8 Year Old Explains "The Expendables"

Via College Humor:

 

Review: Exit Through the Gift Shop

Exit Through the Gift Shop is a film by Banksy, who is arguably the best known visual artist of our time. It presents the story of Thierry Guetta a French born Los Angeleno business owner who became obsessed with documenting every aspect of his life with a camcorder. Through a twist of fate he became the unofficial documentarian of the street art movement, and eventually Banksy. The documentary he produced with his material was unwatchable, prompting Banksy himself to take over and make the film we are now talking about with it, in the process changing the focus to Thierry himself. The film is in a way it's own making of documentary. It does this, and much bolder things without being anything but an immensely watchable film, with a well told story.

I feel that many of the reviews of Exit Through the Gift Shop Have focused on the question of whether it was a documentary, or a mocumentary or something else entirely. I have my own feelings about the validity of the film, but I won't go into that here except to say that it doesn't really matter. The story is so well told, and the finer points of what it is trying to say are just as powerful if it is entirely true, entirely fabricated, or somewhere in between. I left the theatre feeling that I needed to know if the story was true right away, but I think I would be happy if I never knew for sure.

This is the first film by Banksy, and who knows if he will ever make another, but he certainly arrived to the world of filmmaking with a voice as unique and indelible as the one he established in the visual arts. He takes on the issues plaguing the art world (namely commercialism, commodification, and stupid people) in an incredibly funny honest way, which is made all the better if it turns out he is telling lies the whole time. I feel like this film would go well with F for Fake by Orson Welles, which is high praise I don't think I'll regret giving (also everyone should go rent F for Fake, it's amazing).

Bottom Line: Like all of Banksy's art this film is incredibly original and layered, while being populist in that it is easily digested and understood. It gives you a lot to think about without trying to be smarter than you, a film that is intelligent and opens it's doors to the world and says 'come on in, we've got some things to laugh about'. I can't wait to see what Banksy comes up with for his Oscar acceptance speech.

Making of the Exorcist

Got the heads up for this from Ryan Connolly (Triune Films) and thought I'd share. Great info on some of the techniques they used while making a little piece of film history.

Review - The Expendables

So here it is, in a summer of Hollywood drought, we what seems to be a shimmering oasis of goodness. Since the first word slipped through of who was rumored to be in this movie, I have been waiting impatiently to see if this shit fest would really be worth of my $11.

Good news: It is. Go see it right now.

I can't spoil the plot, it's the same tired mess that Stallone has been in love with forever. Have you seen Rambo (the 4th movie)? If you have you essentially know what's happening in this movie. Mercenaries need to go into some 3rd world country where an evil dictator is trying to rule the people with a iron fist, and overthrow their tyrannical rule. Even though their are seemingly thousands of armed military personnel standing between them and their goal, these ragtag soldiers make their way through the shit-storm that awaits.

As you might expect, where this movie really shines is the action. People are torn in half, necks are broken through some very creative means, and explosions - they happen. I seriously can't overstate this enough: The Expendables is the only action movie this summer, and if anyone tries to disagree with me on this, they haven't seen this movie.

No bullshit, no 3D, no fucking love story soiling the whole thing. Old veteran action stars shooting the fuck out of bad guys, and doing it with style. You can say Stallone isn't really doing anything new here and you'd be right, but it doesn't matter; he's showing us that you don't need fancy gadgets, deep plot, or pretty faces to sell an action film... all you need is action.

When it comes to The Expendables, I paid for my whole seat, but I only used the edge.

Morgan and Destiny’s Eleventeeth Date

Has everyone already seen Joseph Gordon Levitt's series of shorts? I had not, so if you have not, go HERE and check them out.

The link I posted will bring you directly to one of the videos, to see more just go to the bottom of the page.

Boardwalk Empire

Everyone knows its not TV its HBO, especially because most of us only get it on DVD. Continuing the remarkable string of shows that should be too big for television this fall HBO will launch the new series Boardwalk Empire. Even though the premise of Atlantic City during prohibition is very enticing, the reason I am so excited for this one has to do with the talent involved. The cast includes Steve Buscemi, Michael Pitt, and Michael Shannon. However, the two main creative forces behind it are; Terence Winter of The Sopranos fame, and the legendary Martin Scorsese. I can barely wait the two years until the DVD is released and I finally get to see this.

