(L)Azzy Blog

Studio Ghibli on LSD ¦ Fantastic Planet (1973)

2014-02-04T15:46:00.002-08:00

Whether intentional or unintentional; art will always represent the political era in which it was made. Some obvious and some not so obvious. Fantastic Planet takes the latter approach. Often compared to the Beatles' famed Yellow Submarine, Fantastic Planet endures a somewhat familair science fiction romp through a land where humans, or Oms as theyre called, are pests and slaves to the rulling blue giants, the Draags. A cannes winner so heavy in lore and strange creatures that it's Czechoslovakian anti-soviet agenda is well and truely hidden.

To modern audiences I would call it a cross between Studio Ghibli, the guys behind Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, and the infamous youtube cartoon Salad Fingers. The planet of Ygam is coinhabited by a bizarre variety of creatures and plants straight out of a bad trip. A tree with a menacing face catching flying birds and shaking them to death only to smash them into the ground presumably out of pure envy. The technology and lifestyle of the Draags spectacularly furthers the distance between your screen and the window until you start to wonder about the mental state of its writer.

The story follows the adventures of Ter, an Om who is taken hostage as a child and domesticated by the Draags to be the pet of one of a young Draags. During the young Draags education lessons Ter incidentally begins to learn about the world around him and sets out to fix the injustices between the Oms and the Draags, the latter of which underestimate the Oms ability to adapt and thrive.

An extreme escapism that is unfortunately so uncommon to modern sci-fi films that seem to only spend their time forcing a relatability to play on the viewers emotions. What Fantastic Planet instead does is promotes an idea: the only way to defeat ignorance is with knowledge. The plight of the slave Oms is not due to their size to do to their restrictions to education. This is where the cold war political agendas come into play. An idea that if the people were told the full story about the USSR or their occupation of Czechoslova then they would rise up.

Subtleties are key here as much as they were while they were partially creating the film in occupied Czechoslovakia, only for it to be later moved to France. One of the most devouring science fiction films I have ever seen and an adventure tale all the same. Both the soundtrack and visuals epitomise psychedelic French culture and is well worth the mere hour of your time.

Not to mention it's all available for free online!
CLICK HERE

Wiki ¦ IMDb

November '13

2013-12-17T13:42:00.000-08:00

I documented some of my November adventures on 35mm film and some double exposure attempts resulting in some interesting results. Shot in London, UK and Faro, Portugal.

For the double exposures towards the end of the post I wanted to try show a contrast between the two completely different locations by shooting in Faro first and then shooting over it in London.

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Images copyright A.C.O'Connor 2013

Hollywood's 21st Century Religious Propaganda ¦¦ Cuarón's 'Gravity' to Aronofsky's 'Noah'

2013-11-23T18:32:00.000-08:00

Mesmerising and beautiful are two words I would use to describe recent blockbuster Gravity, but even with it's stunning fetal homage to the very religious-less epic that was 2001: A Space Odyssey, it remains a film tainted with religious iconography and blatant affronts towards atheists and other spiritual 'none of the above's. With atheism globally on the rise, the renowned dogmatic regimes in Hollywood are upping their game, 'nones' are more prominent in films but rarely in a positive light while simultaneously religious films are on the rise in an attempt at combating Hollywood's age old foe: change.

[spoilers]
Sandra Bullock plays Ryan Stone, a medical engineer, a newbie to the whole 'space' thing and a self proclaimed atheist but as if that wasn't liberal enough; the fact she has a 'boy's name' is made a note of throughout. With the assistance of her Jewish coworker, Matt Kowalski, played by George Clooney, the issue of faith and philosophy is brought centre stage in a film that is already minimalist in it's dialogue.

Stone's reason for a lack of faith is played down to ignorance rather than choice with a monologue; "I’ve never prayed. … Nobody has taught me how.". It seems that director Alfonso Cuarón, the man also behind one of my favourite films 'Children of Men', wanted to add insult to injury and go for the infamous saying often used by theists; 'Atheist until the plane starts falling', because as soon as Stone's situation worsens she suddenly turns to spiritually and prayer.

A women who had previously lost a daughter is now wishing that Kowalski's spirit will keep her company in the afterlife.

"No one will mourn for me,” she says. “No one will pray for my soul."

The film is then riddled with blatant shots of the religious icons aboard the space stations of various countries that she explores while looking for help. There's Chinese, Russian and the international space station. At the arrival of each she finds that the people have all made it safely back to Earth and out of immanent danger. All in part due of their faith, regardless of which religion it was, the fact it was any religion seemed to have a certain divine providenceor or 'will of god' that helped protect them. With Stone's original crew killed, a Marvin the Martian figurine ironically drifts out of their decimated station - as if to say, there is no religious icons here, only material ones and that is why they were not saved. A loaded statement on the current rise of nones in America.

In the end when she lands back on earth she grabs the sand and says 'thank you', who is she thanking? Has she obtained salvation?

Christians noticing these messages have praised the film as 'An Allegory for God', "dealing with life's ultimate questions – why we are here, why live, what happens after we die... It takes grief seriously and encourages us to press on because of the promise of eternal life".

With Aronofsky's upcoming blockbuster Noah (based on the graphic novel, based on the biblical tale, based on the ancient Mesopotamian series of poems 'Epic of Gilgamesh'), another step in the religious influence in Hollywood rears it's ugly head. Jewish Aronofsky states "we tried to create a story that would ring true to people both that believe that it really happened and to those who think its a story".

This wouldn't be the first time Aronofsky would have used his position to preach his beliefs. The wrestler has been condemned as anti-Iranian with Mickey Rourke breaking an Iranian flag over his knee along with portraying a villain in the film as an Arab to wrongly associate Iranians with Arabs. Not to mention his film The Fountain containing heavy spiritual messages throughout.

The rise of free thinkers, smart documentaries, films written by Carl Sagan, Buddy Christ and the lagging social ideologies of organised religions has caused the church to up it's game. The Pope has a new PR guy, Rick Santorum begins a new Hollywood without the devil and an increase in the amount of bible blockbusters in an attempt at holding onto a world of media rapidly slipping out of the hands of religion.

There’s a lot of ideas in that story that actually are very, very relevant to what’s going on right now, so we tried to create a story that would ring true to people both that believe that it really happened and to those who think it’s a story.
Read more at http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/BatFreak/news/?a=71176#2XDZraVYZCLJ6Frd.99

Gravity IMDb ¦¦ Top 10 Religiously Controversial Films ¦¦ Noah IMDb

Early Review: Pacific Rim ¦ Is This The End of Guillermo del Toro's Reign?

2013-07-09T17:29:00.000-07:00

I didn’t walk into Pacific Rim expecting much. Nor should you. If you can reduce your brain activity to the point of clinically disabled then I recommend you do so as this film can't even hang on to a thread of basic logic. So much so that any breaching of the 4^thwall or moment of taking you out of the explosion-forced-immersion and you'll find yourself building with rage.

If you think 'hey, I enjoyed Transformers, maybe I'll like this', the same way I did, prepare to be amazed and learn a vital lesson in how not to make an action-packed blockbuster.

Generally a story needs some sort of basic logic just to keep it convincing to the viewers right? Well the once famed director and writer Guillermo del Toro known for 'Pan's Labyrinth' and 'Blade II' seems to have completely lost the minor rationality of your typical mythical/sci-fi story and has traded it in for less complications when it comes to the explosion-per-minute ratio and it's blatantly obvious.

Now del Toro needs urgency in his film, he needs a 'last resort' dynamic to make it feel in any way emotional. He does this by having the united governments of the world, who are funding the Jaegers (the big robots (no not the drink)), discontinue their funding in replace for giant walls along the coast proposed to cut off the Kaiju (giant monsters). The walls ultimately fail early on into the film and the Jaegers kill some Kaijus and prove their worth once again. Instead of funding the Jaegers again, which would be the logical result, del Toro pulls out this '1%' card claiming that all the governments and rich people are just emigrating and keeping their money leaving the rest of the world to die. As relevant as he may try to be in this era of anti-1% protests, this major illogical plot hole drags any emotional depth into the bottom of the pacific ocean for the second half of the film.

