looked up the history, did it all, but I'd always thought that The Hobbit was the best of the books (and many LOTR fans may disagree with that statement).  Now, after years of rumors, they are finally and definitely making a Hobbit movie, and guess what, none other than Peter Jackson himself is coming back to direct.  I'm psyched, and THIS... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUvirzQ4P9A, just makes me that much more excited!  To add yet ANOTHER rung to my ladder of excitement,  Martin Freeman will be playing the roll of young Bilbo... AWESOME!  If you don't know Martin Freeman, he played Tim Canterbury in the British Office, (another thing I'm a HUGE fan of) and Arthur Dent in the movie adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy (yet another thing I enjoy).  So to know that he's playing Bilbo just makes me happy... also, Ian McKellen is returning as Gandalf, Andy Serkis is coming back as Gollum, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Elijah Wood and Christopher Lee are reprising their roles and they are in negotiations with Hugo Weaving and Ian Holm to come back as Elrond and Older Bilbo (respectively).  Part one is planned to be released in 2012 and part two will be released in 2013 and I'll be there to see it.

Enough with the "nerding out" now (maybe).  I like Peter Jackson (I dunno if you do, but I do).  I thought what he did with The Lord of The Rings trilogy was great, it was a solid movie, a good adaptation of the book (with the exception of leaving Tom Bombadil out of the first one... and other little changes), and I wouldn't be as fine with anyone else directing the film.  When Peter Jackson decided not to direct the film, New Line hired Guillermo Del Toro to direct the film.  Now, if there was ANYONE that I would have liked to see do The Hobbit other than Peter Jackson, it would be Del Toro.  There are probably a ton of directors that you like that could probably direct The Hobbit amazingly, and you're probably thinking "why would he want to see Del Toro direct The Hobbit? why not (insert director's name here)?" well the answer is... I like the way Del Toro does fantasy.  It's slightly dark, slightly creepy, using make up and puppets over CGI, I liked The Hellboy movies and it would be interesting to see what he would have made The Hobbit.  Del Toro was going to redesign the look of the Goblins and the Wargs and try to make the Mirkwood Spiders look totally different from Shelob.  After all of the delays, however, Del Toro left the project.  After this there were many other directors that were rumored to be on the project, but ultimately Jackson ended up as director once again.

But ANYWAY, enough with my excitement... I WOULD give you more information about the book or The Lord of The Rings in general, but you should either read the books or at LEAST watch the movies. I'll be there, first in line to see this new two part adaptation and I hope that I'll see you guys there too, and if you're a huge LOTR fan like me, you're welcome for the info (if you haven't already looked all this stuff up anyway).  In other news, I'm totally swamped with work right now so my next few posts will probably all be very short and very few (if I'll be able to fit in any at all).  This sucks cuz not only do I have to put off my blog, I also have to put off the writing of a script for my first short film (hopefully will be made shortly with the help of my friends).  If I don't see you sooner I'll see you later... keep a look out for more posts, hopefully they won't take to long.  Buh-bye.

The Eleventh Day-- What A Twist!

That's right, if you hadn't guessed by the title (but you wouldn't get the reference if you don't watch Robot Chicken), I'm gonna talk about M. Night Shyamalan, and my supreme hatred of his movies. Unlike his movies my blog WON'T have some shitty twist ending where you find out I actually love his films.  Furthermore, I will openly warn you now, that I intend to be an asshole and tell the ending of his movies for two reasons: one, you probably already know them and two, if you don't I plan on saving you some time to go watch some GOOD movies. You'll know the ending, you won't have to sit through the rest. If you really REALLY want to watch them still, stop now and move along and no harm will be done.

Okay, I'll now give you a bit of background about this Indian-American man (I'll need to consult Wikipedia, I certainly have no information about him in my head).  Shyamalan was born Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan in 1970 in Puduchery India. He spent his childhood in Philidelphia, Pennsylvania and attended school at New York University. ANYWAY... I think that's about all you REALLY need to know about him.

Let's start now with his break through movie The Sixth Sense. This was probably his most decent film, telling the story of a little boy who can see the ghosts of the wrongfully dead, who then ask for his help in correcting their end. Bruce Willis plays the boy's counselor, and, what do you know, it turns out that HE was dead the entire time! Shocking. Now this film wasn't all bad, the acting was decent, the story was intriguing and the twist was unexpected. The downfall of this film is the fact that once you know the ending, you might as well not bother watching it and of course EVERYONE spilled the secret immediately, thanks a ton world! Now with this paragraph you're probably thinking, "oh, he isn't THAT harsh on Shyamalan" haha, just wait, it gets worse, as his films do.

