iamamiwhoami one again has two new videos, but i really only want to talk about play:
Just seems to be a song unabashedly about the entertainment industry, the rabbit out of the hat, playing on your back and knees, hearts being cheap.
Just that look is fantastic, the cane, the fur coat, the airs of glamour, everything being tattered, the weathered make-up. It's quite tragic. Note that a lightning strike got her to perform like this, and a blow to the back of the head got her to realize what she was doing.
i've been feeling disenchanted, even angry with pop music lately, not the music itself (pop music has been fantastic the past few years) but, with the way it's viewed, the way it's consumed, the way it isn't thought about. It bothers me that people don't like Nicki Minaj's Stupid Hoe, it's a crime that people call Lana Del Rey a Barbie Doll, and all hate against Ke$ha is just ignorance. Anyway, this video popping up in my youtube feed cheered me up, i'd never seen the horrorshow of entertainment so clearly defined, iamamiwhoami understands what it is to perform.
i gave up on comic books a few years ago, for the most part. i can't stand cannon, i don't enjoy universes, i want characters that used smartly in intelligent stories, i don't want world building. To me, the X-Men existing in the same world as Spider-Man, the Hulk, and the Fantastic Four, takes away all of the importance of the X-men, there's all this prejudice against the mutants, for being different, for being freaks, for being better. The otherness of the X-men is ruined when you live in a world where a malfunctioning x-ray machine can give someone superpowers. Metropolis and Gotham existing on the same continent has never been a thrilling idea to me, if i read a Batman story, i want a Batman story, not the excess baggage of the DC multiverse. i don't want to comic to be an entry in the encyclopedia of a fake world.
The Marvel films have been bringing the comic book concept of shared universes and world building to the silver screen, and the movies have been subpar as a result. Let us take the Iron Man films for example.
Iron Man is very conservative film, both in it's ideology and it's presentation of the world building. Iron Man is a conservative wetdream in the same way, say Death Wish, or Die Hard are, the proper authorities aren't doing their job, so to hell with them, i'll be the judge, jury, and executioner. Tony Stark himself is an ideal politician, he's white, rich, pro-killing terrists, loves fast food, and despite being a total ass, he's completely loveable. The film isn't about him realizing the evil of war or manufacturing weapons, it's him realizing the weapons can fall into the wrong hands, which becomes anyone's but his. Iron Man is the embodiment of American exceptionalism. Iron Man succeeds in his endeavours. He bootsraps himself out of a cave, kills some terrorists, defeats the corrupt bureaucracy, and wins the hearts of Americans everywhere. The movie of course ignores all the sacrifices made for Tony (RIP guy that saved Tony Stark's life, he'll never think about you again) and that Iron Man is actually creating more terrorists, because like I said, it's a conservative film, they don't think about those things either. But it's still a damn entertaining and enjoyable film.
Now the film introduces the character Agent Coulson, who works for SHIELD:
Get it, he's shielding Mr. Jackson!
He's a bit of comic relief, the straight man that keeps getting blown off by Tony. He exists organically, it doesn't matter SHIELD is a thing from the comics, it's just played that he's a government agent that wants to question Stark about his escape. It's later shown he's competent, and is perhaps used to dealing with these super things, having the cover story ready for Tony. And that's the extent of the world building, i mean sure, Nick Fury shows up after the credits, and just reinforces that Tony isn't the only super being out there, but there's a reason the scene isn't actually part of the film. It doesn't belong. Of course after this film, Marvel dropped those pretenses, and well, we ended up with Iron Man 2.
At its heart, Iron Man 2 could have been an interesting film, all about the sins of the father. Tony has daddy issues, and his electronic heart was something his father stole. Vanko is just out to get recognition for his father, while failing to realize his own greatness, even going as far as allowing himself to be used for ideas.
Of course all of this is thrown to the side to make way for the Avengers.