A blockbuster like this following the success of recent alien invasion flicks, and with del Toro at the helm, very rarely lack a big brand name to throw on the posters. A Pitt, a Smith, a Cruise? It's clear from lines like 'don't get cocky kid' and 'a guys gotta do what a guys gotta do'; that they didn’t even finish reading the script because that's only in the first 10 minutes of the film.

Instead, the cast is brimming with handsome ex-soap opera stars and stereotypes. Expect:
THE NERD who speaks quickly and loudly and mentions his mother within the first few lines of him being introduced.
THE POSH ENGLISH MAN who's your mathematical prodigy and has an expected ongoing and cliché dynamic with the nerd.
THE SILENT TOUGH GERMANS.
THE ASSHOLE WHO'S AN ASSHOLE FOR NO REASON, who eventually shows his kind side.
THE ASAIN CHICK THATS GOOD AT MARTIAL ARTS BUT CAN'T PRONOUNCE HER 'R's
THE BLACK GUY

Ultimately del Toro is up to his neck in clichés and a 'how can we make this blow up' mindset, instead of any sort of solid entertainment value. His quest for action-figure sales is bitterly evident and anybody beyond the age of 12 will find themselves sighing at cringe-inducing one liners. I thought lowering my standards to a Transformers-esque level would get me through it but I needed to go much, much lower. 'Pacific Rim' comfortably marks the end of Guillermo del Toro's position as one of the greatest film-makers of our time.

In cinemas July 12th.

IMDb ¦ Trailer

Trying to Bring the Unrealistic to Life ¦ Man of Steel Review

2013-06-22T11:37:00.000-07:00

It's hard to come out of a superhero film with my biggest compliment being about the cinematography. Kind of like going to a whorehouse and complementing the interior décor. Regardless, with the otherworldly combination of the Dark Knight writing duo of David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan, the latter also producing, along with Suker Punch creator Zack Snyder, there wasn’t really much room for it to be anything other than a hit right?

I've never been a huge fan of superman. I just missed Louis & Clark and always found Smallville far too much like an American soap opera to take it seriously. When comparing Man of Steel to the Dark Night trilogy, which I'm sure everybody naturally will, Batman seems like the easiest thing in the world to remake. Just a rich guy fighting crazy guys; make it dark, call in Hans Zimmer, job done. Why anyone would even try to reproduce, the ridiculous by comparison, Superman to 21^st century audiences is nothing but a blatant, and fat, paycheck.

A line has been drawn in the sand by those who see it a fresh realistic approach to the same old story and those who aren’t fooled by faux realistic camera shake and some nice sun flare when aliens start ripping up a small town or smashing entire skyscrapers in DragonBallZ – esque fight scenes, indiscriminately killing thousands just to keep your brain distracted. It seems even Superman's morals of not killing are completely unsuited for our modern day blood thirsty audiences. Instead trading in his previously prominent conscience for the sake of a big bang for your buck in the form of the complete destruction of what would be, in real terms, all of Manhattan, followed by some more destruction as if the entire city is the objective cameras playground. A heartless destruction that Snyder has perfected before in 300 and Sucker Punch and an unrealistic approach that Nolan did a great job at avoiding throughout the Dark Knight trilogy.

Even the IMDb description makes it sound more like a sci-fi thriller than a superhero film."A young itinerant worker is forced to confront his secret extraterrestrial heritage when Earth is invaded by members of his race."

As someone with the remnants of a childhood imagination still intact, Man of Steel was for me, everything that could have been done to it. All of the critiques must be due to the out-dated source material. The film is impeccably shot. The realistic approach to how everything is lit nails Batman & Robin firming in its grave, while the shaky camera is a sometimes irritating yet necessary approach, even the space/flying scenes are shot like the revamped and 'raw' Battlestar Galactica or how a documentary would do it – zooming in and out, changing focus as if the shooting of it is out of the cameraman's control.

Hans Zimmer is naturally on hand to provide the only thing saving the emotion in the last frantic 40 minutes of the film. Amy Adams makes a strong yet not too cliché damsel in distress Lois Lane and I think Henry Cavil is almost too cool to be superman, but pulls it off well enough to get by on that Robert Downey Jr type protagonist.

The real highlights are in the performance of Russell Crowe, who plays Jor-El, Superman's birth father and Michael Shannon who plays Zod, the bad guy. Crowe somehow manages to invest the audiences' emotions into the lengthy and visually stunning prologue and thankfully remains a key character throughout the film, even getting an unexpected comic relief scene while running around helping Louis Lane on an enemy ship. It was definitely nice to be able to take him seriously again after his awkward part in Les Mis. Shannon is then left to take on a character who isn't given much depth until the very last scene, but as far as crazy villains go, he makes a very memorable one, more than likely with the help of his striking eyes.

While the pantomime-esque visuals of superhero films is rightfully left in the past and modern superhero films are containing it's efforts in stapled narratives, sex appeal and explosions alone; Man of Steel tries something different. Something a bit more indie in looks but not in content, resulting in a strange mix of humility and Hollywood jawlines. A strange façade that more so confuses your average blockbuster lover rather than making the word 'genuine' ever pop into their head as planned.

IMDb ¦¦ Trailer ¦¦ More Dark Knight

Film Experiments in Continental Europe

2013-05-28T18:24:00.001-07:00

Colours shot on 200 Snappycolour 2005. B&W Kodak 400
Shot in Geneva and Lyon
Nikon F60 SLR
March - April 2013

Images copyright A.C.O'Connor 2013

U.S. Government -VS- MegaUpload Case Escalates ¦ 39 Page Document Attacking White House and MPAA Corruption Released

2013-05-07T19:00:00.000-07:00

While American copyright wars continue to wage out of control, the battle between the U.S. Government VS Kim Dotcom / MegaUpload, the largest lawsuit ever attempted, has expanded it's battle arena. The two defense lawyers of MegaUpload, Robert Amsterdam and Ira P. Rothken, have released a 39 page White Paper highlighting all of America's unconstitutional acts in their attempt at shutting down and sentencing MegaUpload and it's CEO Kim Dotcom. Claiming 'The White House is for sale.' and pointing to Hollywood and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) for threatening to withdraw political funding if the Obama administration doesn't carry out their orders.

I've tried to summarise the 39 page document bellow.

The criminal prosecution of Megaupload and Kim Dotcom is purportedly the “largest copyright case in history,” involving tens of millions of users around the world, and yet it is founded on highly dubious legal principles and apparently propelled by the White House’s desire to mollify the motion picture industry in exchange for campaign contributions and political support.

The Megaupload prosecution is not only baseless, it is unprecedented. Although the U.S. government has previously shut down foreign websites engaged in direct infringement, such as the sale or distribution of infringing material, never before has it brought criminal charges against a cloud file storage service because of the conduct of its users. Thus, the Megaupload case is the first time the government has taken down a foreign website – destroying the company and seizing all of the assets of its owners (and the data of its users), without so much as a hearing – based on a crime that does not exist. To make matters worse, in order to persuade other countries to cooperate with the take-down, the U.S. government misled them into believing that Megaupload was involved in direct infringement. One of many such examples involved applications for warrants to search and seize Megaupload computer servers in Canada. In those applications, the U.S. government misled the Canadian authorities by stating that the U.S. was prosecuting Megaupload for operating and administering websites that “reproduce and distribute” infringing material. Even if the U.S. government had believed Megaupload was reproducing and distributing infringing material (which it was not), the government was certainly aware that the criminal charges it was prosecuting were not based on any such allegations. Further, the U.S. government made those misrepresentations to Canadian authorities without any advance notice to Megaupload, meaning that nobody was present to refute them.

