Blue Like Jazz - 2012

Film: Blue Like Jazz

Director: Steve Taylor

Writer: Donald Miller

PG

POPCORNS: 3

I ran into actor Marshall Allman recently and had a quick chat about his work on the film Blue Like Jazz.

The film is an adaption of the hugely successful, New York Times best-seller novel of the same name. Its main themes are more about life than they are about religion and the church. It is more about people than it is about saving them.

I want to talk more about what I walked away with after watching Blue Like Jazz rather than the actual film.

Like the lead character, Don Miller (author of the book/writer of the script), I too have entered a spiritual desert after being a Christian for almost 20 years. I came to God at 18 after an offer of healing and salvation. All I wanted was to be loved, and the offer presented to me seemed honest enough, although deep down, I do not think I really wanted to change who I was.

And that’s how I saw God – and Jesus – as a crucible of change. A conduit of being forced to become someone else. After a time, reading the Bible, going to a church, nothing really felt like it fit. I didn’t ever feel like it actually belonged even though I was told constantly I did. Even though people said they loved me, that Jesus loved me.

Perhaps I didn’t really know who I was to become, or who I wanted to be. The choices I made in life became based solely on the advice and wisdom of others, and then the choices became based on what I believed others would want me to do. The only choice I made for myself, was to marry the love of my life. THAT I knew for sure was the right thing and what I knew I wanted.

Like Don, I too left the safety of church. Although set in the bible belt of the US, Texas, Don’s church experience is not far from my own. Where Don is a strict Southern Baptist, I tried to be a strict charismatic Christian. Although different doctrines, the main focus is the same, Sin = Hell and do everything at all costs to stay away. Look right, speak right, pray right, read right. Stay away from temptation, no pop music, no rock music, no swearing, no drinking or smoking, no tattoos. Wear your cross, hang Godly scriptures in your home, wear the right clothes. Judge everyone. Save everyone.

You get the idea.

I had been in church for such a long time that when I left (we moved to another part of the state and did not find another church), I had the opportunity to stand on the outside and see for myself what it was really like.

I have to say that, not only is my faith changed, but my whole perspective on Christianity is too.

I don’t want to be a Christian. That’s what it boils down too. The last ten minutes of BLJ is that slap in the face that the whole film alludes too. Don didn’t want to be a Christian either.

Like a simple conversation, the films main theme of acceptance unravels as Don experiences “life” in excess as he runs from the realities of real life. The reality he runs from is that life sucks no matter if you are a Christian or if you are not. It’s actually shit.

Yet, in all the running, Don comes to discover that no matter how far or fast he runs, not matter where he is, God always seems to show up, and in the most strangest of places.

Don’s monologue at the end of the film is what captured my attention. Don admits he is a Christian and was so ashamed of Jesus that he chose not to be so, that he could “fit in” and be “accepted”. Ironic, considering the whole idea of religion, church and Christianity is to prove that you do fit in (you just have to meet all the rules, regulations and pay your tithes to be part of the family).

Standing on the outside of church, I now see how I was seen. How people view Christians and how they view the church. I think I always had a sense of it anyway and rarely would I mention my faith in God in passing, but after the last few years, I cannot deny that the determined, systematic isolation and judgement of some people has left me ashamed.

And I don’t feel that I can speak about it because I don’t want to be judged. I’ve had enough of that in my life. I got rid of everything that made me who I was, based on the idea that if I loved something else more than God, I was living a life of sin. I lost my dreams and passions, stopped doing everything I loved and got rid of everything I thought represented this supposed sin; all because someone judged me. All because I wanted acceptance more than I wanted anything else.

Funny how it works the same on either side of the Church wall.

So now I look at the ethical, moral issues plaguing society today and watch as people espouse their religious vitriol and man-made opinions upon a minority. I can’t believe that I was once part of that. Can’t believe that I was one of those who would judge another’s actions to prove a point. Judge a non-Christian in an attempt to lead them to the light.