Tony's powersource starts to give him a digital disease that causes him to act like an asshole and burn all the bridges he nearly burned in the first film. Now the proper wrap-up for this story would be Tony getting the cure from Vanko, and maybe Tony absolving the sins of his father, getting Vanko recognition, and so on. But Iron Man can't be in the wrong, no he's America! So out of nowhere Nick Fury shows up with a cure for Tony, and that's that, no explanation, he's just there, "Here you go, now join the Avengers already." He also brings Scarlett Johansson with him, who only exists to take her clothes off:
malegaze.jpg
Apparently she's supposed to be some awesome Russian spy, but why does she exist, why is she needed for this story? How is this relevant to Vanko at all?
It's just frustrating, it's still sexist if a female character only exists to look hot, even if she does kick a lot of ass. Iron Man 2 is just a mess of a movie where nothing gets solved, and only exists as an advertisement for a movie that was still two years away.
Joss Whedon is directing this mess, which is a shame, i generally like Whedon, he can be a clever writer (or a godawful one if he's not being careful), though he does have an odd idea of what a feminism is...
At least Ms. Johansson's character will be right at home.
But generally he's good at writing large groups of characters, and giving them all something to do. And like i said, he can be really clever, he knows his quips. As a director though, he suffers from growing up on television, so it seems he just gets the shot that's in the script and moves on, nothing i've seen in any of the trailers has any weight to it, no meaning, it's just shot, next shot, snarky line, and punch. At best the entire movie looks like an episode of Firefly (and really nerds, you need to get over that show.)
Just to show that Whedon is the wrong guy, look at this clip:
That swelling music, the slow motion, it's hard to believe this isn't a joke. One of our heroes takes a gutshot and there's absolutely no sense that they're ever in peril, they just effortlessly fling faceless goons over cars, or cars into goons. i mean, this isn't Spider-Man capturing a bank robber, this is the Avengers™ fighting for the fate of mankind.
It's especially funny, because he seems to be cribbing from Battle: Los Angeles, but hitting all the wrong notes.
Mostly i'm just offended by the prospect that sitting through four completely mediocre and disjointed films will somehow have a "pay-off" in an unrelated film, where mostly the same actors play the same characters. Couldn't we have had four competent films, with maybe just hints of a connected world in the background. (Tony finding a prototype Captain America shield was fine, Nick Fury and Johansson were not.) The trailer i posted showed that at least part of the Avengers is going around, introducing and assembling the team, so why did they waste so much time introducing the idea of the Avengers in the other films? Fucking comicbooks.
Well, at least there's always the Dark Knight Rises to look forward to...
In this weeks thrilling episodes, our heroine defeats rape and escapes in an automobile. At least, i think that's what happens.
It is interesting that we seem to be getting more of a narrative, rather than just continued themes and symbolism.
i do like that if you're not paying close attention, it seems like she was defeated in the second video, the raggmopp dragging her off somwhere. However, she's wrapped in the fur of one, and the one pulling her looks rather dejected. Then there's the sideways shots of her in the car, wind from the open window playing with her hair. If you miss those, the shot of the car at the end may be a pleasant surprise, i knew it was for me the first time i watched it!
There's a lot of interesting things going on, the raggmopps suggestive pose on the floor that grants her freedom, the sweaty man trying to hold the creatures back, the woman seeing our heroine falling and walking out on a man in bed. Incidental, but the raggmopp's pose on the hood of the car makes me laugh.
From the samurai armour we can extrapolate she gains strength from her fall.
Having recently watched my way through the very loosely tied Aliens and Predators films (save for the bland Predators) i feel like sharing my thoughts on the unique progression of the series.
Alien (1979)
There's just something about Ash.
Alien is one of my favourite films for a variety of reasons, it's essentially a group of space truckers getting picked off by an unimaginable terror, there's great acting, brilliant creature design, it's also very much about rape. But more importantly it's still frightening as fuck.
Now the sexual imagery of the movie is impossible to deny, the alien's phallic everything, the egg and facehugger's feminine qualities, Ash oozing white goo after sexually assaulting Ripley. Personally i view the alien as a distortion of humanity, similar to this nerve-ending homunculus:
We're all hands and genitals, facehuggers and aliens. Now the sexless android Ash, resented human beings, he admired the alien because it was pure, it had a purpose, he tries to emulate its raw sexuality by shoving a porno mag down Ripley's throat. It's a fascinating scene.