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The MPAA’s overt use of campaign contributions to sway the U.S. government into engaging in what amounts to unlawful action against Megaupload reflects a form of State Capture, a term coined by the World Bank to describe a brand of corruption characterized by the ability of a relatively small number of private interests to shape the official rules of the game through direct payments or other forms of financial influence. By threatening to revoke vital political and monetary support from the Administration at a crucial moment, the MPAA has exercised de facto control over key levers of executive power in Washington – law enforcement, prosecutors, trade negotiators – and is using those instruments of state power to further the financial interests of its members in Hollywood.

The U.S. government’s attack against Megaupload bears all the hallmarks of a contract prosecution: a case resting on erroneous theories of criminal law, littered with due process violations and prosecutorial abuses, carried out for the benefit of a select few in exchange for their political and financial support. In the name of

eliminating copyright infringement, Hollywood has exerted a corrupting influence in Washington, leading us all down a slippery slope that not only threatens innovation and Internet freedom, but also has profound implications for constitutional principles of free speech, privacy and due process. Megaupload and Kim Dotcom are today’s targets, but the crosshairs can just as easily be trained on anybody who dares challenge or inconvenience a special interest that holds sway in Washington, and the current Administration – with its notoriously insatiable appetite for campaign contributions – seems all too willing to cooperate.

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A 72-page grand jury indictment was soon released, filed in secret in a Virginia federal court two weeks before the raid [of Dotcom's estate]. It stated that Megaupload, Kim Dotcom and six other Megaupload executives were criminally responsible for any and all copyright infringement by the company’s customers. Megaupload and the six executives were labeled criminal racketeers – charged, like the Gambino crime family, under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act enacted to combat organized crime – accused of having formed Megaupload for the sole purpose of operating a “worldwide criminal organization,” an ongoing conspiracy to commit secondary copyright infringement.

Yet branding Megaupload and its executives as criminals was not enough. U.S. prosecutors applied to a federal court in Virginia, behind closed doors, for an order allowing the government to seize all worldwide assets belonging to Megaupload, Kim Dotcom and the other defendants – including those of unindicted third parties, such as the defendants’ wives and Kim Dotcom’s personal assistants – depriving the defendants of any financial resources with which to fund a defense or counter the charges. The U.S. government promptly initiated extradition proceedings to bring Kim Dotcom to the United States to stand trial. Eventually, after 31 days behind bars, he was released on bail in New Zealand, against the wishes of the U.S. government. Meanwhile, luxury vehicles owned by Kim Dotcom were paraded in front of television cameras, while the media published detailed lists of seized properties comprising some $67 million in assets.

Megaupload indictment tips the scales toward copyright extremism by trying to criminalize innocent businessmen for the unlawful conduct of third parties.

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Unfortunately, when the U.S. government seized Megaupload’s domains and servers, it placed the financial interests of relatively few copyright holders above the interests of millions of legitimate users who were instantly, indefinitely and without warning denied further access to their personal files. According to one report, at least 15,634 U.S. military personnel lost access to their Megaupload accounts, along with many photos and personal files of soldiers deployed overseas.

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To prevent misuse of the service, Megaupload instituted several measures to comply with global safe-harbor provisions such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

To begin with, Megaupload cooperated with copyright owners by following the “notice and takedown” procedures described in the DMCA, and it designated an agent to receive notices from copyright owners.

The recent federal court decision in Viacom v. YouTube – which upholds the safe harbor provisions of the DMCA by declaring unequivocally that generalized knowledge of infringement does not deprive a service provider of those protections – further highlights the challenges the U.S. government faces in its case against Megaupload.

Megaupload went even beyond compliance with the DMCA’s safe-harbor provisions. For example, Megaupload negotiated with numerous major copyright holders or their agents – including the Recording Industry Association of America, Disney, Warner Brothers, NBC, and Microsoft – to allow them access to remove directly, without the oversight or involvement of Megaupload, an active link to material they believed infringed their copyrights. This enhanced access enabled such parties to protect their copyrights without need for formal take-down notices under the DMCA, and resulted in more than 15 million takedowns.

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The U.S. government’s attack on Megaupload and Kim Dotcom is driven largely by the influence the MPAA has wielded historically in Washington on behalf of its member copyright holders, and more particularly by the vigor with which it has exercised its financial resources to instrumentalize the current White House and other branches of government. While the U.S. government falsely (albeit dramatically) accuses Megaupload of engaging in a “Mega Conspiracy,” the real conspiracy – the actual, concerted agreement between two people to carry out a wrongful plan – may lie between old colleagues, both longstanding members of the world’s most exclusive club, former Senator Chris Dodd (D-Connecticut) and former Senator Joe Biden (D-Delaware). Together they conceived and executed the attack on Megaupload, and it can be argued that both men benefitted from it. On the one hand, Joe Biden delivered to Chris Dodd the takedown of a major perceived threat to the MPAA’s copyright holders; on the other hand, Chris Dodd delivered to Joe Biden the continuing political and financial support of Hollywood during the White House’s critical 2012 reelection campaign.

Chris Dodd’s willingness to lobby on behalf of the MPAA was never more evident than during the lead-up to Congressional action on SOPA: Candidly, those who count on “ Hollywood... for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who’s going to stand up for them when their job is at stake . . .. Don’t ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don’t pay any attention to me when my job is at stake.

Ultimately, the legislation failed to pass because there was overwhelming public outcry against it, not because the Administration did not support the measure.

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Copyright’s political problem is a classic case of concentrated benefits and diffused costs. Hollywood, the music industry and book publishers reap the rewards of increased protection, while the public bears the costs. The copyright industries can easily organize themselves into lobbies that have every incentive to invest heavily in acquiring greater protections, while individual members of the public, the nominal beneficiaries of copyright, face a collective action problem that keeps them from organizing against stronger copyright laws.

When the U.S. Congress passed the Copyright Act of 1976, it expanded copyright protections dramatically, covering the entire life of the author plus an additional 50 years, and all works were automatically covered and renewed without any registration requirements. In 1999, Congress enacted the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act – which coincided with the upcoming expiration of a Disney Corporation copyright – and extended the term of coverage retroactively by an additional 20 years.

Criminal and civil copyright statutes were strengthened repeatedly in the years that followed. All told, the Copyright Lobby has successfully expanded copyright protections and stiffened penalties for infringement no fewer than 15 times between 1978 and 2008.

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The U.S. government’s take-down of Megaupload and Kim Dotcom has ramifications far beyond a single company and its executives. It sets an alarming precedent for regulation of the Internet, freedom of expression, privacy rights, and the very Rule of Law. The U.S. government should not be able to act outside the bounds of due process, at the behest of special interest lobbies, to destroy foreign-owned business enterprises and expropriate the private property of millions of individuals.

In response to the unlawful conduct of the U.S. government, the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Office of Professional Responsibility of the U.S. Department of Justice should conduct an investigation and hearings into the conduct of the Megaupload prosecution by the U.S. Department of Justice. In particular, the issue of special-interest influence over the executive branch and the failure of the Department of Justice to protect Megaupload consumer data access should be scrutinized.

Read in full here

Early Review: Star Trek Into Darkness ¦ J.J.Abrams, Khan and Other 'Star'-Related Things

2013-05-07T13:15:00.000-07:00

Whenever I find myself paying ridiculous amounts of money on popcorn these days I've been trying to teach myself to 'switch-off'. It's getting harder and harder the more I work as a videographer. The shaky shots – anything out of focus – the colour grading. It's slowly making the backbone of Hollywood, the 'Summer Blockbuster', that bit harder to enjoy. 'Star Trek Into Darkness' however became a slight exception as I found myself totally engrossed in a galaxy that didn’t seem so far far away and a villain that had more layers than your average ogre.

Attempting to live up to the massively successful reboot of a much loved franchise, all while keeping the millions of trekkies at bay, is a daunting thought for your average human being but with Director J.J.Abrams back in the captains chair, the film became an expected hit from the start. The man behind the tv shows 'Lost' and 'Alias' is back and can be seen seeping through every seem the script had to offer. His style is iconic at this stage and has already become a meme sensation with only 3 directorial features behind him.

