If you don’t remember, last year’s Oscars were hosted by Ellen, following Hollywood’s lack of appreciation for Jon Stewart’s deprecating performance in 2006. One of her “gags” was juggling host duties with janitorial duties. Fortunately, if Ellen had anything to do with Oscars this year, it was strictly janitorial. Jon was back in full sarcastic force in 2008 for the 80th Academy Awards, helping keep the self-congratulatory, celebrity back-patting in perspective so that nobody took themselves too seriously. His opening monologue (below) hit everything from the writer’s strike to politics. Of course, some people in the audience were visibly not laughing. Oh well, it’s not Stewart’s fault they think of themselves more highly than they ought, or that their comedic comprehension doesn’t extend beyond a pratfall, or Country-Fried Home Videos. yeah, there’s your sign.
What’s that limping slowly in the distance? Wow, that guy looks half-dead… WAIT! He doesn’t look half dead… he IS dead. So… like, why is he making a movie?
In case you’re wondering, I’m not talking about a character in George Romero’s latest zombie flick, Diary of the Dead. I’m talking about Romero himself.
Okay, I disagree with some folks on his last undead foray, Land of the Dead. I’ll concede it wasn’t a horrible film, but it wasn’t up to par with his groundbreaking Night venture or the Dawn and Daysequels that followed. “Land” was his prior worked served up with an extra helping of cheese. Sadly, the limping “Diary” is (like a zombie) entirely in shambles.
The story is traditional zombie fare: small group of characters hear early reports of dead returning to life, they gather together in panic and confusion and hit the road, wind up at an isolated house or two, get surprised and/or surrounded by zombies, etc. The conceit of the film is that we are watching it Cloverfield-style: amateur video, although not a single camera, but amateur footage edited by our young adults, who happen to be film students caught up in the apocalyptic madness. It’s not a terrible premise, but in light of Cloverfield’s masterful success, this doesn’t feel intentionally amateur. It feels amateur-amateur.
Anyone who’s perused this site and added up the number of posts knows that I’m a Transformers fan. I mean come ON, I was an eleven year old boy when they debuted; it was inevitable. Whether it’s my commentary on the fatherly nature of Optimus Prime, my musings about fan favorites Bumblebee and Starscream, or the text review of the “live-action” film by Michael Bay, it’s evident I’m paying attention. I’ll even confess that this little tune is my default Blackberry ringtone.
Still, it could be worse; I could be as obsessed as this guy…
… or have too much time on my hands like the Mirasol Twins, reconstructing this scene from the latest film using stop-motion animation and Lego people.
What I DID have time to do was speak about the latest film at a recent Cinemagogue Event, unraveling this coming-of-age story with giant robots, and revealing how the narrative is merely a classic, timeless narrative in disguise. The transforming robots serve as a backdrop for the transforming life of Sam Witwicky, played with verve by Shia LeBeouf. This 27 minute audio review contains plot spoilers and assumes you have seen the film.
Listen right hereby clicking the play button above.
You can also listen to the audio in another browser by clicking on the link below, or right click and “save as” to download the mp3. For those options, click here.
Unless you’ve been living in a cage, you know that the scribes are holding the entertainment world hostage. The Writer’s Guild of America Strike that began on November 5th continues to this date, and all we’ve felt so far are the ripple impacts that precede the vacuum. Many television shows will likely have incomplete seasons. 2009 films are being pushed back to 2010. Late night talk show hosts are revealing just how reliant they are on someone else’s words with varying degrees of improv. It’s enough to drive a viewer to drink… or, perhaps, to video games. (more…)
Alfonso Cuarón’s film adaptation of the P.D. James’ book Children of Men is an incredible work of art marked by some of the most amazing cinematography I have seen. Opening on Christmas day in 2006, critics compared the characters of Theo and Kee with Joseph and Mary, calling the film a “modern day nativity story”.
Children of Men envisages a world one generation from now that has fallen into chaos on the heels of an infertility defect in the population. The world’s youngest citizen has just died at 18, and humankind is facing the likelihood of its own extinction. Set against a backdrop of London torn apart by violence and warring nationalistic sects, the film follows an unlikely champion of Earth’s survival: Theo, a disillusioned ex-activist turned bureaucrat, who is forced to face his own demons and protect the planet’s last remaining hope.
According to Cuarón, the title of P.D. James’ book is a Catholic allegory derived from a passage of scripture in the Bible. Psalm 90:3 reads (in the KJV): “Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.” Author James refers to her story as a “Christian fable” while Cuarón describes it as “almost like a look at Christianity”: “I didn’t want to shy away from the spiritual archetypes,” Cuarón told Filmmaker Magazine.
What they’ve produced is a dark, dystopian fable grasping for hope and miracles amidst a bleak future landscape. It was one of my favorite films of 2006 and a privilege to examine and speak about in a Cinemagogue presentation at Mars Hill Church. The audio presentation is available here.
Listen right hereby clicking the play button above.
You can also listen to the audio in another browser by clicking on the link below, or right click and “save as” to download the mp3. For those options, click here.
Almost a year ago, someone put a bullet in the symbol of our hope.
The superheroic icon of Americana was fatally shot in early 2007 in the pages of Marvel Comics. Steve Rogers, the flag-waving, World War Two hero was put in the ground by a conspiracy involving old Nazis and Soviets, yet punctuated by sins of omission and commission falling on our government and the other super “heroes” that populate the Marvel Comics world. Cinemagogue covered that event and press (which ranged from CNN to the Colbert Report - Stephen Colbert now has Cap’s shield permanently mounted on his wall) last year. America died, and everyone had blood on their hands. It was a controversial yet powerful statement to parallel our confusing and cynical times. (more…)
Cinemagogue Content
Okay, I disagree with some folks on his last undead foray, 
Unless you’ve been living in a cage, you know that the scribes are holding the entertainment world hostage. 
Alfonso Cuarón’s film adaptation of the P.D. James’ book Children of Men is an incredible work of art marked by some of the most amazing cinematography I have seen. Opening on Christmas day in 2006, critics compared the characters of Theo and Kee with Joseph and Mary, calling the film a “modern day nativity story”.