Now what i love about our space truckers, is that they're all very real people. There's all the subtleties and nuances of real human interaction, rare for films, especially horror and sci-fi.
Another thing i find interesting is that in an early draft of the script, the writer comes out and says: "The crew is unisex and all parts are interchangeable for men or women." And that really plays to the strength of this film i think, they're characters first. Ripley isn't so much a badass woman, as she is a woman that happens to be badass.
And honestly the threat of the alien isn't restricted to sex, look at the last two kills, it throws Parker against the wall and penetrates him, and then gives Lambert the tail between the legs. Honestly the only time i feel Ripley being a female comes into play, is at the end, when the alien plays Peeping Tom. The male gaze of the alien (and the audience) wouldn't be nearly as affective had it been Tom Skerritt in his skivvies.
Aliens (1986)
Meet mother.
Now this film is the prototype for all the Cameron films to come. Making the female lead strong through motherhood? Check. Evil rich/corporate dude? Check. Space marines? You bet your ass!
Now obviously the showdown between Ripley and the queen is all about motherhood and such. But other than that, this film is about Vietnam, war, soldiers.
In the first film the alien was a dark reflection of the crew, it's slightly transparent dome was akin to their helmet, the biomechanical look, their fancy steam-powered suits. In this film the alien is a reflection of the soldiers, completely opaque domes and pointier edges, it's the marine's armour, they're also numerous and expendable.
The marines take a literal approach to the space, they set up a command center, barricade doors, secure hallways, and so on. The aliens however, come through walls, come down out of the ceiling, they're literally fighting in a different space than the marines. Newt was able to survive because she lived like they did.
While it is nice Aliens has tremendous influence on everything to come, it's been done better (unlike Alien). The most recent example would be, Battle: Los Angeles, a far superior film about marines fighting a twisted version of themselves.
One thing that's always bothered me about the end of this film is they gave the queen emotions, she protects her eggs as a mother would, she gets angered when Ripley kill them. The aliens otherwise lack emotions, and this was a weird contradiction. If Ripley's motherhood is her strength, why is it the downfall of the queen? Shouldn't her lack of maternal instinct have been her weakness?
Predator (1987)
Most homoerotic scene to grace cinema. It also ended racism.
Predator also takes cues from Vietnam, but it's also about the phallus vs. the yonic, man vs. nature.
Much like Aliens, you've got a group of exaggerated soldiers being lied to by their leaders. The soldiers are phallic, they're big, strong, sexual tyrannosauruses. And i've yet to mention their ridiculous guns! The predator on the other hand, is yonic or as Danny Glover affectionately calls it in the sequel a "Pussyface", it's tribal, it's natural "She says the jungle... it just came alive and took him." This thing isn't so much invisible as it is the jungle. Women are a threat to the manly Sparta fun of war and arm wrestling, the soldiers want to kill the woman as she's a threat to who they are, the Predator never gives her a second thought. Arnie transforms from über phallic "Stick around" to the opposite, he fights like the Predator, hiding in nature, it's why he wins at the end, he's no longer who he once was. "What the hell are you?"
Predator 2 (1990)
Come here and give me a nice, wet, slippery kiss!
This film was oddly ill received. It takes place in a dystopic 1997, where crime has risen 400%. We're transplanted from the green jungle to the concrete one, gang wars rule the streets, and Danny Glover is the baddest motherfucker around. This film is almost a parody, but really it's just taking the exaggerations of the soldiers in Predator, and spreading it to the world at large. Though basically this film does seem to take place in the same universe as Demolition Man and Escape from LA, i mean, everyone packing heat on the subway is dark humour in a very sobering way. Oddly enough one of the reviews i read, complained of racism. That because the Predator is played by a large black man, and has dreadlocks or an "Afro-style braided hairdo" that we're supposed to fear him? Not sure i buy that.