Managing to keep the franchise very attached to Earth is a nice touch, if not a necessary touch if the films are to survive with the upcoming Star Wars expansion, which Abrams is also set to direct, essentially ending any future Star Trek films with him at the helm. It's a lot easier to be shocked by the lore when you watch it invading your futuristic homeworld.

One of Abrams' mentionable talents is keeping his productions self-aware and for the most part cliché-free. Other than the music, which can be hilariously over dramatic if paid attention to, the film understands how well known the franchise is and with his experience with sci-fi story telling in the likes of 'Fringe', he is able to dumb down the theoretical physics of it all without getting irritating with the help of a memorable line from Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) to Dr Bones (Karl Urban):

“Stop with the metaphors, that's an order”

If you want to have any idea who the presumably unique crew of the Enterprise are you're just going to have to watch the first one. There is no 'previously on' of any sorts. The fact that even the two new token alien crew members get more dialogue than the credited cast leaves them to fade into the background bar one or two comic relief moments. The spotlight is left for Cumberbatch.

The newest supposedly BBC-heartthrob and star of the show 'Sherlock' takes on 'Khan' majestically. Benedict Cumberbatch manages a complex terrorist that is so equally nuanced that you may not even call him a villain. An idea that has been rapidly growing in film-making. At the same time the lead good guy role is given to the semi-emotionless 'Spock' played by the completely convincing Zachary Quinto while Captain Kirk gets neither the girl or the final fight scene leaving a strange empty feeling from your quintessential sci-fi blockbuster.

I cant help but end this discussion of Star Trek with the worries of the future for Star Wars. Not only am I extremely anti-Disney, the main issue with Abrams' skills is that his films are stunted in our generation and will eventually be ridiculed for their style looking back, whereas the only part of Star Wars that wasn’t timeless was Luke's Aunt's and Uncle's hair styles. I cant help but wait for his next project that is un-'Star'-related so we can truly judge his skills as an artist that isn't able to fall back on an already barbaric fanbase.

Released on May 9, 2013 in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Europe.
Release on May 16, 2013 in the United States.

7/10

IMDb ¦¦ Trailer ¦¦ J.J.Abrams Wiki ¦¦ Zachary Quinto vs. Leonard Nimoy

Why is America trying to re-enact Nolan's 'The Dark Knight' in Boston?

2013-04-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

I've been keeping a close eye on the events proceeding the Boston Marathon Bombings. Not because I feel any divine right to hunt down anything that slightly resembles that dreaded word, terrorism, like most Americans, but because of how rapidly it escalated through media outlets and how much of an effect it had on the mental state of an entire city. An attempt at reproducing the drama of a Hollywood blockbuster in real life for the sake of an increase of views on news channels or so brands can 'newsjack' for their own PR gain is ultimately handing any would-be villain an instruction booklet when it comes to causing mass chaos and disruption in a major American city.

'Look what I did to this city with a few drums of gas and a couple of bullets.' - The Joker

While America continues to glorify and publicise its criminals; our first world societies' craving for fame worrying grows parallel. At a time when being filmed while drunk or sucking used tampons are becoming the main route to a dream of fame (or infamy) it's no surprise that murder is also a new avenue to having your name on the front of the New York Times.

As if the influence of The Dark Knight wasn’t already becoming apparent in criminals from the 2012 Aurora Cinema Shootings that took place at the midnight premier of it's sequel 'The Dark Knight Rises', committed by a mentally unstable Batman fan with his face painted like the joker.

When Boston bowed and fled from a clearly identified 19 year old fugitive who was on foot, while only killing 3 people (and I say this as on the same day 11 Americans we're murdered by guns, the same guns that U.S. Politicians block bills to prevent the mentally unstable from purchasing them and 175 Pakistani children we're killed at the hands of the U.S. Government), Boston essentially showed the world that a 'supervillain' was now a realistic career path.

'All you care about is money. This city deserves a better class of criminal. And I'm gonna give it to them' - The Joker

What immediately followed the bombings was, as expected, a witch-hunt. Anybody with a twitter account got to become Batman for a day. Cross referencing various images and videos taken at the event. A forum on reddit: '/r/findbostonbombers' (which has since been closed) was set up to focus a search that every white blooded male felt it was their duty to carry out. Ultimately resulting in an innocent teenager on the front of Times Magazine as a possible suspect.

'When the chips are down, these... these civilized people, they'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve.' - The Joker

Then as rumours of FBI shutting down phone lines to prevent wireless detonation of other explosives circulated, a striking similarity to Batman's phone tapping weapon arose. Google then set up a person tracker system in an attempt at controlling the mass chaos and worry from the actions of two sole criminals.

Batman: Beautiful, isn't it?
Lucius Fox: Beautiful... unethical... dangerous. You've turned every cellphone in Gotham into a microphone.

The fear, after 11 years since 9/11, in the end came from the 'threat' of terrorism. Media outlets were quite happy to fuel the fear and as city-wide martial law came into effect everybody was able to tune into 24/7 (and at times incorrect) coverage of the realisation of Christopher Nolan's 'The Dark Knight'.

The Joker: Oh, you. You just couldn't let me go, could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You truly are incorruptible, aren't you? You won't kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness. And I won't kill you because you're just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever.

Batman: You'll be in a padded cell forever.

The Joker: Maybe we can share one. You know, they'll be doubling up, the rate this city's inhabitants are losing their minds.

Batman: This city just showed you that it's full of people ready to believe in good.

The Joker: Until their spirit breaks completely.

More on Nolan's Batman ¦¦ Boston Bombings Conspiracies ¦¦ Boston Bombings Images (NSFW)

Attempting to Re-establish The Short Film w/ Vice

2013-04-11T19:21:00.000-07:00

New found viral liberties have been great for film-makers and content creators of all sorts, made blatantly obvious by the rise of the, if not slightly cliché, fashion film and animated billboards. One area however has remained reserved for David Lynch-esque college experiments and dialogue-less emotional pieces; the short film. Vice, whos film-based documentariesI have written about before, have started to change its image, just like every other form of media they envelope.

One of Vice's newest arms of the multi-limbed world dominating post-modern monster; Vice Shorts, is a brand new hosting body for short films, generally award winning, that have little to no impact on the world wide web due to the lack of short film distribution centres and popularity.

Not only do they report on shorts on their main website, they also upload shorts on their own youtube page that boasts over 1.5 million subscribers and 164 million video views in total. The collection of shorts on their youtube channel alone has over 1.6 million views, most of whom would have presumably not gone out of their way to find them and thus presenting them to a new audience of burgeoning filmsters. They have also been uploading behind-the-scenes features, which are incredibly popular with viral content, and seem to have much more to come.

Below you can find all of their uploads so far. Go forth good Vice, help change public opinion of short films so that they’re not just made to test out new DSLR's low light abilities or for the stepping stones of wannabe feature makers.

Vice Youtube ¦¦ Vice.com/film ¦¦ Films healing the middle east - documentary

Teal and Orange in Film - The Apartheid of Colour

2013-03-01T18:13:00.000-08:00

What was once only reserved for painters, graphic designers and visual artist (including your most avant-garde of cinematographers) has, with the help of computer post-production, overwhelmed the film industry since the year 2000. I am of course talking about the rarely talked about rapid dominance of Teal and Orange colour grading in the 21^st century.

Blues and oranges are opposites on the colour spectrum, so they clash when used along side each other. This duality is striking however and while it is an ancient talent perfected by film posters, among other things, it has seeped through the paper and now haunts our perception of reality.

Here are just a handful of examples:

Drive

Iron Man 3

Les Miserables

Stoker

Man of Steel

Transformers 3 Dark of the Moon

The Amazing Spider-Man

Tron

World War Z

Believe it or not, the film 'Super Mario Bros' is directly responsible for this change. Now while the film itself wasn’t riddled with teal and orange; the technology used to scan parts of the film, known as Digital Intermediate (DI), went on to become one of the most popular forms of post production for features shot on film as it could scan at 2K resolution. Then in 1998, the film 'Pleasantville' became the first film to be entirely edited using DI – even though most of the film is in black and white...