Speaking of "worse", let's move onto Signs. First off, let's talk about one major flaw with this movie... It stars Mel Gibson (blegh). The second problem with the movie is the fact that it is all aliens (and you should know I think aliens are a total cop out). I don't want to know that the writers of a movie are so uncreative that they choose aliens to explain the unexplainable. Finally, a major downfall of the movie is the fact that water kills the aliens. You would think a race that is smart enough to make it here from, God knows where, would know not to invade a planet that's mostly water... If water is their one weakness (maybe I'M the only one thy would think that). One plus of the movie is Joaquin Phoenix, in my opinion he is a fairly good actor, and anyone who is willing to nearly ruin their career to make a movie gets respect from me. Overall though, the movie wasn't my thing (to say the least) even though it got pretty good critical reviews.

So, now on to the The Village.  Yet another Shyamalan film that Joaquin Phoenix could not save.  The one major flaw with this film is the twist ending, one that has already been done before in a children's book called Running Out of Time by Margret Peterson Haddix.  The story is that of a colonial town that no one can leave due to a monster that stalks the surrounding woods.  When one of the young girls finally gets out, she discovers that the town is actually in modern times and the only reason she couldn't leave was because the adults of the town wanted to keep the children away from modern problems.  Everything but the monster was already in Haddix's book.  Not necessarily a problem, but I dislike Shyamalan, so the lack of originality is a strike... AND the movie was just poorly done overall.

Next up is Lady in the Water.  It's a modern take on a fairy tale, with a man finding a water nymph and setting up a group of people to protect her from a wolf creature trying to kill her.  This one doesn't really have the "Shyamalan twist" but the movie was horrible AND got very low critical reviews.  Even though the movie was largely a disappointment, I couldn't totally hate it.  I like Paul Giamatti AND I was intrigued by the story (I'm usually interested in fantasy and fairy tales).  The movie was in no way a good movie, but it wasn't the worst movie ever by Shyamalan.

The Happening is an excellent example of a horrible Shyamalan film (and really just film in general).  Not only did this pathetic piece of cinema have awful acting, but an equally awful story.  One thing about this film was all of the "hubub" about the fact that it was Shyamalan's first R-rated movie (oh God! it's rated R! whatever will he do?!?!?! I can't WAIT to see what kind of CCCRRRRAAAAZZZYYY stuff he can do with an R rating!!).  Anyway, the R rating didn't help this film at all, nothing in this film even really deserved the R rating.  The most violence that was shown was the implication that a man was run over by a lawnmower.  PLUS, I don't know why an R rating would make a movie more interesting anyway, you can add more hard hitting subject matter, but if you can tell a good enough story, it doesn't matter WHAT the film is rated.  The acting was so bad, I mean the film starred Mark Wahlberg (who I will admit isn't ALWAYS awful) and John Leguizamo.  The plot is what really did it for me though, I thought that the idea that a neurotoxin that made people kill themselves was interesting (and luckily the alien cop out wasn't used for this one).  What ruined it was the fact that the neurotoxin came from the plants... and on top of THAT, is the fact that the main characters could out run it... AND were safe when inside (even though OTHER characters weren't safe inside).  More or less this movie deserved the horrible critical response it got... please, do yourself a favor and never watch this movie.

Finally I'll talk about The Last Airbender.  Now if you weren't aware, this movie is based off of a Nickelodeon cartoon called Avatar: The Last Airbender.  Now what Shyamalan did with this film is take a pretty bad, but not totally horrible cartoon and make it into a really awful movie.  The CGI was bad, the acting was bad, the pronunciation of the names was off, the story was off, pretty much everything was off.  The ONLY thing that was interesting was the bending itself, it was kind of cool to see fire and water flying around (but that's literally the ONLY thing that was done decently).  I'm not even going to say more about this film.

I haven't seen Devil or any of Shyamalan's other films, but I doubt I need to (I didn't even know how to spell Shyamalan til I did this post, another useless thing I know now).  ANYWAY... this is a message for Mr. Night Shymalan himself...

M... can I call you M? Please, PLEASE stop, for the love of God stop making films... they progressively get worse and no one wants to sit through them anymore.  Do the world a favor and get a more helpful job, please.

If you think this post is harsh I'm very sorry.  There are a lot of things I like about India (like their delicious food) but M. Night Shyamalan isn't one... and if you were waiting for a twist... fine, I'll give you one.  I, in no way, like the music of Seal, but whenever I hear "Kiss From a Rose" it takes me back to when I was 5 years old and Batman Forever came out.  Now in my previous comic movie post I told you how horrible the original Batman films were (and I stick by that), but when I was 5, they were the shit.  I loved them and that song reminds me of being a child and how much I loved super heros (mainly Batman) and movies.  That's why I'll always (kind of) like that song... Unfortunately that was ALL unimportant, but there it is.

You guys have a wonderful day and if you LOVE M. Night Shyamalan, feel free to call me a bastard.