Port of Call

I WAS going to write up a post about my thoughts and feeling on the movie. While I watched the film, completely engrossed in the cinematic interpretation of one of my favorite series from this past year, it became jarringly apparent to myself that I wasn't going to be writing a review of the movie. What distracted me and disturbed me wasn't the sick spectacle of children killing each other in an annual reminder of why a nation remains oppressed, or the garish delight that the Capitol derived from it (the movie treats the former with respect and reality that you can't help but feel for the tributes - even the career ones - and treats the latter as completely detestable, as it should). No, what really rankled me was the reaction of the younger, teenaged audience to the stark violence and death on screen: they were cheering.

THEY. WERE. CHEERING.

There are so many things wrong with this. It makes me want to punch a wall and give up. Actually, I think I have an animated gif that sums up my reaction to the audience perfectly:



Okay, so Quentin Tarantino. Let's talk about him for a moment. Why? Because he did what Hunger Games did and it was beautiful, even though it was lost on a majority of his audience. Inglorious Basterds. Fantastic movie - one of his best. Not a good war film, but if you look it as, "How Quentin Tarantino would have won WWII" then it's fabulous. What makes it more fabulous is how Tarantino takes a moment to equate his audience to the Nazis in the film - no, not the ones that Brad Pitt and Co. are killing, but the other ones, the ones in the movie theater watching and reveling in the senseless violence of the propaganda film. Tarantino knows his audience; he knows that people see his movies for the witty meta and the ramped up violence. In Inglorious Basterds, he combines the two to prop up a mirror so that the audience finds them staring at themselves with more than mild discomfort. It's beautiful.

Hunger Games does very much the same thing. You're either: repelled and saddened by the senseless loss of young life in the brutal jaws of an evil police state; or you're giddy and entertained by the slaughter. The giddy reaction and mindless celebration of the Capitol mirrors our own entertainment at the ultra-violence that our media peddles and that we gobble up because our own tolerance is corroded from exposure. Perfect example: the young audience members cheering with each death. ( spoilers )

It was really hard to watch the film with the audience cheering at each death of characters they didn't like. It's like that part of the book - the tragedy of each tribute's existence - was completely lost on them. They became like the citizens of the Capitol or Tarantino's audience, reveling in the body count. Hunger Games expects its audience to realize the injustice of the Games and to be mad at each death - even the ones that saved the lives of our protagonists - but this was completely lost on the young audience at the showing I attended.

Maybe it's a sign of my age. Maybe I'm taking this too seriously. Maybe I'm making a mountain out of an anthill.

That said, I actually enjoyed the movie. While it wasn't a perfect adaptation, I realize that hardly any movie adaptation ever is and inevitably there are things that need to be trimmed out to tailor a movie that interests both fans and newbies. I adored the starkness and the uncomfortably close proximity of the camera, especially in scenes at District 12. The acting was great - though Jennifer Lawrence wouldn't have been a personal first choice for Katniss (the problem is I don't know who I would have cast in her place). Having read the books, I can't really say much about how the plot would have flowed for somebody who hasn't read the first one; everything made sense to me (except for the continuity error where ( spoilers ). I'm definitely going to see it again with everysecondtuesday, so I'll probably have more to say about it the second time around. As far as first impressions go, it made one on me.

• 10 secrets • 9 loves • 8 fears •
• 7 wants • 6 places • 5 foods •
• 4 books • 3 films • 2 songs •
• 1 picture of yourself •

There are actually a ton of different films that I could recommend. If I had to choose JUST three, it would be impossible. Sooooo....

( Three Films Liz saw recently in theaters )

I saw X-Men: First Class with everysecondtuesday on Tuesday. Thoughts? It totally made up for X3 and Wolverine, though [movie] canonically, it didn't fit in, unless you completely ignored the last two films, which leads me to believe that that is exactly what the writers did. For which they have my gratitude.

How can one movie single-handedly redeem an entire movie franchise?

Simple:

Michael Fassbender and Kevin Bacon.

