The Best Movie So Far This Year

After last week when I watched that movie (read the blog below to find out what that steaming pile was because it doesn't deserve to get mentioned in the same blog as this movie)I was despairing of my film fandom, but last night, my faith in movies as meaningful art and mediums of thought was restored.

I will admit, I was a little nervous going to see United 93, not becasue I was afraid it would be bad (it was written and directed by Paul Greengrass who did the Bourne Supremecy, in itself a great film) but because I was afraid of the emotions it would stir within me. But after watching it last night I have to say that I'm glad I went. Its already been five years since the tragedy of 9/11, but it seems like I, and us as a society I guess, have begun to forget exactly what happened and what we felt that day. United 93 brings it all back with fury, my stomach was clenched and my throat had a lump in it throughout the entire film.

If it were total fiction, right now I would be singing Greengrass' praises for creating the most moving and suspensful film of the year, but what really hits home is that as much as we can tell from the evidence this is what really happened to those people and to our country that September day. It hurt to watch it, almost like our nation was losing a last piece of its naive innocence. Greengrass, who admirably makes no political or religous statement in the film, perfectly and unflinchingly allows us to be bystanders to this horrific event, we observe it and make our own conlusions, they aren't provided for us. We watch as the air traffic controllers and the military can't believe that a hijacking took place at all, and the shock and horror on their faces when they see the second plane strike the southern tower mirrored the same sick feeling I had when I first saw it myself. We are disturbed when we see how unprepared we were for such an attack, but we are also sympathetic to the fact that no one had ever even imagined such a scenario. When the first fighter jets are scrambled they instinctively head out to sea instead of to where the hijacked planes are flying...why? Becasue it had been drilled into their heads that the threat would come from abroad to our borders, not from within our bounderies with our own planes, and we are further frustrated when we see that the military and civillian institutions were not able to communicate accurately and readily with each other, it was panic and chaos on the ground, but even more harrowing is the story of the passengers and terrorists onboard United 93.

Nothing is told to us concerning either group, they are both just sets of people on any other day as far as we can tell...they are given no back story, not made to be any more evil or heroic than their actions over the next 90 minutes will indict or elevate them. That is a master stroke on Greegrass' part, this is the most real documentarty reenactment ever made. It is here, on the plane that the film did most of its work within me, I questioned whether or not I would have the courage to do what the passengers did that day, would I have been a coward? Would I have called my family and said goodbye? Would I have been angry...sad...would I have been a hero? This film reminded me that the world is bigger than my stories and characters, than our films at twentyone, or our jobs, or our website and blogs, but yet we are still a part of it, and even just regular people like us can impact all of history if we are willing to be courageous and level headed in the face of crisis. Which brings me to the terrorists, they are portrayed as human, which they should be, they are not coldy diabolical, not robotically evil, at least they don't see themselves as evil. They believe that they are the heroes of this tale, they are nervous, frightened, and they miss their families as well...but there is a difference between the terrorists and the passengers that is so obvious that you'll miss it if you don't stop to think. The terrorists and the passengers are both brave, both determined, and in then end both willing to fight to achieve their ends, but the passengers are fighting to preserve life, the terrorists to take it. At the end of the film there is a powerful scene where both the passengers and the terrorists pray to God...the terrorists praying for success in their mission of death, the passengers pray for their lives.

So I guess I should conclude with my thoughts on the world and myself as I see them through the filter of this movie. I question myself, my motives and my goals in this life and I wonder if I will ever be put in a situation where I must decide in a split second whether or not I'm willing to sacrifice my life for the greater good, I hope that I dont have to, but I also hope that in my small decisions that I make every day that I act as honorobly as I can. But it also makes me wonder about the world...war is such a terrible thing, its evil and destructive and hurts all parties involved, and I understand people who just want us to pull out of Iraq and criticize the president for sending our young men to die there or anywhere else in the world for that matter. But what does a good person or good nation do in a world where there are people mad enough to do what was done on 9/11? Does a good man simply bow his head and feel misery for the evil in the world? Does he defend himself time and time again? Does he attack? I don't know the answers to those questions all the time, but if its any answer I think that those men and those flight attendants on United 93 did the right thing, and they were heroes that day, we can learn from them.

