Today

Today, I miss my dad.

It Might Get Loud

Dear Davis Guggenheim,
THANK YOU!

It Might Get Loud was basically a documentary on the electric guitar from the point of view of three rock musicians: the Edge, Jimmy Page and Jack White. Never could I distinguish what it is about their music that moves me so, but now I know it is not just the electric guitar, but their sheer passion for music.

I have been in choir all my life, I love to sing, I love music, but somewhere along the line, I found rock music, and I have loved it. People's taste in music changes and goes down certain paths, I know that everything I love musically is based off the band Brand New, the White Stripes and Led Zeppelin are among the offshoots that I have traveled, along with Wolfmother, Jimi Hendrix and Neko Case. What I usually love about music is the lyrical aspect of it, this film, however, has shown me a little something deeper. I can't play any instrument, so I am in awe of their talent, period. It was so amazing to see how they had manipulated their tools to fit their needs, made them better and still unique, like their sound quality. I have a new crush on Jack White, loved his blues and folk background, and yes, his eclectic style. I also have incredible new found reverence for Jimmy Page. Of Led Zeppelin, I of course, only knew of their front man Robert Plant, but totally loved the band and their music, from a definite bystander point, but seeing where their music came from, seeing how they were affected by other musicians, I knew I wanted to be effected by them.

Everything about this movie was fantastic, it gripped me from the beginning, even the opening sequence of titles was fun to watch.

But I still don’t like U2.

Sufjan Stevens' The BQE

So Sufjan Stevens is a pretty wacky, weirdy-beardy guy, but I get it. The BQU was so much fun to watch and really sincerely very aesthetically pleasing and interesting. Maybe because of this:
When I have free time, when I get bored and need to clear my head, I grab my iPod and hit the road. There's a glass factory down 220 that looks like a fairy palace when it's lit up at night. And the architecture and colors and history of the buildings! It was amazing. I can't tell you how many times I think to myself, 'Man, I just want to take my camera down town and shoot all the different wonderful colors and shapes and shadows of those buildings. I don't know if it's cause I was raised in the city, but there is something wholly magical about city lights, and the hum and rush of cars that is strangely peaceful and calming. Something truly wonderful to behold. So Sufjan, I get it.
His music is otherworldly, I love it. Would I have preferred some lyrics? Of course. Would it have taken away from the film? Yes.
I would love to watch this movie while I run on the treadmill. The swell of the music and the incredible motion of the visuals just made me want to get up and move, drive fast, feel the wind in my hair!
I'd never seen anything like this before, it was a sensational trip.

Where The Wild Things Are

This is the second movie to perfectly portray everything I ever imagined from the book. Spike Jonez is my new favorite person ever! What amazingly, perfectly, real effects! What incredibly accurate character portrayal! What amazing imagery and archetypes and I know a lot of that comes from Maurice Sendak’s novel, but HOLY COW! They just interweaved and intertwined and made it everything I knew it was and should be! This film was nothing if not authentic, interesting, and perfect insight into a child’s mind.
A little Wikipedia reference for you as to what I’m talking about: The book was immensely popular from its release, and has received high critical acclaim. The New York Times noted that "there are different ways to read the wild things, through a Freudian or colonialist prism, and probably as many ways to ruin this delicate story of a solitary child liberated by his imagination."[5] Francis Spufford suggests that the book is "one of the very few picture books to make an entirely deliberate, and beautiful, use of the psychoanalytic story of anger".[6] Mary Pols of Time magazine wrote that "[w]hat makes Sendak's book so compelling is its grounding effect: Max has a tantrum and in a flight of fancy visits his wild side, but he is pulled back by a belief in parental love to a supper 'still hot,' balancing the seesaw of fear and comfort."[7] In Selma G. Lanes's book Art of Maurice Sendak, Sendak discusses Where the Wild Things Are along with his other books In the Night Kitchen and Outside Over There as a sort of trilogy centered on children's growth, survival, change and fury.[8][9] He indicated that the three books are "all variations on the same theme: how children master various feelings…"[8]
I loved the way they added the sister, which added a whole new element to the story and the wild things.

My analysis of the Wild Things:

Carol- most obviously a representation of Max himself, but also a father/older brother type plus perhaps aspects of his sister from when they were younger and playmates. Carol embodies both Max’s anger and aggression and his fear of those emotions in others.