Like Don, I too am ashamed. I am ashamed of Jesus. Ashamed of the church and ashamed to say I was once like those who I now judge for judging.

I stay away from anything that remotely looks like God and church, yet, by chance, a young actor who’s work I appreciate decided that he would take up the lead role in a film about a book I read and loved as a young Christian.

Because he took up this role, I took up the book again. Because he took the role in this film made only by donations of passionate people, I got to meet and chat with him personally about his own experiences.

Marshall’s honesty and passion left me pondering my own faith, belief’s and where I am in life.

The film left me challenged – its intention – and has asked a number of questions that I need to answer.

Its funny where God meets you.

If you get the chance, see Blue Like Jazz. See it to see that no matter if you have faith or don’t, life can be shitty and the challenge for acceptance is universal.

Prometheus - Directed by Ridley Scott - June 2012

Prometheus June 2012

Director: Ridley Scott

I want to make this clear: THIS IS NOT ALIEN. Got it? Good. Any ideas that you have, any references you may have made to the original ALIEN film need to be wiped clean. This is a new movie, a new idea and if you go in thinking it will have all the hallmarks of Alien, you will be sorely disappointed.

With that out of the way, read on, but only if you dare. There are spoilers here!

For anyone living under a rock for 30 years, Ridley Scott is some famous director that brought us the original Alien film, you know, that one with the tagline “In space no one can hear you scream”. It was a marvellous mash-up of the sci-fi and horror genres that frightened people half our of their brains in 1978 and spawned a successful franchise (Alien V Predator are not included in that statement, fuck, they don’t exist in my mind) and gave the world of cinema one of its strongest leading ladies, Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver).

Ridley went on to direct another famous sci-fi film Blade Runner and a string of great films including Thelma and Louise, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down and American Gangster. A couple of years back, at the height of adding new films to franchises, the old man hinted at an Alien Prequel. Well, that news sent many fans into a frenzy, causing the internet to almost implode upon itself, with the hope that 2 burning questions would be answered, 1. What was/is the Space Jockey and 2. How did the derelict spacecraft end up on LV426. But slowly details began to emerge that the film may not be a prequel; in fact, it may not be an Alien film at all.

Ridley had been very cryptic in answering questions about the film. He never directly said that his new film, Prometheus, was or was not a prequel or what it really was about, but what he did say was that when they started writing, they realised there were bigger questions that needed answering and that the film was set in the same universe as Alien.

How this would be possible remained to be seen. How could you have a film set in the same universe as Alien, but not have any aliens (as in, those black mother fuckers with the teeth, the two mouths and acid for blood) in it?

The trailer which was released almost a year ahead of the film didn’t help. In fact is inflamed opinion, rumour and speculation about the films central themes and did nothing to answer any questions about whether or not it was an Alien prequel and Ridley was simply keeping his cards close to his chest.

Prometheus is an enormous film. So big in fact that they created the biggest sound stage ever required to house the sets.  Sir Ridley has spared nothing in making this a grandiose spectacle of CGI brilliance. But it comes at a cost. The film is so big and spends so much time asking huge questions that the characters are almost reduced to stowaways.

I’m not sure if I should be disappointed or if it simply did not meet my expectations and see it for what it’s worth.

The let down is the script. The idea is generous and allows for a strong narrative to carry it, but it muddles itself asking all these really big questions and leaves few of them answered or explored. I don’t think the audience needs to be spoon fed, but I just felt that we were rushed through feelings and thoughts, opinions and beliefs a little too quickly which left the characters feeling a little hollow.

In Alien, it is a slow burn to the end which is what makes the horror of it work. You know something is coming and when it does, it’s when you least expect it. Nothing is for the sake of it – everything is setting you up for the scare.

Here, in Prometheus, there is gore and scares, but no horror, which is what I wanted. I wanted to be scared shitless, I wanted a reason to be on the edge of my seat. I agree that audiences are harder to scare these days, but there were two things that happened in this film, for “scare sake” that make no real sense. The scares feel like they are simply there for the sake of it. I wanted claustrophobia – tight corners, narrow corridors, close ups, you know, the usual. But the vastness and enormity of the film lose that one thing that worked for Alien, there was no escape.