One last thing...I hear Oliver Stone is doing a 9/11 movie...I hope he can take a lesson from Greengrass...Let people make up their own minds about what happened that day or who's to blame, don't be a Michael Moore and use a terrible tragedy to push your own agenda and make a profit. I swear to God, I know its hard sometimes to tell what's right and what's wrong, and I know that everyone has their own political viewpoints that think are important, and I'm sure that they are, but to use a day like 9/11 so close to its pain for anything but modest reflection, honoring the dead, and solemn soul searching (my hat is off to you Paul Greengrass) is wrong right now, save the prosecutions and theories for the lawmakers and officials for the moment, save your preaching for works of fiction or other histories for the time being, let the victims and heroes and families of 9/11 be honored for their generation, please! Leave the conspiracy theories for the next set of Moores and Stones, okay?

Back With a Vengance!

Sorry for the long delay folks, (as though I know whether or not I have any readers), but after a couple weeks of not having anything to blog about in particular I've unfortunatly stumbled upon a sharp rock along my path of film lover bliss...and that jagged stone was Silent Hill...and I must say...I am pissed!

Now before I dive deeper into the misery and anguish that was the two hours I sat through this debacle, let me preface with this: Dave, Russell and I LOVE movies! I mean, movies that most other people don't have the time to sit through, aren't willing to think seriously enough about, or even don't require any thought at all, we are there for all of them, and we generally appreciate them (Russell even sat through all of Brown Bunny and found some things he liked about it...I didn't, but Russell did and that should count for me and Dave too, right?) Some of our buddies lament our movie choices when we're bummin on a friday night instead of going out because you never know what we'll pick, and we usually find something to like about every movie. We nearly always can seek out some point of the film we relate to, or something we recognize the filmmaker was trying to do, or find ourselves transforming our attitudes into those of the film's intended audience. All that to say this: You now understand how bad a movie must be for me to find the level of disgust I had with Silent Hill. Yet to be fair, throughout my forthcoming diatribe I will try and intersperse some polite comments about the artists involved. There...I said it...

Anyway, back to my misery. Silent Hill was the first big film I was looking forward to in the 2006 movie season, and man, the trailer was kick ass and spookie, I thought I was going to be scared out of my mind at this thing, my buddy Dave bought our tickets early on Fandango and our pal Trey even saved us prime center seats...all to find out that...I have never been so wrong about a movie in my entire life! Lets start with the plot...okay, I'm trying to remember a solid story arc running through this thing...uhhh...oh yeah, a little girl sleep walks and talks about a town called Silent Hill that burned down because of a supposed coal fire, but really it was fanatic pentacostals roasting chestnuts and children over an open fire in a hidden hotel room downtown (but more on that later). So anyway, it turns out the kid is adopted and really is somehow from Silent Hill in 1974, but she's still a kid and not really the same girl from Silent Hill but all that kids goodness stored up in a cute little package by the devil...who looks like the little girl. Yes, it is as confusing as that when you watch it. So anyway, the mom loves her little girl enough to chase her down into Silent Hill which every so often goes into Psycho mode and she gets chased around with the only other normal character in the town, a cop, who WILL remind you of Police Academy, I promise. Anyway, the story just doesn't make any sense, characters pop up out of nowhere and then dissapear again with little or no explanation, bad guys are bad just because, and apparently the devil is the good guy...or something.