(okay, and Jennifer Lawrence and James McAvoy to a lesser extent, though Jennifer Lawrence gave this really cool emotional depth to Mystique)

Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw was fucking amazing by the fact that it's Kevin Bacon. Playing a comic book villain. Admittedly, I don't know much about Shaw or the Hellfire Club, but Kevin Bacon's performance was inspiring. He had the smooth, evil charisma(tm) that inspired lesser villains to do his bidding. He played calculating, cruel, and cold so perfectly that it was very easy to hate him for his methods.

If Kevin Bacon's performance was inspiring, Michael Fassbender's was divine. I haven't had this much fun watching a morally ambiguous character go on a revenge spree since Kill Bill. Tuesday might be able to attest to this, but every time Erik did something violently awesome, I had a strange little smile on my face. It was a pleasure to watch him be a complete bastard. I walked away from the film with the knowledge that if there are two things that Michael Fassbender does well, it's stabbing people in the face and brooding.

Okay okay, there were other things that made this movie COMPLETELY AMAZING, but for now, I'm floored by Kevin Bacon and Michael Fassbender.

Tonight, I saw Black Swan with my sister.

HOOOOOOLEEEE SHIT.

Being as late as it is right now, and since I have to get up early for work, here are mine and my sister's initial reactions:

My sister: I always wanted a psychological sexual thriller with heavy lesbian undertones for Christmas :D

Me: Strangely, it was a late coming-of-age story. With ballet. And nervous breakdowns.

Good news! This week's episode of Supernatural did not piss me off or bore me as much as every other episode so far! The bad news? It was a part filler-fluff, part-tying up loose ends kind of episode. Also, it had absolutely nothing to do with the Winchester boys and Castiel, and everything to do with Bobby and his deal with Crowley.

Second bout of good news! everysecondtuesday, her mom, and I went to a midnight showing of Red on a whim! It was hilarious. I don't know if that was the intent, but we lol'd. Hard.

Seriously, though, all the actors did a bang-up job playing roles completely opposite of what they normally play. Helen Mirren is a sexy stone-cold badass fox with a sniper rifle and machine guns. And she's, like, in EVERYTHING this fall/winter.

I've hit the end of my vacation. All that's left to do is fly home now.

Beatrisu was very shiny and cute and shiny *_* I'm still completely ~*~DAZZLED~*~ by her and her peoples and most of Grand Forks, North Dakota. We had a blast together (at least, I'd like to think we did, though in reality, I was probably a bit boring) - we wrote together, drew crack, I showed her some tricks with Photoshop (sorta), and she did drag queen makeup on me (which consisted of lots of eyeshadow and some tricks with blush to make me look more masculine). We watched Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which was interesting and had great music. I don't know how I feel about it as a transgendered movie, but as a gay film, it was good. I want the soundtrack.

We also saw Alice in Wonderland. As a Tim Burton movie, it was okay (not his best, but certainly not his worst). As a loose adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, it was different and fresh. I actually enjoyed Alice as a young, rebellious Victorian woman more than I ever enjoyed her as a child navigating her way through a foreign land while brashly imposing her views on others (sorry, guys, that paper I did on Alice in Wonderland as a British Imperialist text stuck with me. I can't watch any version of Alice anymore without examining it from a post-colonial standpoint). Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter was....alright. He's played better characters, but this one felt like tired attempt at maintaining his reputation as a character actor. I loved the Cheshire Cat the most. Stephen Fry was delightfully sly and catty. His voice is pure, homoerotic sex. If I were a guy, I'd have the biggest man crush on him now. As it is, I'm a girl and I have a girl crush.

Stephen Fry, you're sexy like a rock star.

I also enjoyed Anne Hathaway, though her prancing became old after a while. I loved how she was both innocent and dark.

Overall....( SPOOOOOILERS )

Anyhow, I will be back in Indiana later this afternoon/evening. There will be a picspam post and artspam as well when I feel up for uploading everything.

I totally broke down and bought Sergei Leone films today: A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Yeah, I decided that I'm going to start my exploration of the Spaghetti Western genre with a classic director and his classic trilogy. It was a tough choice, but in the end, I decided to limit myself and not buy his other masterpiece, Once Upon a Time in the West.