Perhaps I wanted an Alien too much, or expected too many hallmarks from the original and now with some distance, I recognise that this is a film that needs to stand on its own which it does well, but you are left wanting more and it’s from the characters that you want it. I can be satisfied with hypothetical questions that remain unanswered, but I want to care about the people in a film, that why we are there.

But to understand the origins of Prometheus, you have to know the Alien universe, so drawing relationships between the two are inevitable.

In Alien, the team onboard the cargo ship Nostromo set down on the planet of LV 426 after being raised by a distress signal. When Kane, Lambert and Dallas enter a derelict spacecraft, they discover not only a hive of eggs, but also a mummified alien known only as the Space Jockey with a hole in its chest – we discover later the cause for the hole, but that’s another movie.

The main question raised, never explained in Alien or Aliens, was the how the derelict spacecraft came to be on the planet of LV 426 in the first place and what was this Space Jockey. Was it enemy or foe and how did the Aliens overcome them?

Prometheus promised to explain all this or at least hinted to some origins of what the Space Jockey was. The trailer promised this also, there was a huge ship blown apart and falling from the atmosphere, an Alien in a mural, a woman screaming, gooey slime, and the opening of the Space Jockeys canon.  It was safe to assume that they were visiting the planet we know as LV 426.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*.

But they don’t. Scientists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Halloway (Logan Marshal-Green) discover an invitation from our makers to come find them.  The same constellation of stars appears in tribal paintings from a number of ancient civilisations which is translated into said invitation.

 All eager, the Scientists head on out to a planet only named LV223 and never before been too, expecting to discover their makers, or the Engineers as they have affectionately named them. Soon they discover more than they bargained for, yep they created us, but they also wanted to destroy us and how they planned to do that was to pummel the earth with bombs made of...um...alien organisms. They obviously weren’t happy with the end result, but something went wrong which is then unleashed upon the unsuspecting crew. Yes Shaw, you were wrong.

It’s Michael Fassbender (X-Men First Class, Shame) that pulls the cast through the weak script. Out of all the characters, his cyborg David seems to be the most well developed and thought out with unnerving motives and emotionless  betrayals that leave Ian Holms Ash for dead. Its testimony to Fassbender’s acting chops that he can add such dimension to a one dimensional character.

Charlize Theron (is Vickers, Weylands daughter and the next in line to the vast Weyland empire and throne. She is restrained in her convictions but lacks credibility and leaves you wanting more. You really want a reason to smile when she dies, believing she deserved it, but there was an unexplainable apathy about her that just didn’t work. Vickers is the compass of fear onboard the Prometheus, yet you have a hard time believing it or believing there is reason for her motives.

Every other character is simply fodder with little depth or time spent exploring who they really are and why they are there. In the end, when they all die, you care little for their deaths and spend more time wondering why they died in the first place.

The film ends with a sequel in mind and perhaps the biggest reveal that this is in fact a prelude to better things to come, and hopefully more answers than questions.

3 popcorns out of 5....only for the art direction. 

The Avengers - April 2012

Directed by: Joss Whedon

Everybody take note! The superhero film genre has just been ramped up a gear or two, in fact, someone has rammed the throttle into overdrive and that someone is Joss Whedon.

For those of you who don’t know who this man is, he’s been around a while, but not as famous as other directors. First and foremost, he is a writer. We have him to thank for films like Toy Story, Titan A.E., Atlantis and Alien Resurrection. He is also the writing and directing genius behind TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Dollhouse and the short lived Firefy (among others) and he is no stranger to directing big action movies. He helmed the Firefly spinoff movie, Serenity.

But, this is Whedon’s first big feature film, it’s also his first blockbuster and there is a lot riding on the success of this film.