Okay, so lets get down to the meat and potatoes of my rage. Here you have a talented director (Christophe Gans) who directed a good movie once called Le Pacte de Loups (The Brotherhood of the Wolf). That movie had all kinds of good stuff, witty dialogue, cool action, hot girls, and GREAT cinematography from Dan Lausten (who provides Silent Hill with its only bright spot, his excellent lighting and camera work). So what happened here? I think Gans forgot one of the most important rules of Horror films, and that is that Gore does not necessarily translate into scares. And there is plenty of gore to go around in this flick, in fact the film's finally just made my stomach churn and caused me to want to get up and walk out of the theater...but no...like an idiot I just sat there praying for the film to end. Take a night and go back and watch some of the great Horror flicks...Holloween, Friday the Thirteenth, the Exorcist, etc. Is there gore in these movies? Yes...but its the suspense and concern for the characters that keeps you on the edge of your seat, the gore is just a little pay off to get you to flinch and be even more worried about the other character's fates. But that's the problem here, there's not suspense and you don't give a damn about any of the characters...why? Because they don't seem like real people. That's where I come to Roger Avary, the writer. Now Avary has writing credentials I can only wish I had, and maybe I don't have the right to critique him becasue I'm not there yet, but I've got to be honest, I've never heard such terrible dialogue in a movie, people in the theater were laughing out loud...seriously...and not at funny lines either. Okay...here's an example. The cop and the mom and some weird chick they pick up along the way are digging around in the towns Old Hotel about an hour into the movie after they've already talked about how terrible the fires were and the deaths, and the freaky demon who chases them around with bugs and a huge sword (no explanation mind you, that's just what happens) when the cop states after looking around for a bit that "it looks like there was a fire." OH MY GOD!! The dialogue was so on the nose and in your face that as I said before, people were laughing. That made me a little sad becasue they were laughing at Radha Mitchell (Pitch Black) and Sean Bean (insert one of the many AWESOME Sean Bean movies here). These are two good actors, I would even go so far as to call Sean Bean a GREAT actor. The only actor in the film I won't stick up for is Laurie Holden (who plays the cop), she is indeed a hottie, but just gives a completely turgid performance with absolutely no life whatsoever, but I blame half of that on the script and the other half on the directing (so maybe I'll stick up for her after all).

I guess the point is this, they spent millions of dollars making this movie with big stars and a big director, and it all came down to the story and the writing. In a genre like horror, people will forgive alot if you can hold them in suspense or make them jump. Take Stay Alive for example, it was made for less than 10 mil, didn't have great acting or great sets, no big names attached, and almost no gore whatsoever, but you know what? I was interested in the main character and what happened to him, and the scary scenes actually made me jump! It was worth the price of admission...Silent Hill wasn't worth the price of the paper my ticket was printed on...period. So for all us Indies out there, we need to remember, whether its horror, thriller, drama, or sci-fi, its not always the bucks or names attached to your project that make it quality...its the story and the storytelling. and I suppose I should be thankful that I was reminded of that by Silent Hill.

Oh!! And one last thing! I know Gans is from France where they aren't big fans of religion of any kind...but is anyone else tired of all the film negativity toward some religions? It was a lesser theme in Brotherhood, in that movie all the bishops and what not were evil...just because I guess, and Mani the spiritual Indian guy is chided by the main character (a naturalist of course) to "cut it out" when he gets spiritual. In Silent Hill though, Gans goes a step further...to making the Devil the good guy. Yes folks, thats right, the church people are psycho evil and burn children over an open fire because they don't know who the dad is (that is actually the only reason for the cook out given in the movie) and the devil, who has taken on a sudden interest in justice, makes sure they get paid back for it. So much so that the Alice Krieg character is wrapped by the ankles in barbed wire, and while praying to remain pure has more barbed wire shoved up her you know what and then gets ripped in half and the Devil (who looks like a little girl) dances under her blood as it rains down. I think this was supposed to be a stand up and cheer moment...GIVE ME A BREAK!! I almost got sick...So I guess the moral of the story is...Silent Hill is a POS, so don't go see it...yeah, I'll try and talk about something more positive next time...like how paying my taxes went or something.

A Tip for the Little Guys: Beef Up with Internet Supplements!