Not to say this isn't a racist film though, the two gangs are minorities, Colombians and Jamacians, a bit safer than just saying they're Americans that happen to be Mexican or black. Glover also ends the film in whiteface, with the predator ship taking off and covering him in ash, it brings to mind an unfortunate parallel to the first film, Arnie won by not being phallic anymore, so Glover won by not being black anymore? Perhaps the film judges him for being a black cop, working for the white man, and if the Predator is representing black stereotypes, then Glover be-heading it... It's interesting.
This film also expands on the rituals of the Predators, not killing an armed woman, because she was pregnant, honouring both the death of a fallen, and the one who respectfully took him down. It also shows that the wrist-bomb is more than an honourable death, more than a final "Fuck you", it also keeps their technology out of the wrong hands
Mostly it's a decent movie that takes a lot from both Predator and Aliens (including Bill Paxton!) and opened the way for less serious action/sci-fi films. It's definitely a product of its time though.
Alien³ (1993)
I loved you in Repo Man!
i find it funny that Cameron considers it a slap to the face that Newt and Hicks were killed off so a different story could be told. i mean, he injected a motherhood story into Aliens, the Ripley of Alien was no mother, there was no child waiting for her at the end of that long space journey.
It's also said this film just hits the resent button, which is sort of true, a small group against a singular alien, but it explores some nice themes.
Aliens had facing and overcoming trauma, Ripley finally agreed to go because she was tired of living in fear. She realizes along with the audience that the alien is less of an evil rape god, and more of a giant rape bug. She recovers and even flirts with the gruff voiced Hicks a bit. In ³ this is accelerated to the point of Ripley being on the sexual prowl, she engages the doctor. This is a reflection of her being alien, both in the sense that she's the only woman on this planet, and that she's pregnant with the new queen. "I'm part of the family now."
This film is also the mashup of at least three scripts, one involving monks on wooden satellite, another just being a prison planet. The monk story had them believing the alien was a demon, a punishment from their god. It's interesting angel, and really should have stayed in the story. The prisoner monks we get in the film themselves really do have an interesting left behind aspect to them. They knew they had sinned, and this hostile planet, this smelting plant was their punishment, their hell. And this is why the rape scene has always felt wildly out of place (aside from the rape goggles), ex-criminals or not, they were still devoted to their faith, and it the scene only seemed to exist to make Dillon look like a good guy. The monks should have been terrified of Ripley, she was nearly one in the same as the alien.
Dillon: Yeah, well you don't wanna know me, lady. I'm a murderer and rapist of women.
Ripley: Well, I guess I must make you nervous.
And did we really need a literal rape scene in an Alien film? (The answer is no)
Alien: Resurrection (1997)
Jim Henson's Alien Babies.
In theory i should love this film, it was directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, one of the most whimsical directors around, the terrifying Chris Cunningham was behind the special effects (and honestly, i do love the look of the newborn alien), and it was penned by Joss Whedon, who can occasionally pull off something clever, but this was definitely one of his many cringe worthy moments. It's also the only film on this list i saw in theaters.
To be fair though, the story does continue theme of the Alien films, Ripley is more alien now than ever, so much a sexual predator she crudely demands "Who do I have to fuck to get off this boat?" and symbolically ripping the pharyngeal jaw out of an alien to present it as a matador would present the bull's tail to his paramour (or was that just an invention of Hemingway?) not to mention the castration implication. Winona Ryder's character is also interesting, she's a robot built by other robots, so they put emotions in her, and she's by far more human than human. A far cry from Ash. There's also that great scene where Ripley confronts and destroys all the past versions of herself, the imperfect ones. There's a lot of clever things being toyed with in this film, but they never really follow through, and much like Predator 2, it can't quite decide if it wants to be a parody or not. It's nearly interesting!
Alien vs. Predator (2004)
My, what lovely doe eyes you have.