The origin of Teals and Oranges used in films started with the Coen brothers and their film 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' in 2000. It used DI to give the film a sepia tinted look and the Teals and Oranges thrived. Even though the colour correction was used to help set the mid-30's era it was based in, film-makers only saw it as an opportunity and with the precession of Photoshop, but for film, you can understand how power mad we've all become.

The reason I write about this, not only because it's something that should be pointed out more often, but because of the new Die Hard film. Now, I haven’t seen it, and wouldn’t even care enough to torrent it on a disenchanted Saturday night. I hear it's really bad though. I guess they try to hide that fact by making it entirely duotone.

I understand that we are going through some sort of 80s revival: the hair, the clothes, the art etc. Instagram, hipster music videos and reminiscing about 8mm film is helping bring artificial colours back in a big way, the blockbuster world is, once again, stagnant in its ways and continues to reproduce its decade old colour grading DI ideas over and over.

Let's hope it ends soon, we would all miss our good friends purple, green and maybe even red.

A Rip-off of Every Modern Fashion Film - Staring Lizzy Caplan

2013-02-14T10:27:00.004-08:00

Nothing defines our generation more than a bit of blue tint in the shadows, some soft whispers and a beautiful hipster girl reminiscing about somebody else’s past. If it's not going to be the visually defining Malick then it will ultimately boil down to the rapid growth of fashion films, and hence the rapid growth of clichés.

Staring Lizzy Caplan and directed by Matthew Frost it documents your average day in the life of a beautiful person. 'Sometimes I think to myself in French'. Prancing around the room listening to 'authentic' 60s music and thinking about her inspirationally successful girlfriends – 'We not competing'.

If there’s one modern way of predicting what's 'cool' is just to rip-off whatever is popular, and you don’t have to be Adam Buxton with his incredible video of youtube stereotypes to pull it off.

Watch it below!

Recommendations Update - 20 Jan 2013 - Xfactor, Akira Kurosawa & Alt-J

2013-01-19T17:24:00.000-08:00

Click here to see all of the Recommendations to date

How 'Les Miserable' Will Change Musicals Forever

2013-01-17T16:44:00.000-08:00

Les Misérable; as a film maker, has always been one of those 'must-see's that everyone from my banker to my barber obligingly suggests I see upon the mention of my profession, to which I mentally add to the list of films to work through as if it was a grocery list for an Indian supermarket. A musical on both stage and celluloid that I figured would have already been ruined for me by Susan Boyle and Gleeand the likes. When I saw that it was all being recorded live, suddenly it became interesting and after experiencing it; I know for definite that film musicals can never be the same again...

Although musicals having the songs sung 'live' is really nothing new in movies, as it was done in some of the first 'talkies' when they hadn’t perfected lip-syncing, but with the combination of it being fully sung-through with little to no separate dialogue, completely changes the way we look at a film musical and the way it effects us.

Originally, quintessential Hollywood, drawing up mental similarities with 'The Wizard of Oz' or 'The Sound of Music', has never let music dominate a film. It has been its backbone and it was what sold tickets and video tapes yes, but like most things in the 21^st century, it would need to change to survive and it seems the British have bet them to it.

After more than half a century of the 'dialogue-song-pretend that song never happened' I have to admit that a sung-through film, generally more common with stage performances, is pretty hilarious the first few minutes. Any waft of immersion breaking and you'll find yourself wondering why don’t they just 'say it' instead.

Why this film is going to give rebirth to the musical genre in particular though is all down to the acting.

There's really no actor that I can brown-nose that isn’t already on a pile of critic's flapping tongues at the moment. Anne Hathaway in particular, as disappointingly short as her role is, will single handedly lead the new wave of live musicals. Her ability to cry and suffer all while singing the iconic 'I Dreamed a Dream' in one long take is bound to make up for her lack of rom-com award winners. I've heard the song dozens of times but found out that I never truly listened until it tasted like Catwoman's tears.

I don’t think I've ever felt music in visual medias have such an effect. The songs in Les Miserable aren’t just catchy jingles, they’re spiritual outbursts. You hear the words more than you ever would if they were simply spoken and it's something that I'm going to need a second watch (and that's being optimistic) to ever truly understand what happened.

imdb ¦¦ trailer ¦¦ Hugh Jackman's 2009 Oscars opening

8 Things That Will Shape Film in 2013

2013-01-02T16:33:00.001-08:00

Although 2012 will be a year forever haunted by the apocalyptic movie of the same name; it was a year of relative peace in the film world. We can only hope it's the calm before the storm.

Films Made for Women

Although mainstream films were being made for women since around the 60s they’ve never been so ridiculously popular. Harnessing teen emotions for profit is very 21^st Century and with the end of the Twilight series a new chapter in film history is getting settled as it isn’t going anywhere fast, unfortunately.

'Magic Mike' staring a dancing Channing Tatum is a great example of what film has to offer us in 2013. No longer burdened by the white male eye of film-making; big directors will be taking up the reigns on such a profitable and fresh industry. With the director of the first Twilight film currently the highest paid female film director of all time, it's no wonder even the big shots like Steven Soderbergh are making their interesting mark on the next big blockbusters.

The Beginning of the End of Superhero Films

It has been a brilliant few years for the superhero film. Iron-man, Thor, X-men First Class and of course we cant forget Nolan’s Batman trillogy. What we have to look forward to is Superman. A Nolan/Snyder Superman, one that will most likely stand heads and tails above anything hero-esque made since 1978. It will peak.

The future of our lovable films look like they’re descending into a never-ending pit of Disney spin-offs until the franchise is ruined for another generation. There is an unlimited number of films coming out of the Avengers characters and Iron-Man and Thor sequels not to mention the open book Nolan left in the The Dark Night Rises perfect for round suits with dollar signs in their eyes. 'Batman & Robin' Take 2 anybody?

Anti-Romance

'Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind', '300 Days of Summer' and 'Up in The Air'; three brilliant romance films, but not for the usual mentally numbing 'happily ever after', but for for something that bit less immersive – reality.

The metanarritives of true-love are collapsing. Like most metanarritives in the post-modern world we find ourselves in and while conservative film makers will drag bad romcoms kicking and screaming, those on trend with their viewers will continue make award winning material.

Love of Life

While true love will falter to the new generation of filmsters, love of life has never been so powerful. Court 13 Pictures, who were behind 'Beasts of the Southern Wild' and their brilliant short 'Glory at Sea', along with the likes of Terrance Malick and Ron Fricke, director of 'Samsara', lead the way of the ultimate celebration of life.

One hundred years of film has left us with nothing left to say, comparing existence to boxes of chocolate or the Swahili phrase 'hakuna matata' are so far beyond cliché that you can't even use them when being ironic. No, never has true unfiltered existence been so enjoyed in film. Running into sunsets, living in your home even though you know it's sinking and simply watching the world in motion; life has become a main character in every film.

3D Peaks

Two big films came out this year in 3D. Blockbusters. Shot in 3D and almost completely greenscreened. I think the fad is going to soon wear off. 2013 will find it at the height of 3D in the film world and it's only down from there.

While Hollywood will try to find a new way to stay ahead of the democratisation of film it will make sure that 3D lingers. Soon enough 3D cameras will be much cheaper and either everyone will be shooting on them or nobody will at all. Time will tell.

8mm Film

There's been enough music videos shot on super8 to know when the trend has slipped into the mainstream. Will there be full features in cinemas filmed on super8 film? No way. The ascetic it has however and the reminiscence of shooting film and not digital is sure to make an impact on the movies of 2013.

If not the film itself then the styles, the sunflairs, the screened lights, the coloured blacks and the idea of every frame coming straight out of instagram is something that has already caught on in film but will be even bigger from here on.

Tumblr Culture

I always compare Tumblr to Andy Warhol. Most people didn’t like it, most people didn’t understand it but for better or for worse it is going to shape our media world for good. Gore, glam and the naked body are just signs of the thick skin we've built up over a lifetime in front of a television. Now it's gone beyond sick and is being worshiped. Tumblr is art.