For the past few years, at least 3 or 4 times a week I've been hitting the gym and throwing up some weights. Now any one who knows me can tell you that I'm not exactly a beefcake, and WWE hasn't tried to recruit me for a pay-per-view throwdown...yet:-) But when I look at pictures of myself in high school and pictures now...there's no comparison, I fit better in my clothes, I'm more self confident, and I feel better physically (even when I'm sore!) But I didn't get bigger muscles over night and for the longest time it felt like no matter how much stronger I became, I was still really skinny (I mean...like bean pole thin...and for those who don't know what a bean pole really looks like, imagine a straightened out hanger standing on its end...yeah).

Anyway, sometimes it can really feel like that on the independant film scene, or the unpublished writer scene, or whatever other artistic endevour those of us out there are trying to break into as a career. It seems like no matter how much more talented we get, no matter how finely we tune our skills and hone our abilities we never seem to get further.

Well, let me take you back to my early attempts at weight training. Before I got really serious into weights, my best sports were boxing and wrestling, I also enjoyed running and callistenics, these sports, though requiring great amounts of time, effort, and skill, had no real emphasis on size or appearance (in fact, it was better to stay lighter in many cases). So even though I carried over a good work ethic and the self discipline to apply myself, I still didn't understand one of the basic conccepts of resistance training for size and shape: nutrition. Specifically that as a skinny kid with a high metabolism I had to eat alot, and not just a lot of anything, but a ton of protein. After finally learning this valuable lesson from some ginormous dudes curling my body weight in dumbells who claimed to have once been in my shoes I decided that in addition to working hard at the gym I would work hard away from the gym too, disciplining myself to eat more protein more often...and wouldn't you believe it...it worked! I started putting on pounds in a hurry and before long my entire physique changed...it was great!

I think the same is true for us "skinny guys" in the art industry...we work hard to make ourselves better at what we do: Dave and Russell have been great about researching the business of movies on the internet and through countless books, Russ is constantly reading books on directing and listenting to the greats in podcasts, commentaries, and featurettes, I keep writing and never stop finding books on technique and substance, and the technology we use improves by leaps and bounds each year. I've even picked up a new hobby, photography, because I think it will help me better understand form and visuals and make me a better and more knowledgable team member. So we keep getting better at what we do, and like us, you are probably just as disciplined and aggressive with whatever it is you are pursuing...but there's a poblem, we're busting our butts but we still aren't getting the attention and growth we're looking for, we need a supplement, a boost that will give us results: we need the internet!

I have to admit, I was about as ignorant on the internet when I signed on with Twenty One as I was with protein when I first started lifting, and while I'm still not an internet pro (and still haven't transformed my mortal body into the sculpted image of a greek god...yet) I've started to see the power of the internet for small companies that don't have huge budgets. In fact, if you're reading this right now, you're doing something that never would have happened without the internet...you're reading my words, and for a young writer, that makes me feel like a million bucks!

With minimal cost we've been able to create a place where we can let people see our creations, read our ideas, share in our successes and frustrations, buy our gear, and get to know who we are. Most recently, we've added two new internet features to our site: a podcast and a forum, so that you can actually meet us, and we can actually meet you! Who knows how we might be able to inspire and cheer each other on to doing bigger and better things? But the biggest thing to remember is this, when we all took our first step toward becoming filmmakers or writers or artists or whatever, we had to sit down and do it, and getting your work on the internet is no different. Even if you aren't the most tech savvy person of all time and for you using email seems as complicated as calculating the max air velocity of an African Swallow, I garauntee you've got some buddies or family that can give you a lesson or two, or maybe even help you get started.

This web site's been up for a few years now, mostly due to Russell's hard work, but also thanks to some of our friends like Justin Durban out in LA, and let me tell you from experience, if it weren't for the site, nobody would even know we existed! And maybe we aren't where we'd like to be yet, but I can't explain to you how cool it is to know that other people from other places see what we're doing...and like it! Its like an added boost of energy that keeps us striving to make better and better stuff. So don't waste any more time with me...get you're own web site up and running, get your own blog going, drop me a comment to let me know where you are on the web so I can check it out...don't wait for success to come and find you, you have to get out there and find it for yourself and the internet is my far and away the best way to start looking.