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Review: Winter's Bone

Quentin Tarantino has been talking lately of his plans to make a western of sorts set in the south; a 'southern' if you will. The idea being simple enough, take the most American of genres, and change the corner of America in which it is set in order to update it. He may have been beat to the punch this year with Debra Granik's Winter's Bone, which takes a western framework, and transposes it to the Ozark mountains. We are given the story of a seventeen year old girl, Ree (Jennifer Lawrence), who is raising her younger siblings, and taking care of her mentally ill mother in extreme poverty. She is forced to do this because her crystal meth producing father is missing. When she finds out that he skipped out on bail after putting the family home and property up for collateral she is forced to scour the seediest parts of the Ozark mountains, and butt heads with some of it's outlaws in order to find him and save the family from a more uncertain future than already awaits them.

To be clear this film is not an exercise in genre manipulation, but is a taut character based thriller. However there is something to be said about it as a successful modern western in a few areas. Perhaps the most intriguing being the use of landscape and the back country setting as a remaining American frontier. The mountains provide an epic backdrop for the actions of the character to unfold in the foreground, and there is always the feeling that American 'civilization' has either never quite penetrated, or has only ever brushed passed. One of the first images of the film is of children playing outdoors with a skateboard, trying to use it as best they can on their dirt yard. There is also the separation of people in a country this big that creates tension, a scene of a neighbor who's intentions are unclear yelling at the children, and threatening them becomes more than a disturbance when there are no other people nearby to have their attention drawn. In a situation like that there are only the characters present, and whatever conclusion the situation comes to it has to come from them alone. This creates incredible real world intensity, seemingly without even trying.

The film depicts the culture of the Ozarks in a very specific way. Having no knowledge of these communities I can not say if it is depicted well or not, but I can say that it feels real, and from my experience makes sense to the way people in small communities deal with one another. There is an almost unspoken code in how they deal with one another, and the politics of this code inform the interactions to a large degree. I say almost unspoken because there are scenes of Ree explaining some of these life principles to the younger siblings; "never ask for what ought to be offered" she says sternly, and later as if on cue things are offered to them. Much of this culture has to do with family loyalty, and peoples place in the pecking order. As a teenage girl Ree is asking for trouble by attempting to fight against her circumstance and being impertinent in order to ensure the protection of dearer values.

Because of the value placed on family and the strength of these connections, the scariest character in the film ends up being on Ree's side against his better judgement. This is her uncle Teardrop, played with remarkable skill by John Hawkes. His first line of the film is spoken coolly, and quietly but struck like a hammer, setting the tone of his character from there on. Having seen him play only demure awkward characters this was a change of pace, and a welcome one. I think this performance is easily one of the best of the year, and I hope it means we will be seeing more of Hawkes. However nearly all the performances are very good, especially Jennifer Lawrence who anchors the film with her noble, but steely performance.

This is the first film of Debra Granik that I have seen, but I feel like I should take a look at her previous film now, and can't wait to see what she has to offer next. The story moved at a pace that was at once tense, but slow reflecting the type of life the film attempts to show. There was an element of mystery, and a ticking clock device in the film, but it never for a second felt like a Hollywood thriller. These devices were used to show character in a decisive way, not used as ends in themselves. The tone was bleak and never offers any real sense that one can escape the desperate circumstances. However it is an effective thriller, and we don't go to thrillers to feel good about ourselves, that is just stupid.

Bottom line: A tense, bleak thriller that can cross over into horror movie territory, and looks unblinkingly at extreme poverty and degrees of child abuse. Having said that There aren't many films released this year that can stand in the same league as Winter's Bone, and it was a sincere treat to walk into the theatre in the middle of the worst crop of summer movies I can think of and see a great film, the type that doesn't reach the cineplexes until award season. If you can deal with a film that takes a long harsh look at a difficult world you could hardly do better this year. Go buy tickets because I want more movies like this to be made.