Alexander, the goat, is also an extension of Max, his sadness, the fact that no one listens to him... He has no friends, he is someone lower for him to pick on.

Judith embodies the angry side of his mom and perhaps is his biggest antagonist.

Ira represents a father character, but mainly just a grown-up male character. Max (and the other wild things) has little respect for him, as he's constantly being beat up by Judith. Perhaps his mother's former boyfriends.

The Bull, I felt, was the dog. He said very little, didn't even have a real name, yet Max viewed him as an enemy even though, when attacked, he just sat there and endured it, much like the dog did in the very beginning of the film.

Douglas was the only voice of reason and reality which leads me to believe that he is either a representative of his teacher (who knew all and was wise) or some other grown up male with superiority. Superior mentally, also, because he almost never got angry or hurt anyone.

KW, I believe, was mainly a personification of his sister. She stood up to Judith for him and saved him from Carol. Maybe I'm just projecting, but I bet Max and his sister were a lot closer when they were younger, maybe even had the same friends, which may or may not have been personas of the Wild Things. Now that she's grown up his sister no longer plays with him. KW also had very motherly tendencies, like when he crawled inside her to hide... womb anyone?

Did anyone else notice the use of bird features for people he felt close to? Carol had feather "pants", KW had bird feet, Douglas- -most gown-up, and mature- was a bird, the owls who were outsiders, but wise and mature...

I loved the used of "I'll eat you up" as both an endearing and aggressive statement. Kind of a reflection of how love really is, we love the good and the bad, and though we'd like to throttle some people sometimes, we ultimately love them.

I also like the use of snow whenever anyone was sad and the use of fire as the destruction when Carol was upset.

I interpreted the owls as his sister’s friends on the phone- that’s why he couldn’t understand them and when they "spoke" it sounded like muffled phone beeping.

In the setting I understood the outside world to be desert, something unknown to Max, as most of the time he stays in his forest-y jungle home, then the ocean as a means of travel from one world to the other. Like that limbo between awake and asleep.

Some people were freaked out or disturbed by the use of violence, but if you really think about it, I mean, a little boy is only going to know and understand violence in the sense of comic cartoon violence (which it was most of the time) where people get "hurt" but not physically harmed, or the kind of violence he might have seen when someone gets mad- hitting or destroying things.

I loved this movie and I'm glad it was made and I'm very happy with the artistic choices made. I bet it will win a lot of Oscars.

Whip It: Whip It Good

I was disappointed. Not completely and totally, but just a little. I was hoping for another Juno, which I mean, with really good movies there can only be one, but I wasn't blown away. I really did like it though, I was glad Ellen Page didn't try too hard to make this character SO originial, like Juno. But in this case you didn't need completely original character to carry the story, the story itself was the original trait. ROLLER DERBY! I loved it, from pagent queen to roller derby star- man, I love Texas. The story was fun, the characters quirky, but very relateable, infact I felt like I was watching days from me and my friend hanging out whenever Bliss and Pash got together. That's probabaly the part I liked best, any scene with the two of them. As far as Drew Barrymore goes, most of the directing was good and farely well thoughtout, but there was something to be desired about the authentisity of the derby matches and some of the action shots were weak. Also, I very much doubt someone with Page's stature would last two mintues on a rink. While some parts were too airy and cutesy for me (like the highschool bully) other parts were incredibly real, like the mom and boyfriend situation. Although that pool scene was easily one of my most favorite, not to mention beautiful, things I've seen in a while, I could tell they were holding their breath and it ruined it! I was also glad that they didn't win at the end, it would have felt too contrived, and it wasn't about winning, it was about getting there and it was more real that way. The real battle was Bliss doing something for herself, being proud of it and not ashamed and not feeling like a freak because of it. I nearly cried at the end when the mom read the note. As a whole, it didn't blow me away, but Whip It had some moments that really meant something to me, and that's more than I can say about some of my favorite movies.

