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Antichrist – Cinematic Genius? Or Pure Provocation?

[ Comments Off ]Posted on October 15, 2009 by admin in Popular Media

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

Lars von Trier’s latest film has everything you need to grab some headlines: Misogyny, dying babies, genital mutilation, and demonic talking foxes.

When you’re trying to market a film these days, it’s hard to cut through the noise. If that’s what you need to do though, call your film Antichrist, be sure to include lots of misogyny, scenes of babies falling to their death while people have orgasms, use the latest HD cameras, and attach a big name like Willem Dafoe to the project. Apparently it helps if you seem to be having a nervous breakdown in the first round of casting, and claim in the press that you’re not sure if you’ll ever make another film. I sound like I’m pre-judging Lars von Trier’s latest film “Antichrist”, but I’m really not. Who knows, it may be the greatest thing since Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo, which also has stories about the production that rival the drama of the film itself; see for instance, this clip, in which Herzog explains how one of the native chiefs appearing in the shoot offered to kill Klaus Kinski. In all honesty, although I was very intrigued with von Trier’s approach to shooting Dogville, I’ve only seen miscellaneous clips of his work. However, the fact that Antichrist looks beautifully creepy in the clips I’ve seen, is so completely surrounded by controversy, and won an “anti award” at Cannes will probably compel me to see it. Antichrist is slated for odd US release dates; it’ll be available via Video On Demand on October 21, and in limited release October 23. See IMDB for the various release dates. Since it was shot with Red One HD cameras, the YouTube clip above doesn’t really do it justice; consider viewing the HD trailers at Apple.com Read the rest of this entry »

Is The Age of Stupid Stupid?

[ Comments Off ]Posted on September 21, 2009 by admin in Clean & Green, Popular Media

Monday, September 21st, 2009

Today is the global premiere of The Age of Stupid, a dystopian eco-film that the New York Times is calling a sterner and more alarming polemic than An Inconvenient Truth. But is it based on solid science?

In spite of being almost foolishly utopian in nature (I genuinely like to believe humans will come to their senses, commingle, and create a beautiful single race blended from all of the current allegedly separate ones) I still loves me a good dystopian film now and then. Which is why I’m disappointed that I’ll probably miss the special global premiere of The Age of Stupid today. In spite of some complaints from the more level-headed members of the progressive scientific community that the film’s heavy-handed assertions about the end of the world as we know it are poorly supported by science, it looks like a thought-provoking film. It’s also getting decent reviews from sources like Wired and the NYT. The clip featured here, for instance, provides an amusing and brief history of war, which, as the clip points out, is always over resources. They move quickly through war for animals, war for water, war for “shiny things”, war for fertile land, war for “nutmeg slice and tea”, and finally diamonds, slaves and oil. The global premiere of the film – which takes place today and tomorrow – will feature a “green carpet” solar-powered cinema tent in New York, and will be linked by satellite to 442 cinemas across the USA (find a theater here) and to more than 200 cinemas abroad. Special guests include the likes of Kofi Annan and Thom Yorke of Radiohead. The film was put together by Franny Armstrong, director of McLibel and founder of 10:10, a UK non-profit. It was crowd-funded by 220 people who donated between £500 and £35,000 each. Read the rest of this entry »

Bowling For Bailouts

[ Comments Off ]Posted on August 24, 2009 by admin in Popular Media

Monday, August 24th, 2009

Michael Moore’s new film Capitalism: A Love Story in theaters October 2, 2009

I’ve been a little hard on Michael Moore in the past, but in my heart of hearts I believe that, much like President Obama (who I think is a good man swimming in a shark tank), his heart is probably in the right place, regardless of where his ego is. My only real criticism of his films – that they seem more geared toward entertainment and profit than action – is pointless. It’s not his fault that Americans won’t watch a serious film about a serious topic, or that no approach seems to motivate them to act on the things that make them angry or unhappy. So I’m pretty excited to see what Moore has put together this time for Capitalism: A Love Story , due for an October 2, 2009 release. I’ve written plenty on topics like corporate vs individual rights, bailout apathy, fictitious capital, and revolution; so I have some hope that although no-one seems to mind that grotesquely wealthy Americans are getting wealthier while other Americans are going hungry and enjoying a 16.5% nationwide unemployment rate, maybe they’ll still want to learn a bit about it while munching on some popcorn. Read the rest of this entry »