Company vs People

The battle will rage on. While studies show that even people in the film and television industry will admit to pirating things themselves and even though The Avengers becomes one of the highest grossing films of all time; if there is more money to be had, fat cats will be hunting it down.

MPAA will continue to sue innocent people and make examples of them. SOPA, PIPA and whatever else will try to contain the internet and all of its sharing wonders. The old will try to prevent change and the young will force it. So is the way of life I guess.

¦¦¦

Things for 2014
Crowd Funding
Disenchantment in film
Art Films
The reality clash of old media (newpapers, tvs) and new media (mobile devices, online streaming)
The upcoming directors of the 21^stcentury

Update: What I've Been Doing With My Life

2012-12-30T12:00:00.000-08:00

To start; blogging is certainly not one of the things I've been doing with my life. I loved doing it, I loved expressing my opinion where a very few number of strangers would actually listen to what I had to say. Strange feeling.

I have become a fully fledged videographer. Well as much as anybody can pick up a brush and call themselves a painter, I have become a videographer. I don't really like the phrase to be honest. It's something anybody can do but only some can do it well and only some can make a living out of it and it's very rare those two groups interlink, fortunately for me.

FashionOne, and an English/German ex-glamourmodel in particular, have given me the opportunity to prove myself. While looking at some of the results I'm not very impressed with what I've done so far. I guess my expectations change faster than the speed at which I can edit the videos.

I've been traveling around the country working in beautiful places with beautiful people and the money is good too. Most people I've met, maybe because I'm so young, assume I'm getting paid little to nothing, which is fine by me, but I could live comfortably off this.

This is the first video I shot (not counting the strange Illuminati-esque event video I did)for FashionOne. It was multiple photoshoots in the one venue on the same day. Something I was quickly forced to get accustomed to. The video is all a bit uncomfortable but with the amount of studio work I've been doing of late I'd kill for that rooms cinematic capabilities again.

This is the first of one of FashionOnes new entertainment directions I shot. A Beauty Buzz, make-up tutorials essentially. They loved it, which is great as they're easy to make. I'm going to turn it into a cooking show.

Finally this is the third and last video that has been uploaded to FashionOne thus far. I wonder how many people have seen it around the world. There's people watching this in Hong Kong. What a very bizarre thing.

I still wanted to post them here and officially mark the rebirth of the (L)Azzy Blog. I've been slacking off as of late and haven't even had the chance to fangasm over the thoughts of Malicks upcoming film 'To The Wonder'. It wasn't until the ignorantly offensive opening paragraph to the ex-glamourmodel's new blog did I realise how much I missed it here and how I had to come back.

"I always thought blogging was just a space for people that had far too much time on their hands and nothing else to contribute to the world."

When Making Films You Need to Know How to Negotiate

2012-10-12T16:57:00.001-07:00

It's important in life to know how to negotiate if you ever want to get anywhere. People (including myself) are stupid. It's best to pick up on some of these useful tips, even if you're not using them for film, just so you don’t end up being physically threatened by your camera operator... A story for another day.

Deliberately speak slowly because it shows confidence and the diminishes the appearance of over-eagerness
When you get to the very edge of what you're willing to give or give up in negotiations, stop, don't say anything, leave an awkward silence. This will make the other party very uncomfortable and will often get them to concede some key point to get the conversation going again. One of the most important things in a negotiation is to not negotiate against yourself. And, chances are, if you are talking a lot, you are probably doing yourself a disservice. People who talk a lot in a negotiation often end up unwittingly negotiating against themselves. Get comfortable with silence. You will probably find that if you are in a conversation and you do not respond, the person who last spoke will probably end up speaking again. And in a negotiation, anyone who speaks to fill the void often times ends up giving ground.
Eye-contact is huge. Not like creepily staring at someone, but not hesitating to look someone in the eyes when you speak to them makes a big impression. Also smelling good really helps people first impression of you, whether they recognize it or not. While viewing faces, human adults often demonstrate a natural gaze bias towards the left visual field, that is, the right side of the viewee’s face is often inspected first and for longer periods.
Never rush into a deal. If you are in no hurry to get what you're looking for, eventually you will get what you want for around the price that you want it. Don't be afraid to stand firm and walk away.
Watch the movie "Thank You for Smoking." Great tips on debating, negotiating, and manipulating.
If you're saying or suggesting something, slightly nod your head as you speak. It makes the other person more inclined to agree with you. It seems to work for me, but anecdotal evidence is far from proof.
Firm but flexible handshake.
Be wary of flattery. People will try to butter you up, for instance by complimenting your taste and intelligence. What they are really saying is "I think you are foolish and easily manipulated."
During any negotiation or deal your introduction is the only thing you should say first. After saying hi, your name and asking an open ended question you speak after the other group. The purpose of this is to show confidence and to give you the flexibility to counter any unsatisfactory replies. For example, group A and Group B is discussing a deal or sale. Group B goes for the introduction and asks "how are we going to get this deal done?" Group B doesn't say anything until group A replies from there group B can dictate the negotiation and control the majority of group A's issues. Simple idea, hard to employ if you're not prepared.
When working with someone in a negotiation it is important to say their name back to them during the conversation without emphasizing it. It displays that you are genuinely interested in speaking with them and that you are working "with" them as a person.
"There are 2 rules for success.
1: Never tell everything you know"
Try to eliminate any "um" or "like" in your sentences when they don't belong.
In tense or uncomfortable situations where you find yourself in the role of a representative, it's good to slow down a bit in general. Choose words deliberately, think about your body language and eye contact. This way you won't be as likely to fidget and show other unconscious signs of uncertainty.
When playing Rock paper scissors - always go paper - most people start with rock.
Lower the volume of your voice slightly when describing product points. This will force them to lean toward you and listen more closely, as if you were telling them a secret. People like to hear secrets and find them more believable than a "pitch".

Source:

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/11c3rs/a_really_rich_guy_i_know_told_me_that_when/

What Richard Did - Irish Film Review

2012-10-11T14:22:00.000-07:00

The newest grasp at the balls of the Irish film industry is the mysteriously named What Richard Did. From the director of Adam & Paul (another film that most outside Ireland would have never heard of), Lenny Abrahamson handles a more globally relatable approach, no longer taking on your quintessential Irish scumbag stereotype. The film itself portrays jealously, guilt, confusion and a certain angst and emotional break down that any life-embracing student can whole heartedly relate to.

It’s likely that you haven’t even heard of the film before, unless you’ve spotted its mysterious facebook ad: so first, a quick synopsis. Richard, played by Jack Reynor, is a rugby playing D4 head. He scrums with the lads, rucks with the local talent and tackles (okay I’ll stop now) the day-to-day existence of teenage life. After he gets the girl, played by Roisin Murphy, he starts to get a little paranoid and the humour from the beginning slips away as the drama kicks off.

-

You can read the rest of my review at the Studenty site here.

I have recently become one of their Dublin Editors, but not to worry I will still keep up the blog.

Films Healing The Middle East

2012-10-02T08:18:00.000-07:00

Vice has come out with an incredibly interesting documentary about amateur film making in Lebanon and it's way of telling personal stories of the trials and tribulations of 2nd generation refugees.

Films, like most art, are always used to express the feelings of a person/peoples of an era. Japans horrors represent their feelings towards WWII and their nuked cities, Italy's avant-garde was inspired by the countries rise in futurism and German expressionists films show the countries disenchantment before and during the great war.

Now the people of the camps in Lebanon are trying to change the worlds view of their current homes. They are not full of terrorists, but people, women and children who all suffer and are forced to adapt to the horror that they live their lives.

'This gives us hope that our film in the future wont be dominated by vacant escapist Hollywood cartoon franchises'

- Shane Smith, VICE

Some truly inspirational stuff, and at a time when films seem to cause so much uproar in other places in the middle east.