The Avengers is a long time coming. There have been numerous directors attached to it, a number of scripts, and of course, six other films preceding it (I am including the original Hulk). Making it work has been no easy task.  Each character has their own successful film franchise (Thor 2 and Captain America 2 and Iron Man 3 are due out in the next two years) with plots, subplots and narratives that have loosely been tied together with short end-of-credits scenes involving Nick Fury and the Avengers Initiative.

The film has been on Marvels radar since Iron Man first appeared on our screen on in 2008.

For the uninitiated, The Avengers comic was released in 1963 and was titled “Earths Mightiest Heroes” and starred Iron Man, Ant Man, Wasp, Hulk and Thor. (As an interesting sidenote, in issue 4, the Avengers find Captain America, trapped in ice). The comic has had a number of incarnations over the years and has spawned a couple of animated series, gaining other popular Marvel heroes along the way, most notably and more recently, Spiderman and Wolverine.

In the first issue of The Avengers, the team are assembled to fight Thor’s brother Loki who has used his power of illusion to persuade the Hulk onto a part of destruction.

Whedon has used these elements as his inspiration to create a strong script and storyline that successfully pulls together some of cinemas biggest personalities (and egos) and not only develops their characters further but broadens their appeal.

The story is over the top, but not enough that you find yourself scoffing. The reality is that you need to suspend disbelief when dealing with characters from other worlds, aliens and magic! And considering the source material lends itself to be over the top anyway, the beauty in Whedon’s script is that it never once takes itself seriously. (SPOILER) Even when S.H.E.I.L.D.S super-sized aircraft carrier turns into a flying invisible fortress, Nick Fury states, “Let’s dance” as reflectors cover the ships surface much like a mirror-ball, rendering it completely invisible to the naked eye! Over the top? Hell Yes!

The first act sees the assembly of the Avengers. The Cap and Bruce Banner are asked to find Loki and the Tesseract he has stolen from SHEILD. Later Thor and Iron Man join the team with Hawkeye and Black Widow. What works well is that when the four superheroes and superegos come together, each thinks they will save the day, but as their egos compete against one another for attention, the typical alpha-male muchoness comes to the fore, causing disunity and damage – a lot of damage!

 It is not until part the way through the second act that the team pulls together for the greater good, which is to save humanity from total destruction at the hand of Loki and his alien army.

The script is what makes this film and is proof that studios should trust “fanboys” with comic book adaptions. Whedon has used his extensive knowledge and passion to write a story that is appealing to all audiences while combining what we love from the original films. There are plenty of references to the “prequels” and the character traits each has developed and bring with them and for the fans, easter egg references to the comics to satiate their appetite.

It is film is funny. Very funny. The Hulk almost steals the show (spoiler) when he throws Loki around like a ragdoll during his “I am a God” speech, but each character gets a few choice lines that will surely become part of our vernacular.

At times I thought I was in Transformers: Dark of the Moon, considering the scale and grandeur of the film’s final act – the near destruction of New York. Although there are hallmarks to DOTM, Avengers is nothing like it, in fact, Whedon proves he is the better director by piecing together huge battle sequences, action, explosions, while ensuring that each character has plenty of screen time that not only makes sense, but doesn’t get lost in the enormity and scale of it all.

The production flawlessly merges CGI and live action together, but the 3D conversion leaves little to be desired. Considering the success of Tron Legacy, I am surprised Disney (who owns Marvel) didn’t pull out all the stops and have it filmed in 3D.

I have long appreciated Whedon’s film making abilities and here he channels the work he made famous in Serenity, those fast zoom shots of ships exploding are used here, but not overdone. He also shoots action from interesting and random angles often panning through the back of destroyed cars and broken windows and styling shots that replicate comic book frames, which many fans will appreciate, but most will miss.

The Avengers proves that comic book adaptions can work in the right hands and that screenwriters and directors need to have some understanding of what they are working with.

This is the BEST comic book – SUPERHERO – film I have seen and is the mark by which all future films will be judged by.