Zombieland

Zombieland was so funny. Very original as far as zombie movies go. They created their own lingo and world and in doing so created indeering, interesting characters that were fun for the audience. And the Bill Murry camio! Priceless, hillarious, my dad would have loved that. It really is so hard to take a specific genre like zombie thrillers, or even zombie comedy, and create something fun and original, and it wasn't as good as Shaun of the Dead, but it still had good content. There was some running and chasing, but it wasn't the whole movie, and they used Columbus's "lists" to keep a nice tie on certain things, which added to the humor and the experience of the whole movie. Now I don't know much about Woody Harrelson as an actor other than he's not high on my list, but he was great in No Country for Old Men and I know his niche is the-good-ole-counrty-boy, but it was great for this movie, as was Jesse Eisenberg's sweethearted nerd. Again, a bit over used, but still made a nice addition to the cast. Although it had it's tender moments, Zombieland really stuck close to the basic zombie's invade, people survive plot. But after saying that, I would have been really disappointed if someone important had died. And there was a fun subplot of twinkies. Cute. And the whole, learning to appreciate the small things, blow off steam, that was very fun and original.Not to mention, the special effects were fantastic! Well, ok, sometimes you could tell the actors weren't actually shooting the guns, but let's not be picky, I'd rather notice something like that than see an unbelievable head explosion. Not to mention the creepy way the Zombie's walked, like cats almost, I like that alot. The first blond girl zombie was very impressive. I liked it, I'd very much watch it again, I love zombie movies.

Shaun Of The Dead

Shaun of the Dead is easily one of my favorite movies ever. Perhaps, made solely to make fun of the zombie genre, Shaun of the Dead IS actually scary! The first time I watched it, I even cried when they had to kill Shaun’s mom! And when they rip apart Ned, it was really graphic and scary! The movie’s director and star, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg, are doing a “Blood and Ice Cream” trilogy (based on three flavors Cornetto in which there is strawberry ‘Shaun of the Dead”, classic blue “Hot Fuzz” and Minty green “The World’s End”, which hasn’t come out yet.) in which Shaun is the first. I can’t decide if this has anything to do with the films’ plots (blood and zombies, cops “blue badges”) or the way they were shot (as Hot Fuzz has a bluish tungsten feel to it). ANYWAY, so these movies are hilarious and all started with Shaun of the Dead, which showcases Wright’s awesome kinetic style, but also pays homage to a plethora of other movies- most obviously Romero’s Dead trilogy- TV shows and video games. It’s a great zombie flick that works so well because it has both hordes of undead and a main character fighting them who was previously running out of reasons to live! This was also one of my first British comedies to watch, so all the cute lingo and cultural references were fresh and fun, and I love Queen! It was witty, energetic and appropriately self-mocking, cheesy fun. Nothing else has come close and I love to watch these guys revamp the horror genre over and over. Not as dark and over the top as Tarantino, but just enough o have you on the edge of your seat. There’s also a range of humor devices used: from witty banter, to crude jokes, props and slap-stick, awkward embarrassment- I love it all. I love Simon Pegg and I love Nick Frost. It’s also a great buddy movie, since I didn’t mention that.

Bright Star

There are only four movies I can think of that captured such incredible loveliness in music, story and scenery: Cold Mountain, Pride and Prejudice, Atonement, and The New World. Bright Star has now been added to this list. Telling the tragic tale of Fanny Brawne and John Keats, this film was equally beautiful to watch and experience. I didn’t know much of Keats besides that he was a poet of great reputation, but this story, told mostly from the perspective of Fanny, was enthralling, enchanting, tragic and in ways obsessive. The entire thing wreaked of suffocation. The inability to be free, to do as you please, to live and love, no healthy lung full’s of anything. They clung quietly to each other, as if under water. One of my favorite moments, for I had many, was when Keats was describing to Fanny what poetry is, that if it isn’t natural it’s no good at all; that it’s about expressing things they way they are felt rather than literally- like diving into a lake.

I thought a lot about that quote and what it meant to me personally. I am no poet, but I do think of things artistically and I was never really able to explain my feelings about art in a way that was enough, that was equal, Keats did this in that one quote. It also explains my love of swimming. But the costumes were unparallel, each character defined and dictated perfectly, each scene a masterpiece of images: the filed of blue flowers, Toots coming down a stairway to a bowl of apples at a window, Fanny’s room with the butterflies and curtain blowing, Fanny’s gowns in candlelight. It was all so unmistakable. And sad. It was all so sad. It was obvious it would all end terribly, but… I know what that’s like. In every moment, I thought, I know what that’s like. I wouldn’t say I identified with any of the characters, but their situations were familiar. It’s hard and unfair, and that’s how good stories are made.