Top 10 Religiously Controversial Films of All Time ¦ Vice.com ¦ Vice Youtube

Top 10 Religiously Controversial Films of All Time

2012-09-12T14:41:00.000-07:00

With riots all over Islamic countries and the death of American Ambassadors because of one indie movie, I felt this topic was worth discussing...

10. The Exorcist

It was the sensationalist and graphic presentation of possession and exorcism that annoyed the church here. US bishops film office disapproved of it and didn't allow any of the film to be shot in a church.

9. History of the World: Part One(1981)

The plot pretty much follows the title of the film, bringing up evolution, homosexuality and the Roman Empire all with some religious satire. Mel Brooks classic got its expected banning in conservative parts of the world.

8. Dogma

Smith's comedy - about two fallen angels who attempt to use a Catholic loophole to return to heaven (by way of New Jersey) - had sparked much-publicized protests from the Catholic League. Disney-owned Miramax then refused to distribute the film for fear of tax increases to their two theme parks.

7. Hail, Mary (1985, Fr.) (aka Je vous salue, Marie)

Goddard's modern retelling of the virgin birth sparked protests all around the world, even getting him a pie in the face at Cannes.

6. Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979, UK)

Up until fairly recently, Life of Brian had been banned by BBC, ITV and a host of town halls across the UK and caused outrage among the religions mentioned in the film.

5. Battlefield Earth (2000)

If you don't know anything about Scientology I suggest you do some wiki-ing. Those guys are crazy! Staring and produced by John Travolta, the film went on to bankrupt its production company and is widely regarded one of the worst films ever made. It has been since known as Scientology propaganda. Based on the bible -if you will- of Scientology.

4. Water (2005)

Water follows the story of a group of widows trying to escape social restrictions imposed on widows in India. 2000 protesters stormed their set and destroyed it before shooting, based on false accusations towards the content of the script. Believing it discriminate Hindu customs. One activist organised a suicide protest to prevent the films production. It was later filmed in Sri Lanka rather than India. Wise choice.

3. The Last Temptation Of Christ (1988)

Portraying any part of Jesus' life seems to be pretty controversial. Aside from the expected banning and outrage, there were Molotovs thrown at Saint Michel theater, Paris by religious extremists during a showing injuring 13 people and shutting down the theater for 3 years.

2. The Message (1976, 1977) (aka Mohammed, Messenger of God)

It was one of the most controversial films of the 70s: an English-language biopic of the prophet Muhammad that was bankrolled by Gadafy. The Message sparked controversy in the US when it was rumoured that Quinn was starring as Muhammad. In March 1977, 12 members of the Black Muslims organisation stormed three buildings in Washington DC, taking 149 people hostage and demanding that the film be destroyed. The notorious Hanafi Muslim Siege resulted in the deaths of a police officer and a radio reporter, while council member – and future mayor – Marion Barry was wounded by a shotgun pellet. The hostages were eventually released after a 39-hour stand-off.

1. Innocence of Muslims (2012)

I presume the title is meant to be ironic. This is the film that has sent Islamic extremists into frenzies all over the middle east causing the deaths of American Ambassadors in retaliation.

Written and Directed by Sam Bacile, an Israeli-American, and supported by Qur'an burning pastor Dr Terry Jones, it has been reported to portray Muhammad as a homosexual and a promoter of pedophilia.

I'm not sure how I feel about religion being involved in film. Part of me wants it to just stay out of discussion but you wouldn’t do that for books or art so why film? Religion should not however have any involvement in a films production or distribution. Ireland is a perfect example of where religion can have a major effect of the industry, essentially shutting down Irish film until the late 80s.

It is unclear however how much of an effect 'Innocence of Muslims' will have on the world and how many more people are to suffer for it and therefore its place at no.1 is in question. The director has no regrets and expected such a backlash. With recent American involvement in the Arab Spring and now those countries people turning against them; this should get pretty interesting...

Recommended Foreign Films From Mr Scorsese

2012-09-07T08:45:00.000-07:00

Clichéd Pseudo-Anarchist Music

2012-09-05T18:11:00.002-07:00

Muse have a new music video out. Although they are naturally getting a lot of hate from their anti-elctro conservative fans, they did still manage to have one of their songs picked as the OFFICIAL London 2012 Olympics song, so they must be doing something right. Which is why their repetitive pop-music stuttering and their overly cliché riot police bullshit video came as such a surprise...

Leave the political preaching for Green Day and other equally desperate bands.

Believe it or not however there was a time when politicised music was the height of style. A short study on who did it right and who needs to take their head out of their self-entitled ass.

Rage Against The Machine

This is just something nice and friendly. Relevant, current, important, appeals to their anti-establishment audience - Rage have always had a grudge against how idiotic society was in 70s USA and still today attracts your average Che Guevara tshirt wearer all over the world. Regardless of how good they are at Cuban history. Anger in music works.

Ballads are a huge deal in Ireland. Anybody with any sort of Irish political opinion knows one off by heart. As much as I hate my country milking the publicity of northern irish troubles, U2 managed to do a pretty decent job and revitalised the Ballad for an entire generation. It's such a pity Bono grows into such a self-entitled grudge holding asshole...

John Lennon

Peaceful Ghandi-esque protests. Wanting peace and love and an end to all wars is a message that will unfortunately forever be relevant. Not just that, but that beautiful group singing and repeating his ideas is always incredible to hear. You sing along and all you will want is peace. A message, while popular at the time, never died out of importance.

Michael Jackson

The late MJ always had a habit of trying to 'help'. Hey guys, here's some shots of sick children, pretend to care and give me your money. My cynical approach may not be accepted by most rose tinted human beings but there was always something I never liked about his preachy, in your face, make the world better. A bit of modesty would’ve done some good. I get enough post-colonial guilt trips as it is.

Beastie Boys

Modern artists need to take note from them. Hiding any sort of political or anti-establishment idea in the form of partying is probably the best way of doing things. Let the blind simply enjoy it and leave the brave to learn from it.

Green Day

I'm finding it hard to gather my aggressive thoughts and assign them PG words to express them. Do I start with how they are one of the biggest 'sell-out' punk bands of all time and that all of their music is now manufactured or do I just play you some of their music? Fake anti-american ideas just because it will sell CDs. If America ever takes all of their troops out of the middle east Green Day will be out of a job.

Sex Pistols

Disenchantment can result in some pretty incredible music. Sometimes it's a little self destructive like in the case of the Sex Pistols. Politics were never discussed in their songs, more so shouted at and told to fuck off. Which, is fine by me personally but their reckless and punk music making ideas came across as too reckless, never actually achieving anything for society. Just like the top comment says: “The sex pistols having a vevo, is practically going against everything they stand for.”

Marilyn Manson

Called 'a marketing genius' by some and a god by others: Manson has an incredible bravery towards all topics social, emotional and otherwise. Saying things like "just cut our wrists like cheap coupons and say that death was on sale today" and "I'm not a slave to a god that doesn't exist" gets him all of the wrong attention as you can expect, but spend two minutes watching him speak and you'll realise that he is easily the most revolutionary musical social speaker of our time.

Shadow Dancer - Review - aka Why I Hate Irish Film

2012-08-30T16:43:00.001-07:00

I love Ireland, I really do. As bad as blind patriotism is to mankind, I cant help it. Unfortunately, I absolute hate Irish film and its industry. Everything made by my country since the 50s has either been foreign companies with their productions here for the financial incentives or it is preachy, green fields, catholic church nonsense.

Particularly, films based in Northern Ireland. As rich as our own history is, it is the troubles in the north that grabbed the eyes of the slow-news-day world and ever since our films have been funneling the attention into sympathetic IRA protagonists and the grit and squalor of catholic living while always managing to avoid the elephant - 'why the fuck do we hate each other?'.

Although there is signs of change and hope for the future.

The most recent installment in the collection is 'Shadow Dancer' from Man on Wire director James Marsh. Set in 1990s Belfast, it follows the story of female character #1, Andrea Riseborough, and a mysterious, yet loveable MI5 agent played by Clive Owen.

