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. 

Little Fockers

Little Fockers

Honestly, there really is something hilarious about seeing tough man, Robert De Niro (now in his 60’s) standing in pyjamas sporting a raging boner as he does in the latest instalment of the Meet The Parents franchise The Little Fockers.

Ben Stiller and Co return to take the Fockers/Fuckers pun out for one last spin in what essentially winds up to be a tired version of the original gem.

However, the film does have some redeeming qualities and perhaps is not as bad as some say. If you have the right expectation, it is an enjoyable film with some funny moments and soft one liners, but the gags are what we have seen before and nothing new is added to the dynamic ensemble cast – which is the real shame. The story itself is ok and watchable, but you really wish for something more, something that they could have sunk their teeth into.

Gloriously returning to her role as Mother Focker, Roz, is Barbara Streisand who fills the role with a sassy, sexy, voluptuous confidence that belies her age. Dustin Hoffman, although in limited supply, returns as Bernie the wacked out Father Focker who in my opinion stole the show in Meet the Fockers but has little to do here. Jessica Alba makes an appearance (after her stunning , dramatic performance in The Killer Inside Me) as strikingly attractive (and annoying) drug rep Andi Garcia (yes, plenty of puns there) who becomes the films central catalyst.  Owen Wilson reprises his role as Pams ex, Kevin from the first film, but seems to mistake him as Zoolander character Hansel for most of the film.

As the film gets going, Greg is tempted to take on a job as the spokesman for an erectile dysfunction drug by Andi. Greg has been tempted by Jack to become the God-Focker of the family, which of course has responsibilities, like providing for the family, having a good home and giving the kids a good education.

Considering the film is based on the kids, they have very little to do with the film apart from their birthday party. So much humor could have been successfully centred around these characters (and their respective A-grade performers) that the point of a film about the Little Fockers would have actually been about the Little Fockers.

It’s a funny film in part and enjoyable if you are really in the mood for an easy film to digest.

For me:

2.5 Popcorns out of 5

Suitable for kids over

Moderate adult themes and language

No violence (unless you consider sticking a needle of adrenaline into a pecker as violent – which for some, it would be!)