Cat Ballou

So this movie was hilarious. I think I first watched it when I was really young, like too young to remember, and definitely too young to understand it. All I remember is the ending scene which I caught a couple of times over the years. It must have made an impression though because I named my childhood bear Ballou, on account of this movie and, of course, the Jungle Book. Cat Ballou is the story of an aspiring schoolteacher traveling by train who unwittingly helps Clay Boone (so dreamy) elude his captor. She reaches her father's ranch to find that the Wolf City Development Corporation is trying to take the ranch away from her father, whose only defender is an educated Indian, Jackson Two-Bears (also dreamy). Clay and Jed appear and reluctantly offer to help Cat. She also hires legendary gunfighter Kid Shelleen (Lee Marvin) to come and help protect her father from fast-drawing Tim Strawn (also Marvin, funny), alias Silvernose, the hired killer who is threatening Frankie.

Strawn kills Frankie, and when the townspeople refuse to bring him to justice, Catherine becomes a revenge-seeking outlaw known as Cat Ballou. She and her four gang members rob a train carrying the Wolf City payroll, and Shelleen, inspired by his love for Cat (unrequited because she loves Clay), shapes up and kills Strawn. Later he casually reveals that Strawn was his brother. Love it. It gets better.

Cat poses as a lady of loose morals and confronts town boss Sir Harry Percival (this is the part I've seen at least five times), owner of the Wolf City Development Corporation. A struggle ensues, Sir Harry is killed, and Cat is sentenced to be hanged on the gallows. Just after the noose is placed around her neck, Uncle Jed (again as a fake preacher) cuts the rope as she falls through the trapdoor. Her gang then spirits her away in a daring rescue. I think westerns were more a part of my childhood than I realize. Cat Ballou was perhaps my first feminist role model...

Dances With Wolves

Now, I hate Kevin Costner, but I love Dances With Wolves. Maybe I love him as a director, but just not as an actor. Every other movie he's in I literally can't stand. The Bodyguard? Seriously? Bull Duram? No thanks. Maybe I just love that old wild west, cowboys and Indians. But it's more than that. I can admit it's more than that. I feel like every time I watch that movie I'm able to take something new away from it. When I was little I loved his reverence and sentimentality for his animals, when I got older I loved the love story, and now I love the historical aspects of it. The soundtrack is really good, the cinematography is epic, the story is original and endearing. You know what I think it is? I think it's that, basically, through the whole movie, Costner is being made fun of. He's not so pretentious and self-centered as he seems to come off in other roles. In this role he's playing the learner, we get to watch him struggle and squirm, and I like watching him be uncomfortable because I don't like him! Either way, it's the one time when I can say it's good acting on his part. You know it's a good movie when one of the scenes that really stays with you is in the opening sequence: After he's been told he needs his legs amputated and her pulls on his boots, gets on his horse and rides in front of the enemy lines. That slow motion shot of him with his arms open, chest out, not wincing, not flinching, just waiting. When I was six I was run over, my legs were torn to shreds and the only thing keeping my feet from separating from my ankles was a pair of leather hiking boots. I guess when it happened, I thought of that scene and I guess I thought I was going to die. I mean all that blood when you're that little will make you think that, but all I could think was, "Get my horse! Get me out of here!"

Blazing Saddles

I think I was nine when I first saw Blazing Saddles, it was the first Mel Brooks movie I ever saw and the first time I ever heard the 'N' word used in a movie as a "joke". It was also the first time I ever had a crush on a black man. But I mean, come on, Cleavon Little was hot, hilarious, and witty, what's not to like. (Gene Wilder was a close second.)Filled with some of the funniest characters, Western or otherwise- with Slim Pickens as Taggart, Harvey Korman as Hedley Lamarr (It's 'HEAD-ly'),Madeline Kahn as Lili Von Shtupp (hilarious woman, very much an idol of mine, that accent alone kills me)and Mel Brooks as Governor William J. Lepetomane (and an Indian Chief ["You're darken then we are!" HAHAHA! love it.]) Blazing Saddles has held a special place in my heart for a long time. My dad's favorite scene was when the cowboys are around the camp fire and they're all eating beans and farting, yes, farting stirs all kinds of nostalgia for me... Apparently, after screening the movie, the head of Warner Brothers Pictures complained about the use of the 'N' word, the campfire scene and Mongo punching a horse, and told Brooks to remove all these elements from the film. Brooks' contract gave him control of the final cut, so the complaints were disregarded and all three elements were retained in the film with it holding the distinction of being the first film to display "flatulence". Awesome. Obviously, watching it now, I get alot more of the humor, but at nine it was pretty good for a laugh.