Green Hornet Generates More Buzz

[ 2 Comments ]Posted on July 25, 2009 by admin in Popular Media

Saturday, July 25th, 2009

Unfortunately not much of it is positive. Will they really be recasting Kato as a non-Asian?

I’ve never been a big fan of comic books or the films based on them, but I’ll be really disappointed if they mishandle the film version of The Green Hornet. As a kid in the sixties, I of course watched shows like Batman, but was much more drawn to things like The Avengers, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and especially the short-lived Green Hornet. I was in fact convinced that I had some mysterious connection with the show, a belief that was probably fueled by a few things: the fact that my dad drove a 1966 Imperial (the car the show’s Black Beauty was based on), that we had a mysterious Asian student boarding with us (unusual in the sixties) and that I’ve always had a strange connection with the idea that good things come from darkness. Although the show had some of the camp that many other 60′s spy or superhero shows had, it also had a little dark edginess that set it apart. And maybe doomed it to its one-season run. It also had some kick-ass music (yeah, Rimsky-Korsakov can be kick-ass) and was – as you may know – a huge break for Asian talent in the states. Although the central character of the show was supposedly the Britt Reid/Green Hornet figure, we all know the real star was his sidekick Kato, played by martial arts legend Bruce Lee. This is a story element which sadly may be changed in the film. Although the film version is slated for release on July 9, 2010 (my birthday, by the way), the production has had a bumpy ride. Originally Stephen Chow was directing and starring as Kato, now he’s doing neither. It also appears they’re broadening the type as they cast the new Kato. I’m hoping for the best; I really don’t get the casting of Seth Rogen as the Green Hornet, but Michael Gondry is directing, and so far the car looks pretty cool.

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Sleepwalking Through the Mekong

[ Comments Off ]Posted on June 21, 2009 by admin in Popular Media

Sunday, June 21st, 2009

Just when you thought you’d hear it all, some Cambodian Pop comes along. Yes. I said Cambodian Pop. Eat your heart out, MIA, this is actual music.


View the Trailer for Sleepwalking
Through The Mekong

Just when I’m pretty sure I’ve exhausted the more interesting and obscure pop music fusions from around the world, someone has to come along and show me otherwise. The other day a photographer friend of mine mentioned the film Sleepwalking Through the Mekong. If you haven’t seen it, you’re in for a unique treat. Shot in a casual documentary style, the film follows the LA band Dengue Fever on a tour through Cambodia, explaining how five American musicians hooked up with a Cambodian singer in LA to form a band to play 60′s Cambodian Pop. And before you laugh at the idea of Cambodian pop, give the stuff a listen; it jumps on the wave of 60′s surfer psychedelia and takes it to the tropics with a sort of plaintive island sound that’s probably unlike anything you’ve heard before. The film also explores a painful aspect of Khmer music and Cambodian pop; since many of the original stars of the genre (Sinn Sisamouth, Pan Ron , Ros Sereysothea) were were creating their music in the years just prior to the Pol Pot massacres, they all are presumed to have been killed in the mass slaughter of Cambodia’s legendary Killing Fields. I frankly cried during a profoundly bittersweet moment in the film in which a music teacher who was alive – but of course unable to sing Khmer pop music during the Khmer Rouge regime – was able to see her young students gleefullly performing the happy pop songs she was denied. And ironically, with a group of Americans who have a genuine passion for Khmer culture rather than a passion for carpet bombing their country and looking away as a demented leader slaughters nearly a third of their population. By the way, Dengue Fever not only serves up some heartfelt and authentic pop, they’re apparently commited to assisting the wildlife of Cambodia.

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