My god this film makes no sense, that said, it's not as bad as i remember. It's not good by any measure, but at least the pretty pictures didn't leave me bored. Of the many problems, it lacks any characters, the aliens are incidental (they could have been anything), and the confrontation between aliens and Predator had the biggest mistake of letting popularity influence the fight:
"They squeezed it dry. He survived, he’s now in Disneyland in Orlando and no way am I going back there. How did he end up in Disneyland?" - Ridley Scott on the alien
In the film we get the this overblown clash of Titans, because it's not two freaky aliens duking it out, it's literally two franchises, the aliens get some cheap kills in on the Predators because they're more experienced, (four movies vs. two) they're more popular, and there's he derivative nature of Predator 2.
Think of it like Darth Vader, in the original Star Wars, he's just an enforcer, a weapon Tarkin has on a leash, a lot of people don't respect him. Then in the next two films, not only is he suddenly the Emperor's right hand man, he's also Luke's father. The prequels went as far as to make him into Space Jesus. All because he resonated with the audience, he was meaningful to us. So in AvP instead of exciting action between two monsters, we get drawn out slugfests between film icons. They expect us to care because of the reputation.
Onto the nonsense though, why does everyone have guns on a trip to Antarctica? Did they all just watch the Thing before leaving? Why didn't the Predator set off his bomb once he got facehugged? Why couldn't his people tell he was pregnant? Why all the slomo? Actually i kind of liked the bullet time facehuggers, completely pointless, but fun. i also liked that a relationship formed between protagonist and the doomed Predator. Just a nice display of the honour bound hunter, the Predators aren't entirely psycho killers.
Now let's talk about Charles Bishop Weyland.
Really, I'm human, why are you looking at me like that?
In Alien³ we meet someone claiming to be the creator of Bishop. Weyland-Yutani sent him as goodwill, a face Ripley could trust. The thing is, this is total bullshit. No, he may not be an android, but he's not human, he's the personification of W-Y, its lying face. The company has done nothing but work against Ripley since the beginning "Crew expendable" To believe that a robot designer would care enough about an alien to live and and continue to demand Ripley's life with his face sloughing off is, well frankly, inconceivable. Ripley was no fool, she leapt. AvP was clever enough to realize this, and introduced the original Bishop, the head of Weyland, just in case you didn't get it.
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)
Bound by tradition and honour.
Now this movie was quite a surprise, i'd rank it in the top three of the series, right after Alien and Predator.
One of the most bizarre complaints about this movie was that it had shallow characters. My question is how did they miss the soldiers of Predator and Aliens? The cops, the prisoner monks, the space pirates, everyone in Antarctica? i made a point of mentioning how i loved the realistic characters in Alien, well this is the only other film in the series that features real people. An alien horde takes over a small town in Colorado, we get to see it from town people's point of view, and it's fantastic. It's a shame if audiences are finding characters shallow simply because they're not larger than life. Part of the problem might have been that people were failing to realize that the protagonist of this film wasn't any of the town folk, it's the Predator. The film follows him, his trip to Earth to avenge the death of a fellow hunter he cared for, to destroy the unholy Predalien hybrid, and to eliminate the alien threat on Earth. He also kills a few humans, it's his nature. This film really play out as a requiem for the Predators, and brings in the future of the Alien films.
One of my favourite moments is right after the facehuggers get loose, they catch a boy and his father hunting in the woods. You get to see the alien burst out of this ten year old kid's chest, it sets the tone for the rest of the film, no one is safe. And they go on to prove it many times. There are some nice touches, callbacks of sorts, in Predator 2, a woman in is spared because she's pregnant, in this film the Predalien seeks out pregnant women specifically. Just as the original alien was a dark version of us, this is a dark version of Predators.
There's also has exciting action, good acting (mostly Predator), and it's a lot of fun. i'm already sold on any project the Brothers Strause do in the future. (Also you should check out Skyline, why not?)