Spirited Away

Voiced by Matt Damon, 'Spirit' follows a wild Mustang stallion, living free in the Old West. He's captured by horse traders and sold to a cavalry regiment at a frontier outpost. There, a cruel colonel (voice of James Cromwell and somewhat resembling Colonel Mustard) nearly succeeds in breaking the willful horse. Spirit escapes in the company of a captive Native American, Little Creek (voice of Daniel Studi) that tries to possess the magnificent animal by more humane means, but Spirit refuses to bend to human will even when he makes the acquaintance of Little Creek's fiercely loyal mare, Rain. After he saves Little Creek's life in an Army raid, Spirit believes that the gravely injured Rain has died after a tumble over a waterfall. Despondent, the horse is captured again by humans, enslaved this time for work in a pack team on the transcontinental railroad. Still strong, Spirit manages to escape for a reunion with Little Creek, Rain, and his long-lost herd.

One of the things I loved the most about Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron was that it differs from other examples of its genre in that the horse do not speak or sing; only Spirit's voice is heard as voice-over narration. I am not lame for loving this movie. The first time I saw it, only saw the very end scene with the horse running with the eagle and I was inspired. I saw to the middle again about a year and half later, but only saw to where Rain dies and I was crushed! Then, I saw it at the Robinson and my little 5 year old heart was all a-flutter. I love horses. They are the most magical animals... ever. I don't know why I love them so much. They are so graceful and strong and natural. They symbolize and embody everything I love about the old west, Native American culture, and the ideas I harbor about the unsettle North American continent. Ever since I was a little kid and learned about Native Americans I have been fascinated by their culture and the land's unsettled appeal. I mean, it was a completely foreign concept that the buildings and world as I knew it didn't always look like that. That fields and trees were expansive without buildings anywhere. I also grew up by a creek with lots of parks, so I have always loved and had huge nostalgia and respect for nature. As much of a Texan as I claim to be, I really don't have much history with Westerns, but I loved Spirit and Pocahontas and other Native American children's tales. They just speak to a very innocent, natural part of me. I love horses. I love the way they show the little mare with almost dog like qualities of playfulness.

My One and Only

I saw this movie with my grandma yesterday and I don't think I would have felt the same about it if she hadn't been sitting right next to me. Although this wasn't the best movie I've ever seen, and I've definitely seen some better ones with lesser actors, it was strangely sentimental and familiar to me.
Seeing the era and the stereotypes of women at the time made me realize what an amazing woman my grandmother is, understand how she must have thought about herself and how to raise her children. I've started to spend so much time with her, I really truly enjoy it, she can really be a lot of fun and VERY funny, especially when she drinks. I don't know, I guess this movie really helped me appreciate my family, which was its point. My favorite line was, "I love my sister, I just can't stand to be around her." We all love our families and would do anything for them, we just most of the time would prefer to do it from far away.
At times it felt disjointed, not knowing when or how to portray it's tragic and light-hearted moments equally, so it just plunked down on one extreme or the other. The characters were either incredible sad or incredibly care-free and the sentimental moments inbetween were not long enough. Also, the movie seemed like it couldn't decide if it were going to tell this story from the mother's perspective or the son's, a great example of this balance was in Riding in Cars with Boys (which Logan Lerman also stared in). Unfortunately, Renee Zellweger did not deliver like Drew Barrymore. The ending was a little weak, also, and I started to feel like I was watching Lord of The Rings when it didn't end with the second tie-up.
I am particularly glad to see Zellweger playing someone her age, some many times (Nicole Kidman, Sandra Bullock) actresses continue to try to stay in their genre or role of young female, but she played an older woman with 2 almost grown boys, and she looked the part and though the character was sad, it wasn't a sad role for her.
Not to mention the kid in this movie was SO CUTE. Logan Lerman has one of the prettiest faces I've ever seen on a boy, yet still maintains that masculine quality. I also loved him in the TV show Jack and Bobby and 3:10 to Yuma, one of my all-time favorite westerns, even though it's a remake...