The plot follows her adventures as an Irish terrorist in London ultimately being captured by MI5 and reluctantly turned into one of their informants. She does this all in hopes of protecting her son and mother who both hold key emotion jerking positions throughout the film.

"You said nobody dies, nobody gets hurt" - Colette, Shadow Dancer

Revealing much more will end up spoiling it for you, but it's safe to say that not everything goes to plan for neither the IRA nor MI5.

While this film is miles away from breaking any new ground in regards to film making or story telling – what it does it does well. Marsh seems to have created the pinnacle of 100 years of Thriller films. It would either put a smile on Hitchcock's face or leave him sighing for more.

The visuals here have been given much more attention than the script. So much so that you sometimes ask yourself 'it's daytime, why are the blinds closed?'. Although the sets are the same and repetitive they are always shown in new and interesting ways. The lighting is beautiful and the soft focus in all of the shots adds to the drama, as it was invented to do. The framing and contrast is imaginative and I would advise people to see it if only for that.

Never before have I been so equally amused and annoyed by an actor than by Gillian Anderson in 'Shadow Dancer' who plays Clive Owen's self-entitled boss. She manages to add originality in an unoriginal position and to a character that should’ve been given more screen time. Her work here is mentionable and stands out among the dreary doomdays-esque acting on show during 'Shadow Dancer'. The two protagonists, while given their academy thanking moments; swinging punches and Owen's “I'm not gonna let that happen!”, it all falls a bit flat and contrived. Suiting the genre of the film, yes, but entertaining, no.

With an juicy final twist, even if slightly predicted, it is well deserving of all the rave reviews it's getting and of course undeserving of its lack of popularity. The only time I've ever seen a cinema so empty was when I was a kid and spent half an hour with a friend in the wrong screen...

Although the sour taste in my mouth towards Irish film has been numbed for now, I cant imagine that after the boredom circling this movie, even with the help of it's trailer showing all the actiony bits, Northern Ireland may be a topic off the film to-do list. For now. I hope.

Rating ¦¦ 7/10

IMDb¦¦ Trailer¦¦ The Irish New Wave

The Evolution of Live Cinema – C4 House Party

2012-08-29T19:00:00.000-07:00

In case you were asleep or too busy out getting shit-faced on your own terms and remain unaware; Channel 4 held an A.M. Event on the weekend just passed with some of the greatest and up and coming DJs of our time along with some of the best VJs to match (DJ meaning Disc Jockey and VJ meaning Video Jockey, see what they did there?).

“Subjects related to VJing are, but not exclusively: identity and persona (individual and collective), the moment as art, audience participation, authorship, networks, collaboration and narrative.”

- 'VJing', by 375 Wikipedians

While adding visual effects that sync with the music being played has been around since the late 1800s, it has recently had a major revival with the cheapness and growth of large flat screen televisions, allowing images to be displayed all over clubs and not to mention the price reduction of projectors, particularly around the time of the dot-com bust. No more film projectors and no more bulky cathode ray tvs means you don’t need to trek to Ibiza and put up with hedonistic tourists who forgot their dignity in the british isles to get the best the VJing world has to offer.

Evolving parallel with things like Video Art and Music Visualisation, its recent rebirth into the general public, courtesy of Channel 4, can be easily traced through the growth in club scenes and festivals along with the growing popularity in digital art forms.

Live VJing on television was nothing new however. Hippie bands in the 70s had perfected the idea when playing on weekly talk shows. Watching 'House Party' at 2 in the morning and you start to notice some of the tacky similarities, the horrible green-screen-like effects got annoying but luckily the VJs changed with each DJ change.

Callin VJing 'Live Cinema' the way I and others before me have is a pretty strange thing to say. Live Cinema would simply be theatre, wouldn’t it? Well not exactly. I constantly forget animation as a major player in the world of cinema and to think of it as 'Live Animation' or 'Live Editing' makes much more sense entirely, but looses that whole shock value I guess. Who knows, at the rate technology is advancing we could possibly see the live recording, editing and distribution of full feature films. I guess a lot like live television but on a bigger scale.

I look forward to watching the evolution of the trade.

If you are interested in reading more about the extensive and highly detailed history and background of the VJ there is an extremely interesting article I found for you here.

Let's take a look at some of the VJs on show at the channel 4 House Party:

1. Weirdcore

What weirdcoredoes best is manipulates images that have already been shot rather than entirely form them himself through animation. Of English/French decent and “Specialising in extreme whatever-ness” he distorts and cuts parts of an image, multiplies it, adds colour and give them echo effects. He is also known, through some of his work on music videos for just drawing over recorded images mainly focusing on sharp shapes and vibrant tacky colours.

WeirdCore ShowReel 2010 v3 from weirdcore on Vimeo.

2. Hexstatic

In 2000 Hexstaticreleased the UKs first audio-visual album 'Rewind'. Hexstatic are Stuart Warren-Hill and Robin Brunson, they mainly focus on 3D imagery and mathematical, retro gaming type images. They are known for massive Electraglide shows in Japan as well as illegal Guerilla gigs on the streets of London and have also handed out 3D glasses with some of their work. I find it extremely interesting how they constantly create both music and visuals simultaneous and wonder in which order they do it or if it all flows out organically like a mental dam breaks and Weird Science comes gushing out.

Pulse from Hexstatic on Vimeo.

3. Jack Featherstone

Jack Featherstone takes on a much different approach to VJing than the others mentioned above. It is clear from the start that Jack is just as much a disciplined artist and designer as he is a digital image maker. His designs are clean and fresh, often incorporating minimalist ideas and repetitive structures. Playfulness and experimentationcan be found through many of his pieces (notice how I said 'pieces').

4. blinkinLAB

Unfortunately one of the more generic, but I'm sure more financially successful, VJs on the list. Tom Wall is the creative director of the company which he founded in 2006. Its work consists of massive 3D animations, sprawling landscapes, shiny moving machines and the whole 'lets follow this red strip as it goes on an adventure' type stuff. We've seen all this before. It is looped in clubs, bad clubs, clubs you hope the drink is cheap in because you'll need plenty of it to put up with the company.

blinkinLAB Showreel from blinkinLAB on Vimeo.

5. Aszyk

The last and the most fun VJ on the list starring Neal Coghlan and Matt Bullock. Bright happy colours, animated characters and so visually active that it would go with any sort of music. Although it may not initially go with your typical clubbing scene, I think the idea of fun in their work would easily pass through and incite more of a good time rather than a some sort of visual attack that others in the profession may attempt.

Tasty Visuals from Neal Coghlan on Vimeo.

Deidicated VJ Tumblr ¦¦ More on VJing

Sylvia - Review - As a Poem

2012-08-23T16:06:00.000-07:00

Decided to write this review for 'Sylvia' (2003), staring Gwyneth Paltrow and Daniel Craig, in the form of a poem to honour the real life subject Sylvia Plath. Film directed by Christine Jeffs.

BBCFILMS

taking a risk is never their goal.

Cowardly Jeffs

slots perfectly.

Almost 4 words

riddled 2 hours

Domestic.

Feminine.

Paranoid.

Melodrama.

Hollywood rapes the lives

of those in frame,

heavy breathing and

direct quotes are expected

They are not

real people, they

are from another world

entirely. Ghostly figures.

Death stalks itself.

Love is beaten to a

pulp. You are suddenly

watching a horror.

DEATH DEATH

its back again

trembling trumpets

all to accompany

Fragments of love

pop like corks while

shadows pour into

the fragile Sylvia

Sharp oceans

scare all those except

the young and the

sharp oceans themselves

The line is cut

the line is cut

was it ever actually

there to start

a friend is not a friend

you are a vampire

the viewers your villagers

stamping on you

He exists with the

the lids of her eyes,

the film is equally

impermanent

A friend is found

to delay the end,

between the start

and the middle

Love and Hate

are also friends

both sharing screentime

Jeffs hates/loves us.

You were strong

but broken and

falling and a parrot

in a sea of birds

and you had a chance

and instead

that chance had you

and us

IMDb¦¦ Trailer

My other biopic review here (not in the form of poetry)