Ladies and Jellyspoons
None of these films were ever really meant to be tied together, and trying to connect them into a coherent story, a canon, will just make you insane, or really boring at parties. But overall, the original films are brilliant and interesting, and gave us iconic creatures and great cinematic experiences. The sequels while lesser in quality, at the very least tried to bring new things to the table while continuing themes they noticed in the previous films, to varying degrees of success. However this summer, Ridley Scott is returning, and rewriting history with Prometheus, and i for one am both terrified and excited.
In this weeks installment of iamamiwhoami or heroine is raped by a raggmopp. Quite the Valentine's gift.
At the beginning of the month we also recieved a warning: 20120611
Something is coming in either June or November. Suspense!
Hard to believe this is the first video since July, also quite surprising to see that y has garnered nearly five million views. i just continue to be amazed at how this project built itself up with cryptic videos on youtube. Just nice to see someone embracing the capabilities of the internet and how it can change media and the way we view things.
When you look at it, Raiders of the Lost Ark, is about two
scientists racing for the same goal. They have their ideological
differences, Jones does it for the the greater good, Belloq does it for
fame.
But what is it that they're looking for? Not some religious artifact, no, they're on a race to build an atomic bomb.
Dr. Jones wants this for the prestige it will bring his museum, his country, it's a very patriotic cause. Belloq on the other hand, just wants his name attached to the find, he doesn't care for the means, the Nazis have the cash, so he works for them.
Now during WWII, America put its money into the development of the bomb, the Nazis however, were more interested in rockets.
This contrasts with the commitment the German leadership made throughout
the war to the effort to build a rocket. They sunk enormous resources
into this project, indeed, on the scale of what the Americans invested
in the Manhattan Project.
Raiders of the Lost Ark supersedes that with a reality where Germany is pursuing nuclear weapons parallel with America, and not only that, but actually beats America to the punch and test the weapon first.
Belloq, dressed to be a king in the books of history, takes his bomb to an island, cameras are rolling, the whole world is watching. Belloq and all the Nazis on the project are wiped out by by a force they couldn't control.
What happens to Dr. Jones' project in the wake of all this?
The whole idea of nuclear warfare is shelved, put away in a warehouse never to be spoken of again.
It's an interesting thought, if the Nazis had been the first to unleash this devastating power, would America be willing to use it later?
Quentin Tarantino published a list of what he thought of the films in 2011.
He lists Drive under Nice Try.
I can see why he doesn't love it though, it takes inspiration from everything in a way similar to what he does (hell it even takes from Tarantino) but the end product is something very different.
i'm not Tarantino though, so i can say without a doubt that Drive was the best film of 2011 (that i saw anyway!)
Not only that, but i can say it's one of the best films i've ever seen, it's gripping, thrilling, and interesting on so many levels.
And has one of the best uses of a hammer outside of Oldboy.
The trailers do it great injustice, they make it seem like some high-octane car chase action flick, when in reality, there's two car chases that are more about the intensity of the situation than the speed, and the rest is very low key, a lot of things go unspoken, and i appreciate that.
To get a better idea of the tone of film, watch the opening credits:
Lovefoxxx :3
This movie is very much a lovesong to the 80's, the style, the music (including the theme song that spells out the story) characters reminiscing of the 80's, the character archetypes, hell it even turns into an 80's slasher for a bit:
Complete with slow walk and everything!
After seeing this i looked up the director and honestly wasn't surprised to see it was the same director that was behind Valhalla Rising:
The same unspoken quality, same cartoony CGI violence. Really though it just told me i should stop putting off watching Bronson.
i suppose it's impossible not to mention Taxi Driver, as there are striking similarities, but while Taxi Driver is about a man going insane and questionably being viewed as a hero, Drive is about the driver becoming human, and then unquestionably a hero. This cool and calm machine, meets a cute girl and her son, spends a weekend with her, and it changes him, he becomes human "The best time of my life" We see him becoming human in his rage and rash decisions , he's suddenly not so collected anymore. By the end of the film he's elevated to the divine. Valhalla Rising had similar themes, and i'm told Bronson does as well.
If you love film, if you love storytelling, if you love the darker bits of the 80's, i cannot recommend this film enough.
